I know that I am going to be swamped this weekend so I am just going to give a few updates now and maybe a couple more on Sunday if more comes together.
Today, Friday, I am bringing Katie the filmer to Club4100. I want her to have a formal introduction with Mena and Raj and get a grasp of the place and the atmosphere. This way she will know where it is located and feel comfortable going there alone if need be.
The best news of the week is that I talked to Tom Matte and have a scheduled interview with him next Thursday, 5:00 at the club!! I was really nervous calling him because I had no idea what to expect. He is a very busy man and I tried to be as concise with our needs and tell him how appreciative we are. He also agreed to a filmed interview, great news. I am going to study up on him and Corey already sent me really great info about his history in an e-mail. Thanks Corey. Prof. King mentioned trying to have him give a "best of luck" type of thing at the end of his interview ro be shown during the event. Kind of an ode to the club. Also, he agreed to signing jerseys or other types of sports memorabilla for our auction.
This weekend I will need to come up with a list of questions and run them by Prof. King on Tuesday. I have sent out an e-mail to others in the class for advice or possible questions.
There was a quick dilemma about changing the date, but luckily it got worked out in record time. I think, as a class, we are learning to work well with one another in times of conflict. I know that I had a hard time taking off work the day of the event because it is Hopkins graduation and since I work at a restaurant we need all the staff we can get. That was my selfish reason for not minding a date change. However, I did put my foot down and will be at the event, even if I have to work for a few hours that morning! Also if we had it a week later most graduating students would be off celebrating their graduation nor would Prof. King be able to attend. We are keeping the date and I think the stress over what we may or may not have done is just par for the course. We are doing our best and have learned a lot from trying to plan this event.
I am off to pick up Katie now, and head the to the club. I will try and write later this weekend on how it goes and any ideas her and I have come up with for filming!
Good Luck Everyone!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Hope its a sunny day for the street team!
The time has come for re-assessing where I stand with the project and making new headway. All the lose ends will need to be ties up in the coming weeks. Mainly I want to get active about the filming part, having my friend meet Mena and Raj so that she feels comfortable going to the club on her own if necessary.
I spent a good deal of last week transcribing my interview with George. I literally sat in a coffee shop with headphones connected to the small tape recorder pressing stop, play, rewind, play for four hours one day! It became sort of ritualistic though and once I had a system going, it wasn't so bad. I also really liked hearing George's stories for a second time because I caught things that were easily swept over the first time. I noticed how often I would try and jump in and make a comment while George was talking, and then that would spur him to start right up again or start on a whole new idea! Pretty great though, better than working with someone who doesn't want to talk. I still got to ask questions, but he was so excited to go on about each story that the interview was pretty long.
Corey sent me his interview with Mena and Raj and said it could have been longer, I agree. I wish that I could have developed a better set of questions to ask them since they are the newest owners, but it is a good start. I am going to send all the interviews to Emily so that she can pull out quotes for the brochure she is working on.
I got the number for one of the Miss Club4100's and I am going to call her and see if she can do an interview, possibly next week. It would be cool to have that in our history because it seems so nostalgic for those who may remember that time.
I have to work this weekend so I will miss the street team, hopefully it will go well and some pre-tickets will sell. Deciding on the ticket prices was a bit of a struggle but I think our system works. It seems appropiate to offer the neighborhood individuals a lower price since the project is about preserving place and we want local people to actually show up. I think reduced prices for pre-buying is good too and I know it will make my friends more apt to committ.
My goals for the next week are
Have Katie (film girl) meet and talk with Mena and Raj
Get in touch with Miss Club4100
Decide what to do exactly with the oral histories, at least put them in the book my history group is putting together
Help any other groups out if need be, especially event planning. I know that planning out the whole day will be an issue. The timing of each event and such.
Until then......
I spent a good deal of last week transcribing my interview with George. I literally sat in a coffee shop with headphones connected to the small tape recorder pressing stop, play, rewind, play for four hours one day! It became sort of ritualistic though and once I had a system going, it wasn't so bad. I also really liked hearing George's stories for a second time because I caught things that were easily swept over the first time. I noticed how often I would try and jump in and make a comment while George was talking, and then that would spur him to start right up again or start on a whole new idea! Pretty great though, better than working with someone who doesn't want to talk. I still got to ask questions, but he was so excited to go on about each story that the interview was pretty long.
Corey sent me his interview with Mena and Raj and said it could have been longer, I agree. I wish that I could have developed a better set of questions to ask them since they are the newest owners, but it is a good start. I am going to send all the interviews to Emily so that she can pull out quotes for the brochure she is working on.
