My first run as an event planner, part 1

So the first event I planned and executed from beginning to end for my job at Wildlife Conservation Network was held on March 1st, 2008 to benefit our Painted Dog Conservation Project (PDC) which is helping to conserve and protect the African wild dog in Zimbabwe. (check out our website, www.wildnet.org, for more info on PDC.) The reception was held at the private home of my boss, Charlie. Above, you can see that one of Charlie's three cats, Chloe, took exception to us holding a dog event at her house and decided to make it all about her by laying on the admission table and the guest name-tags all day!
Here I am looking very official with my clipboard and chatting up one of our board members! I look HUGE next to her! Notice I cut all my hair off?

My first run as an event planner, part 2

The band....I brought in this marimba band (marimba originates from Zimbabwe) and they were awesome. The music they play is this wonderful beat that really makes you want to dance!
The presentation....This is Peter Blinston and Jealous Mpofu giving a presentation to our guests about the Painted Dog and their work opn its behalf in Zimbabwe. Peter is the Director of the program and Jealous is the lead tracker and a local. He talked about his life and how much it has changed and grown since coming to work with PDC. It was really moving. This was his first time to the United States and he was overwhelmed, especially in our stores. He just kept saying, "It is all so much."

My first run as an event planner, part 3

The crowd....we had about 60 guests give or take and 23 volunteers working the event. Charlie, the executive director of WCN, has an amazing house for entertaining. in the picture above, people are perusing the silent auction materials which we set up on his pool table!
The food....we have this great uber volunteer, Kennon, who does all of our catering without charging WCN a dime. It is always the most amazing food, especially the desserts! We also sell artwork at the event like the painted dog piece you see above. I bought my first piece of artwork at this event. It is above the mantle. Whenever I get the apt. in order and finally post the furnished pics of the place, you can take a look at it!

My first run as an event planner, part 4

Here are some of our guests enjoying dessert. The man in the green khaki shirt is Greg Rasmussen, one of our conservationists. He is the Director and founder of Painted Dog Conservation.
And the money comes rollin' in! We raised over 60k through admissions, donations, and the silent auction. For the silent auction we had these amazing snare wire art animals like the giraffe seen above. The villagers in Zimbabwe take apart the snare traps set for the dogs by poachers and hunters and turn them into beautiful animals that they then sell for economic profit.