Behind the Scenes with Special Events
From virtual academic conferences and town halls to in-person commencement ceremonies attended by thousands, the Special Events team plans a wide range of gatherings for Empire State University. Ahead, Director Danielle Heller, Events Specialist Mallory Holman, and Events Operations Coordinator Danielle Boardman offer a glimpse of the team that executes some 30 functions per year.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Boardman: That’s such a great question. I don’t know if there is one because even just yesterday and today are vastly different. I think it kind of depends on where we are in the ebb and flow of things. We each have our own little nooks and crannies of the things that we do. I know Danielle’s already starting to field questions about Annual Meeting, and we’re already starting rooming lists, getting proposals, and finalizing scripts for all the different components of the event. I think people don’t realize all the things that go into each component. There’s runs of show, there’s scripts, there’s technology requests—all these background details that go into just that one thing that people see.
Heller: Ditto, I totally agree with Danielle. The only other thing I would say is that we do a lot of laughing in our office because sometimes it’s just a lot of brainstorming. So we go really far to every extreme, and then we kind of hone it back to what’s realistic and what we can actually do. I like to think that we laugh a lot because we’re kind of a silly group, but then we hone it back and say, okay, this is actual work that we have to do.
Holman: Highly agree that no typical day-to-day really exists for us necessarily, but it always involves certain things like checking in, following up, and tracking items on our to-do lists. I also think we maintain a good balance of individual work and group work. Like Danielle Boardman mentioned, we all have our little areas within things, but then we all also follow the project as a whole to make sure all the parts are done and all groups of attendees are considered.
What is in your event planning bag of tricks—something you always have with you on the day of an event?
Boardman: Orthopedic inserts. That’s the first thing that came to mind. Good inserts and good shoes.
Heller: That’s a tough one. I’m thinking of what I have in my little purse when I’m walking around any event, and that’s chapstick, hand sanitizer, and water. And stretchy pants, because you’re always on the floor no matter what event you’re doing; you’re fixing something on the floor, you’re tying a shoe, you’re doing something.
Holman: In similar fashion, I will say anyone who’s been to a commencement staffing meeting with us will know my answer, which is compression socks. I feel like these answers sound silly, but they’re all things that support the humans behind the task. On the event day, it comes down to the customer service aspect of the job. Obviously, there’s a lot leading up to it too, but there’s so much that goes into putting our best faces forward. I think anything that supports our physical bodies and prepares us to be there, be present, be available, and be good at what we’re doing the day of is important.
Boardman: I also feel like we need to add a large fountain Coke. Usually at some point throughout any event you will see the event staff with a Coca-Cola, not a Pepsi. We do have a brand. I know as a university we can’t promote sides, but we are definitely Team Coca-Cola. And I will say, in a practical sense, our reMarkable tablets have made a huge difference in our lives too. You probably won’t see us too far without these babies just because they have the run of show on them, they have the floor plans on them. We can walk into a room and be like, OK, that table needs to be moved there; this isn’t what was on the setup.
What’s something about your work that might surprise people?
Holman: The care and effort that goes into everything. I think the backbone of what we do is the structure of an event— making sure all of the ducks are in a row, all of the requests have been placed, and all of the coordination has been done in the background— but then also putting heart into everything. When an event goes well, it means a lot to us. When we get good feedback or we see smiling faces and happy people, that fuels us to go forward.
Heller: We have a lot of support within the university—a lot of wonderful people that we work with weekly, monthly, or bi-weekly that we talk to a lot. We also talk to event attendees so much during peak commencement season. Whether it’s on the phone, through e-mail, or whatever kind of messaging we’re doing, it’s like 70 students a day. We’re getting thousands of emails and calls from not only students but faculty and staff here at the university that we’re trying to provide information to. That can be a challenging part of our job. We are constantly talking to people and trying to put the best and most accurate information out there to put someone’s mind at ease.
The other thing is that we have to make a lot of data-informed decisions that aren’t necessarily easy ones. We have to factor in the focus at the time, the theme of the event, the budget, who’s attending, and what we need to accommodate all people and make them feel comfortable. It’s the nitty-gritty details of small things like is there a gluten-free pasta for this meal to big things like moving thousands of people from one room to the next. I like to put that out there because we’re always collecting information so we can improve our events moving forward. We’re taking any kind of feedback people are providing into consideration as much as we can.
Boardman: I want to echo all of that. I think you’re sensing a theme, but we do have a hive mind, as we like to say every once in a while. But I don’t think people realize how much time we spend on the event evaluations and how much we take those things to heart—how granular we get with the wording on a form based off that feedback or how many hours Mallory is spending on a menu to try and figure out what would appease the hundreds of restrictions and preferences that we get for specific events. There’s also the professional development—talking to other colleges and universities around the nation and asking what do you do? What works for you? What isn’t working? How can we better X,Y, and Z?
What’s your favorite part of the job?
Heller: Honestly, my favorite part is working with the team here. When I started, I worked with the wonderful Susan McFadden who taught me everything and was so amazing to learn from before she retired. But then with the department and the needs of the university growing, we were able to bring Mallory on, which was huge. Danielle was actually on that hiring committee, which is so funny. And then Danielle joined the team a little bit later. I feel like we have the best time. I have to say too that Tiffany Williams is incredible. She’s the administrative assistant for the department, and the fourth member of this team. It’s so wonderful to work with humans that care about other people and care about what they’re doing and have a feel for what the university is standing for and try to push that momentum forward. I think we have a common goal.
Holman: Anytime anyone asks me what do you do at your job, what do you like about it, or why the heck have you been there for 16 years, I think it comes down to the people. One of my other favorite parts is that we are always looking for ways to improve. It’s a continual, ongoing thing. We’re always trying to fine tune and get things just right for the audience that we’re working with, and I really like that. I don’t think we’ve had a single event that we’ve fully copied and pasted from one to the next. We’re always willing to build on what has been done so far. Apart from the people, the willingness to grow keeps the work interesting and fun.
Boardman: Ditto. I think you throw three people in one shared space, and it can go wrong in a lot of different ways. We got very lucky that our dynamic works out really well. We joke around that there’s good cop, bad cop, and logical cop, and that shifts depending on the situation and the feedback, but the team is great. The extended team is great. Working as closely as we do with marketing, security, and facilities and operations and having those great relationships is amazing. It’s great to work with all the different people across the university. Also, we’ve joked about this from time to time, but every day, it’s like there’s a new jigsaw puzzle on your desk that you have to put together. And when it clicks, it clicks—and it’s awesome.