I got the number for one of the Miss Club4100's and I am going to call her and see if she can do an interview, possibly next week. It would be cool to have that in our history because it seems so nostalgic for those who may remember that time.
I have to work this weekend so I will miss the street team, hopefully it will go well and some pre-tickets will sell. Deciding on the ticket prices was a bit of a struggle but I think our system works. It seems appropiate to offer the neighborhood individuals a lower price since the project is about preserving place and we want local people to actually show up. I think reduced prices for pre-buying is good too and I know it will make my friends more apt to committ.
My goals for the next week are
Have Katie (film girl) meet and talk with Mena and Raj
Get in touch with Miss Club4100
Decide what to do exactly with the oral histories, at least put them in the book my history group is putting together
Help any other groups out if need be, especially event planning. I know that planning out the whole day will be an issue. The timing of each event and such.
Until then......
Friday, April 10, 2009
Things are moving swiftly
This past week has really made all our hard work feel like it is truly going somewhere. After grueling over food concerns for the event, we are set with having a buffet! I met Prof. King last Sunday to talk with Mena about our concerns and be strict about what money we have available. I think having King there helped because even with Corey and I trying to tell Mena our thoughts, having the person who got the actual grant in front of her made it seem more serious. Looks like we will be having baked ziti, steak, pigs in a blanket, salad, and potato wedges. It was nice to walk out of there knowing that something was set in stone.
We also met a man that new Paul and Anne and had been attending the club since it opened. I asked him if he would like to do interview and he seemed shy. However, he said that he likes to write music and has writting over 400 songs! Prof. King was asking him to come up with a Club4100 song and to attend the event. He seemed into it, but then said he did not have a card on him and would be in touch another way. Wonder if we will see him again......?
There is still a debate over ticket prices, we are toying with fifteen or twenty dollars, and ten if you get the ticket ahead of time. I think the the street team will be able to get people to purchase early, but I worry for those who come to the door and aren't able to pay. Plus, we don't really know who our sports stars are and we can't just assume certain ones are coming. I wish we had Oprah because EVERYONE would pay a lot to see her. I think in the next week we will figure out the tickets, I mean we have to in order to sell them.
My big goal for the next week is to have my interview with George transcribed. Even though Staci will be utilizing her interview with him as well I am going to get mine down on paper in case other oral histories fall through. Better to have more than nothing!
My history group also decided that we want to have a scrapbook in the banquet room for people to look through and a guestbook for people to sign. Anything that gets people involved and leaves them knowing they are part of something greater will make all of us happy. Missy is planning on getting the scrapbook this weekend and we also want to have a picture area where we can instantly print out pictures of our guests.
I am hoping to get in touch with the people who run the Better Brooklyn org and see if any of them can help us tie up our history. Also, Hillman mentioned a desire to do an interview and it would be nice to have contacts for those looking to help in that area.
All in all, we are on our way. The semester is flying by and I hope this event is a success. It is definitely a learning process though. At the start of the semester it was hard for me to imagine an even like this actually working, but we all help one another out and start to figure out our strengths and weaknesses. If I ever do anything like this down the road I feel as if I will have a head start.
My friend and co-worker took off the Saturday of the event and will DEFINTELY be filming. She can't do the street team next Sunday, but is available any other Sunday or Thursday afternoon. I hope to go to the club with her to meet Mena and Raj and take some general footage of the place.
More soon.......
We also met a man that new Paul and Anne and had been attending the club since it opened. I asked him if he would like to do interview and he seemed shy. However, he said that he likes to write music and has writting over 400 songs! Prof. King was asking him to come up with a Club4100 song and to attend the event. He seemed into it, but then said he did not have a card on him and would be in touch another way. Wonder if we will see him again......?
There is still a debate over ticket prices, we are toying with fifteen or twenty dollars, and ten if you get the ticket ahead of time. I think the the street team will be able to get people to purchase early, but I worry for those who come to the door and aren't able to pay. Plus, we don't really know who our sports stars are and we can't just assume certain ones are coming. I wish we had Oprah because EVERYONE would pay a lot to see her. I think in the next week we will figure out the tickets, I mean we have to in order to sell them.
My big goal for the next week is to have my interview with George transcribed. Even though Staci will be utilizing her interview with him as well I am going to get mine down on paper in case other oral histories fall through. Better to have more than nothing!
My history group also decided that we want to have a scrapbook in the banquet room for people to look through and a guestbook for people to sign. Anything that gets people involved and leaves them knowing they are part of something greater will make all of us happy. Missy is planning on getting the scrapbook this weekend and we also want to have a picture area where we can instantly print out pictures of our guests.
