Planning university events – why do I still do it ?

Helloooooo lovely hoomans!

I know I know, it’s like spotting a unicorn in the wild, this blog popping up in your feed. With it being my final year of university, running two societies and working on my dissertation the year has honestly flown by so quickly.

Admittedly, I do miss blogging, but unfortunately with so many balls to juggle over the last year, I had to drop one or two of them, but I thought I would imitate a little Jack in the Box and pop up randomly to say hi, and partially explain what has been keeping me so busy.

So of course, university work is the big one with it being my final year. The other thing is the two societies I’m part of – the Disney and Creative Writing Society – have been more active than ever this year and are in fact hosting another charity ball in a few weeks! After the amount of stress the last one was, and I know a few of you probably heard some of the very fun organisational horror stories of the event, you’re probably wondering why on earth I would be part of another one? Honestly… I’m not quite sure myself.

Just kidding!

Even though hosting events, particularly something as big as a charity ball, can be a huge amount of work and a massive headache at times, it can also be worth it for a number of reasons.

First, and foremost, it’s all to raise money for some incredibly worthwhile causes. Being a charity ball, we take absolutely no profit from the event. As soon as all the costs have been covered, every penny goes towards one of our two charities (which this year are Make A Wish UK and Chawton House Library). So even on days where I wonder about why I’ve committed to it, knowing that all our hard work will go towards raising money for charity is definitely a big thing that keeps me going, and so long as you always have a solid, positive goal, that can get you through all the challenging times.

Second, it’s an amazing chance to get creative, and have fun working with an amazing group of people. Anyone who knows me knows that I like hosting events – I love the organisational elements, and especially the creative fun of finding interesting themes, or ways to make the event that little bit more special, so it’s definitely a chance to think outside the box and flex the creative skills. What’s been even more rewarding this year is the team I’m working with. Last year a lot of the work ended up on myself and one or two other individuals, but this year the team has been so switched on, so dedicated, and the best parts of organising this ball has been our group meetings where we all gather around the big white board, drink tea, eat cookies, and tried to brainstorm up this gigantic event.

However, there are also problems that make it hard. For instance, all the administrative hurdles that crop up no matter how much you plan ahead, or how many contingencies you have in place. Just when you think you’ve avoided one problem, another one you never imagined magically appears and then all hell breaks lose! The other problem is people not following through on promises or agreements – for instance, we’ve had people who’ve offered to sponsor tickets or perform at the ball cancel or pull out last minute, which creates another level of chaos. It’s always so challenging when people go back on their word, but it’s one of those obstacles you unfortunately just have to run with.

At the end of the day though, the ball is running on track, and will, I’m sure, be an incredible success! It’s just under a month away (terrifying I know!!), and it’s going to be (I hope) bigger and better than last year. We have a raffle to help raise money for charity, some incredible student performances planned for the night, and, of course, an interactive element built around our theme for the ball, ‘An Enchanted Adventure’!!

So there you have it – this has been the mad chaos that has been my life for the last six months. I almost can’t believe it’s even been that long! My hope is to get this blog properly started again sometime soon, but I’m not going to make any promises that can’t be kept. Just know that for everyone who reads my posts (even though they have become a bit few and far between), I am incredibly appreciative for the support. If there is anyone who would also be interested in supporting the ball, by sponsoring a ticket or two before our ticket sales close at the end of the weekend, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Otherwise, thank you all so much for reading, and I hope to be back here soon once I have a spare half an hour to actually write a blog post!

Lots of Love

Blondey on a Mission xxx