Guests to be Added to the Invitation List
Many of the large cocktail parties I host given have been co-sponsored events with a charitable organization. In most cases, those have worked out extremely well, both for Boston Convivium and for that organization. In a few cases the charity did not follow through with what they were supposed to. Currently over 50 charitable organizations approach me every year about co-hosting events, and most of them I have to say no to. I have written this page to explain what our expectations are.
We are also open to co-sponsoring parties with artists that wish to display their art at my parties, as well as art galleries that wish to display their artists.
I have a list of over 4,200 people who like to attend high-end parties and events. My group is highly educated and in most cases financially successful and civic minded. In my group there is high level of enthusiasm for attending my parties.
I give large cocktail parties every 3 or 4 weeks, usually at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel or the downtown Harvard Club of Boston. 400 to 500 people attend my Ritz parties, while approximately 250 to 300 people attend my Harvard Club parties. Admission to the parties is free (I do those on a pro bono basis) and there is a cash bar. Approximately half of my large cocktail parties have dancing.
I am open to co-sponsoring any of my large cocktail parties with a charitable organization. I will provide the venue for free and attract a substantial number of people to the event.
For those who sign up as new guests at my parties, you will be provided with an electronic copy of the information provided by those guests, unless they decide to opt out. You will be able to raise money at the event, as well as publicize your cause, and to recruit members for your organization.
No doubt your organization will indirectly raise money through my parties like soliciting donations in the future and recruiting people to join your organization. From the party itself, we do not charge an admission fee for the party. There are, however, three possible sources of fund raising:
For some parties we are willing to have a casino night. You must be a 501(c)(3) organization. Please see our page on how to set this up. Please note that casino nights require substantial staffing.
You will need to appoint one person who can speak for your organization. This person must be a decision maker — i.e., they can make the decision themselves, without having to consult their boss or someone. If that is not the case, I should be dealing with the boss.
I am not interested in dealing with more than one person; I simply don't have the time or energy.
Sometimes I speak with a member of a committee. If that the case, that person must have the de facto authority to speak for the committee.
The individual I deal with must return telephone calls or e-mails quickly — i.e., within a few hours. If he or she is not good at this, I do not want to deal with them. If they are too busy you should appoint another person or wait until they are less busy.
If you deal with me, I make decisions quickly. I have no interest in multi-year plans. I will, in most cases, give you a decision on the spot or within 24 hours. I expect the same from you.
I expect the person I deal with to be competent — they do what they say they will, they follow through, they get things done.
Whoever is the primary contact must remain through the event. I do not want to deal with a new contact in the middle of the process.
Whoever you appoint to deal with me, please choose that person carefully. If after interacting with them I conclude that they do not have the characteristics listed above, I am personally going to call it off, and it is very likely I will not give your organization a second chance with another primary contact.
You will need to have three greeters who will work solely under my control — to check in guests, to make certain guests wear nametags, to sign in prospective members on the computers. These greeters should wear cocktail party dress. They will need to be at the venue by 5 p.m. and stay until 11 p.m. We do not want a rotating crew of greeters, with multiple shifts; rather, we want three or more greeters who will work the entire evening.
One of these greeters will be the supervisor and should have the maturity and experience to supervise the other greeters.
These three greeters will work exclusively for Boston Convivium. You should have additional people to staff your tables and exhibits.
In addition to the three greeters you provided that will work under the control of Boston Convivium, you must be able to provide sufficient staffing for the event — e.g., selling raffle tickets, managing the silent auction.
You should bring three or more notebook computers, which will be used exclusively for signing in prospective members for Boston Convivium. These notebook computers should each have their own power cord, so that we are not dependent on battery power. These computers should be running the Windows 2000, XP or Vista operating system. Each should have a USB port. These computers should be at the venue no later than 5 p.m. and should stay at the venue until 11 p.m.
These notebook computers are in addition to any computers you will need for your tables and for exhibits.
One of the primary benefits for Boston Convivium in co-hosting parties is that the charitable organization provides the home and e-mail addresses of people who will be invited to my parties. Typically these names are provided at least three months before the event. They will be invited not only to the party we are co-hosting but all of my other parties.
In order to minimize the chances of those on your e-mail list from being annoyed at being invited, we suggest the following procedures:
A few organizations have stated that they will not provide their e-mail list. This is a non-starter. We have far more charitable organizations than we can handle and it makes the most sense to work with those that can help Boston Convivium expand its membership.
We expect the charitable organization to bring a substantial number of guests to the party — 100 guests at a minimum, 200 hundred guests being more likely.
We will need to have an invitation system to invite guests and to send follow-ups to those who have not responded. The system must be setup to send follow-ups only to those who have not responded so that those who have responded do not continue to receive e-mails. In addition, a reminder should be sent five days before the event.
I will need to approve whichever invitation system / process you use. If you want you can just send out e-mails and track the responses manually. (I do not recommend this, but this is your choice.) If you have your own invitation system, great, use it. Otherwise, you might consider HeyLetsGo or Evite. I prefer HeyLetsGo, but each of those systems has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Since you will be sending invitations to your list for the party we are co-sponsoring, I will not invite those people to that party.
Once we agree on the issues, I will prepare a letter agreement spelling out the issues listed on this page. I purchase companies for a living and I am used to a dozen drafts of a purchase and sale agreements being circulated with extensive in-person negotiations of each comma. When dealing with my parties, however, I would like to avoid that.
The letter agreement will be in English and will be consistent with this page and what we agree to. I don't mind if you propose a few changes, (If so, please blackline your changes using the Track Changes feature in Microsoft Word), but if it comes back with lots of changes, I will quickly lose interest. I have no problem if you want legal counsel to review this letter, but I am not interested in the normal legal minutia that lawyers are so proud of. If your lawyer has specific issues he is concerned with, in most cases I will propose a conference call with you, your lawyer, and myself. In such cases, you might prefer to call from the same room so that the two of you can caucus confidentially. Alternatively, you might consider using instant messaging software to talk to each other, while we are on the phone. (I have used AOL instant messenger for this purpose and it worked very well.)
If you are interested, please have your primary contact e-mail me (include your telephone number). If you are not the primary contact, rather than saying "Call X", its better if X calls me directly. When we talk on the phone, I will be asking you about the issues on this page, so please think about these issues before we speak.
When I speak with you, I will ask you about how you will publicize an event — do you have a PR agent, which editors do you know, etc.