I am hoping to get in touch with the people who run the Better Brooklyn org and see if any of them can help us tie up our history. Also, Hillman mentioned a desire to do an interview and it would be nice to have contacts for those looking to help in that area.
All in all, we are on our way. The semester is flying by and I hope this event is a success. It is definitely a learning process though. At the start of the semester it was hard for me to imagine an even like this actually working, but we all help one another out and start to figure out our strengths and weaknesses. If I ever do anything like this down the road I feel as if I will have a head start.
My friend and co-worker took off the Saturday of the event and will DEFINTELY be filming. She can't do the street team next Sunday, but is available any other Sunday or Thursday afternoon. I hope to go to the club with her to meet Mena and Raj and take some general footage of the place.
More soon.......
Friday, April 3, 2009
Food and other trials
We spent about forty minutes in class going over food possibilities. We came up with about three/four ideas. The first one was have five dollars off an item with the purchase of a ticket. Next we had a solid food price with buffet. Te option for no food was an idea as well, and giving coupons out for future visits. We even thought of having a reduced menu. It was so hard to come to a decision because there are many ways we can go about this, but the bottom line is coming to an agreement with the owners based on the budget we have available.
Corey and I went to Club4100 to meet with Raj and Mena, they looked pretty worn out and said that business had not been great. The Lions Club had come in the night before, but that was about it for the week.
First, we proposed the "five dollars off of a meal with ticket purchase" idea. Mena shot that down right away, she told us that the kitchen just was not staffed enough to handle people lining up to order food. As far as I can tell, I think it is just her and Raj cooking, I can see the dilemma. For some reason, we just did not consider this in class. It's amazing how so many details can get overlooked no matter how much one tries to cover all concerns.
She seemed most interested in the buffet, although she brought up high food prices at the grocery store as well. This alerted Corey and I that she is not buying in bulk from actual restaurant stores, and is going to a standard grocery store instead. I'm not sure if she is even going to a Sams club type of place. I would suspect she would have to for this event though. She also said that she wants it to be as low stress as possible. Well, of course that would be nice, but we need her to meet us half way here.
Mena said that she needed to find out some more info from a place she may purchase the food and I am going back on Sunday to talk with her. Prof. King is trying to come as well! I think having her there explaining the situation with the buget could really work in our favor.
I also brought up the possiblity of giving out 10% coupons for a future date, as a way to bring people back to the club. She said she wants to think about this also.
I am pretty sure that the venue is free and we didn't even ask because things were already so tense. I hope Mena knows that we are trying to help out, I told her this many times. She said she really wants to help us out but is hoping that if we do the buffet the money will work like this...ten to her and five to us. Corey did not seem to think this was a good idea, but we only discussed out concerns on the way home and then met King in her office to discuss all the possibilities.
What a week! I will be at the restaurant Sunday afternoon/evening if anyone wants to go. I hope to find out more about the food situation and try once again to gather moral history.
Corey and I went to Club4100 to meet with Raj and Mena, they looked pretty worn out and said that business had not been great. The Lions Club had come in the night before, but that was about it for the week.
First, we proposed the "five dollars off of a meal with ticket purchase" idea. Mena shot that down right away, she told us that the kitchen just was not staffed enough to handle people lining up to order food. As far as I can tell, I think it is just her and Raj cooking, I can see the dilemma. For some reason, we just did not consider this in class. It's amazing how so many details can get overlooked no matter how much one tries to cover all concerns.
She seemed most interested in the buffet, although she brought up high food prices at the grocery store as well. This alerted Corey and I that she is not buying in bulk from actual restaurant stores, and is going to a standard grocery store instead. I'm not sure if she is even going to a Sams club type of place. I would suspect she would have to for this event though. She also said that she wants it to be as low stress as possible. Well, of course that would be nice, but we need her to meet us half way here.
Mena said that she needed to find out some more info from a place she may purchase the food and I am going back on Sunday to talk with her. Prof. King is trying to come as well! I think having her there explaining the situation with the buget could really work in our favor.
I also brought up the possiblity of giving out 10% coupons for a future date, as a way to bring people back to the club. She said she wants to think about this also.
I am pretty sure that the venue is free and we didn't even ask because things were already so tense. I hope Mena knows that we are trying to help out, I told her this many times. She said she really wants to help us out but is hoping that if we do the buffet the money will work like this...ten to her and five to us. Corey did not seem to think this was a good idea, but we only discussed out concerns on the way home and then met King in her office to discuss all the possibilities.
What a week! I will be at the restaurant Sunday afternoon/evening if anyone wants to go. I hope to find out more about the food situation and try once again to gather moral history.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
