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| Songbird Tan Member's article: by Songbird |
There is a stark difference between the corporate world and the hash world which we proudly belong to:
Where else but in the Hash world (with countless mismanagement meetings coz without beer no meetings gets started he!he! ) where "profiteering" isn't the objective but to ensure that all hashers have lots of fun, jokes, golden fluids , a good run and last but not least, a good fellowship. This is the reward for a successful organizer!
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Some hash chapters have been accused of making a profit out of hash events. In GH5, we have gone beyond our charter to provide fun and a good a sweat during each run, but have profited intangibly by reaching out to help the under privileged children and orphanages that needed financial assistance coz the impact of such support and love is priceless. V-power, our ex-GM is an example of a great organizer and leader that had brought GH5 internally to a higher level of unity, and instilled a sense of purpose to externally to touch, heal and impact the wider community.
In order to prepare for a successful Hash Event, these check list or key points needs to be discussed in a meeting (mismanagement meetings lol!) Clear description of event must be spelt out, organizing committees named, whatever task are assigned and to whom so no menial task is missed. Which is categorized in such a manner for discussion:-
1) Date:- When we are choosing a date for an event we have to check our overall “hash calendar “, for fear of clashing with some major or important hash events which has been organized by other chapters or more so in other countries, which you think are popular events , that most hashers will not miss it, then we should ignore that date, and needless to mention major festive seasons, such as Christmas, Hari Raya , Deepavali & Chinese New year.
2) Venue:- We are normally spoilt for choice on the venues for our run, to organize a one day event to cater for smaller crowd, is just peanuts! But choosing one run site to cater for a larger crowd of more than 500 - 800 participants is never going to be an easy task for some!!
3) Running Trails:- This is the run master’s function to set an interesting run, be it short or long run, it must be safe and interesting to all participants.
4) Budget:- This is the most important department to liaise with, the co-ordination with other sections, such as the number of participants we wish to invite, food & beverages (especially the golden fluids), goodies, shows/performances. A lot to study on the collections and expenses , yet we normally have to have a buffer to fall upon.
5) Goodies/ sponsorship:- It has been a norm to receive goodies or souvenirs from host chapters, this department will cost a large portion from the budget. Normally we should seek sponsorship as early as 6 months before our major event, such as beer, T-shirts etc…, these will save almost half of the overall budget!
6) Number of Participants/Invitations:- This is very subjective, we should roughly discuss what number of participants we can manage, that leads to budgets/expenses , venue, we may decide on a certain numbers of participants, in order to work out the whole logistics of the event. The invitations to be extended to just for the peninsular chapters or overseas chapters, is to be decided by organizing committees.
7) Food & Beverages:- This is not an easy task, it involves choices of foods to be served, taking into consideration the freshness and hygiene during preparation at the run site, and working on the amount and quantity of food, is always a mouthful, normally should cater more than enough, rather than insufficient , you know, hashers are gluttons!
8) Theme of the event/ choice of event :- To choose a theme for the event is never that hard, it gives a lot of fun for hashers, whom will be cracking their head, to make to decide what to wear to suit the theme. Hashers are a creative bunch!
9) Programmes/Entertainment:- Hash events will never work without some protocol and programmes, in order to host a successful event, we cannot do without some hash shows and entertainment, and follow by all night long disco dancing, though some hashers may be dragging themselves to leave the function (drunk ha!ha!). Stage preparation and sound system is another element for the organizing committee to look into.
10) Others / Logistics:-
a) Site Preparation
b) Transportation / traffic control
c) Ground control & security
I have been in the organizing committee for some small and major hash events. It is my great pleasure to share , my 2 cents worth of experiences and opinions with you, fellow hashers, ON ON
Thank you for reading!!
By Mildred Tan a.k.a Songbird
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