Final Reflection

So, Visions 5 was pretty awesome. it was a super rewarding experience that I look forward to experiencing again next year. In reflection, I have a couple tips for the next facility and guest coordinator and some strong points and weak points from the event.

Tips:
       - Maybe start in on parking a little earlier next time around. I expected parking to be a bit simpler than it was. I had expected to email Ken Kaiser, who's in charge of parking for UNCW, and have this set up after one meeting. what actually needs to be done is to fill out the special event parking request form (http://uncw.edu/parking/forms.htm) and just leave some parts blank (like the parts about what fund the money will come from, because they'll just put you in a free lot), also, put Shannon on there as the main contact, with you as a secondary.
      - This never came up this time, but know about disability access to the venue just in case.
      - you won't really have a lot going on for the beginning of the semester, jump on some other projects to get some stress off of other people.

During Event:
     Strengths:
        - Teamwork. our team was strong during the event. everyone was ready and willing to jump onto anything that needed doing. definitely do this, some folks will have more work than you and may not handle stress as well, taking even a couple easy tasks off their plate can make the day go way smoother.
        - Preparation. We were as prepared as I think we could have been, we were ready. that being said, there will always be things that pop up unseen or that slipped through the cracks, just be flexible and respond to new challenges.



    Weaknesses
            - the one major weakness I noticed was probably stress management, and even that wasn't really a big weakness. there were a few situations where an issue popped up and stress and a lack of good sleep caused minor panic to delay expedient solutions. these situations can quickly and easily be solved if you are committed to remaining calm, using stress positively (as a motivator and not a hinderance), and flexible enough to handle an issue that may not necessarily be "your job" because you are in a better position to deal with it.




Above All
     My biggest takeaway from Visions was (cheesiness alert) Teamwork is important. a solid team is all the difference between a smooth, successful, fun event and a stressful nightmare of a day. just be ready to adapt and be determined to have fun with it.

Parking is secured, praise Jeebus

so I finally got somebody to give me parking. special note for future versions of me: google parking request form, fill it out to the best of your ability, make up some good estimate numbers for guests, leave the billing info blank. a nice lady in the parking office (Sally Lewis) will put you somewhere for free and email you about it. DO NOT WAIT FOR KEN KAISER, JUST DO IT. I will now plan where to strategically place signs around campus on the day of to lead the little film festival sheep into the promised land of filmdom.