Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-10-21-LEX300-events-OC-min Opening Ceremonies Team Minutes from Friday October 21 th 9 00 a.m. meeting Attending Martha Wood, Fay Backert, Monica Cantwell, Sandy Kahn, Carin Casey, Ronm Skerker, Margaret Counts-Klebe, Cheryl Meadow, Kamala Soparker, Pam Iuliano, Tanya Morrisett and Jessie Steigerwald. The meeting was co-hosted by Tanya & Jessie, co-chairs of the Opening Events, and took place at Jessie's home Official pins and decals were available for donations to Town of Lexington. Tanya and Jessie welcomed everyone and focused the meeting on the Opening Events Jessie reviewed the "Wheel" format used for planning 300th Events Each document includes a written description of the Event and a visual representation of the collaborating volunteers and/or organizations Opening Events Opening Events were discussed in greater detail. As discussed at the 9 23 11 meeting, goals for the Opening Ceremonies include making the morning as inclusive as possible, honoring all three hundred years, avoiding a focus on only the Revolutionary period while still celebrating it, providing many different ways for residents to connect throughout the Opening Day, funding free events, promoting sponsorships, helping preview other 300th Events, structuring the team in a way that will allow busy people to contribute in a meaningful way and providing back-up for the team so that the events run smoothly even if unexpected family or personal situations arise between today's meeting and September 22, 2011 Opening Ceremony. Jessie and Tanya reviewed the tentative order of the Opening Ceremony They provided an update on meetings that have taken place over the last four weeks, including a facilities meeting with Pat Goddard and Laurie Lucibello, a budget meeting with Town Department Heads and a pre-production meeting with Jeff Leonard, Laurie Lucibello, Mary Pappas and Florence DelSanto (LexMedia) A pre-production meeting at Cary Hall with Chris Gaffron (Stage Manager) was also summarized. New ideas were presented. Everyone chimed in with questions, comments and suggestions We are about to close off the broad brainstorming on the Opening Ceremony so we can confirm commitments on all the good ideas we have generated as a team. However, everyone is invited to send any further thoughts by e-mail a.s a.p Our goal is to have a completed draft script by December 1st, 2011 It can then be refined beginning in January Hosts. Hosts were discussed and it was announced that our first confirmed host is Barbara Manfredi. Barbara is a long-time resident, former principal of Bridge Elementary School and Education Portfolio holder of the Lexington League of Women Voters As a group, our hosts will work well as a team, represent different aspects of Lexington's community life/activities and, ideally, be recognizable to a good portion of the audience Individually, each host will be well-anchored in Lexington, having lived or worked here for a long time and preferably having served the community as a volunteer in distinguished ways Hosts will also be incredibly patient and cooperative, willing to take direction— able to "fill" as needed while being perfectly content to read from the short scripted lines Finally, hosts help make our guest presenters and audience feel comfortable during our Jam-packed festivities, guiding them through any technical difficulties! It was agreed to de-emphasize individual people who happen to be in an "important role" right at 9 22 11 for several reasons First, there are so many involved community volunteers that it would be impossible to honor all of them. Second, there are many people who have given 30, 40 or more years to town service Being the president of an organization right this minute is valuable, but we also want to represent people who were in leadership roles in earlier times, who may have even been involved longer! Suggestions were collected by index card and any further thoughts should be e- mailed a.s a.p Logistics & finding volunteers We agreed that this is a giant endeavor and we want a strong & large team in place Everyone is asked to help find friends who will save the 9 22 11 date and commit to serving as our logistics volunteers We would like to confirm 12 reliable people for LHS & 12 for Cary by December 1st We will certainly bring in additional volunteers, but will feel more secure if we know that we have a strong volunteer group in place We will not be too specific right now since we will need to refine placement as we get closer to the event Budget: Jessie provided a brief budget update following the 10 6 11 Department Chair meeting that she attended along with Kim Coburn, Sue Rockwell and Donna Hooper Sue Rockwell is working on building out the fundraising team. Afternoon Events The afternoon components were reviewed and everyone participated in brainstorming around the proposed All-Town Picnic and Country Fair The Country Fair will include inspiring entry categories to emphasize our themes Lexington Then &Now, technology, innovation, farming, community, civics, education Everyone had 2 minutes to brainstorm interesting categories on index cards Then Jessie read some suggestions from Diamond middle school's DI team including smallest pumpkin, largest weed, biggest ice cream cone, best answer to reduce global warming, best colonial item made from recycled materials Again, please e- mail ideas a.s a.p Fay Backert volunteered to serve as a Chair for the Country Fair! Three cheers for Fay!!!! Publicity' We discussed various aspects of publicity and agreed that we want to get out Save the Date info as soon as possible Tanya updated everyone on the web-site and expressed our need for a central person to help oversee the content to keep it fresh and accurate Cheryl Meadow volunteered to serve as a web-site editor/ content coordinator! Three cheers for Cheryl!!! Near the end of the meeting Sandy Kahn shared research on ribbons that could be used for a Country Fair These ribbons could also be worn by our Opening Ceremony team (vs t- shirts) They also have fundraising & awareness potential! Evening Events In response to the concern raised at our last meeting, assorted conversations took place and the Symphony decide to move their opening performance to the following weekend. All interested people should be on the look-out for season tickets because the Symphony has an incredible line-up of 300th special concerts and the tickets will surely sell quickly The 300th Community Dance is back on and the theme will be Dancing Through the Years 300 years of Dance in Lexington. We need point people for the dance! Everyone agreed on the next date for this group to reconvene Friday November 4, 2011 from 9 00 a.m. — 10 30 a.m. Participants agreed that 90 minutes is more realistic to cover Opening Day Events information. Evening Meeting. Turn-out was low at the last Evening Meeting, though it was still very productive! Tanya and Jessie would like to include as many people as possible and will try to set up another evening meeting. Any suggestions are welcome In addition, it would be so helpful if everyone can help recruit people, fill them in and let them know that we really need more volunteers and planners! In closing, three more cheers for the entire Opening Ceremony Team!!!