A few reviews are in:
Meaghan of Spoonfed wrote on her personal blog a very kind review.
Chris of Londonist made a brief report and also took some great photos.
Andrew Webb wrote on his blog Eyedropper about how much the whole thing sucked and his friends thanked him for bringing ham to snack on in the comments.
I can take compliments and criticism, but neither are really easy to hear when I'm a bit of a perfectionist and feel that things could be done better, but also know that some things that need improving arent in my control.
I cant speak for the rest of the team, but it was a learning experience and a lot of things happened in the last few days before the event that caused us to be spread thin.
On Thursday we had a plan. We had a chart of stations, how to conduct flow, and how to make sure everyone received their tastings.
We got ambushed.
But I admit Andrew is correct when he says we failed at having at least the cocktails ready. I think we were a little surprised about this too, but I figured it'd be under control by the time the first...uh oh...people are coming in and ... well, if you were there you know what happened.
I've hosted plenty of dinner parties. I put my name out there on this thing. I was not going to go down without a fight. What's funny is that we all had friends there who were willing to be patient, enjoy the company of others, and have fun. There were a few people who seemed to miss the point of the experience, or perhaps just didnt understand it. Fine. But ya know what: ASK!
This was not a smoothly run process. We spent more time in the kitchen than we did getting to mingle and see what people were thinking. This is what our tutors would call 'artefact iteration' where we test our ideas, incorporate the feedback, and try again.
While this has been designed as a series, who knows when/if another will happen. I'd like the opportunity to try again and get it right, but the other part of me is now scared that if it still doesnt go well that I'll feel a sense of failure.
We worked hard. Really hard. Yes, there were typos in the book (our control) and not enough alcohol (budget controlled), but there were people who came, ate, and enjoyed and I need to concentrate on those people who really gave the experience a chance and not let one negative voice break me.
km
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Hi Kate - I am a friend of Andrew's and was with him for the Feed your Imagination evening. I'd like to just respond to a couple of your comments:
ReplyDelete"We were ambushed."
Well, if you put 7pm on your tickets, people will tend to arrive at 7pm.
"There were a few people who seemed to miss the point of the experience, or perhaps just didnt understand it. Fine. But ya know what: ASK!"
OK, fair enough. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough to talk to you or the other organisers on the evening. I would be honestly grateful if you could explain the concept to me now - I didn't understand it at all. I'm aware it's very easy to be dismissive of arty concepts and a great deal of the art world will be forever beyond my comprehension, but I want to at least say I tried.
"This was not a smoothly run process. We spent more time in the kitchen than we did getting to mingle and see what people were thinking. This is what our tutors would call 'artefact iteration' where we test our ideas, incorporate the feedback, and try again."
Can I suggest that when you are in the testing phase, as you say, then you don't charge people full price? £30 was a lot to pay for what amounted to a few plates of cold veg (albeit cooked by a top chef) and a couple of weak cocktails.
Finally, I can see you have worked very hard on the evening and you all seemed like lovely, enthusiastic people, as I'm sure you are. I'm sorry to have to say I didn't enjoy it, but I wish you all the best and good luck with any future events.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thanks for attending and for your honest opinion.
Probably I am not objective and I agree that the leaflet could have been simpler but really, 6 of my contacts (from completely different backgrounds) came and they didn't find the leaflet impossible!
We should have spent more time talking with the audience and letting them ask, share and challenge our idea. WE WILL TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT NEXT TIME!
I know that Dr Gaye really made an effort to communicate and explain the whole concept but she probably didn't approach your group. I am sorry you didn't have the chance to share your comments with her or any of us, we would have tried to improve your experience somehow but thanks for your honest opinion.
María
Hi Kate
ReplyDeleteI've come a bit late into this, but as you probably know I wasn't overly impressed by the event. I'm not entirely sure what the concept was supposed to be, and the booklet didn't shed much light either. Perhaps we should have sought further clarification from someone there.
I know that there was more to the £30 ticket price than just the food and drinks, of which there was a scrum to get to, but what I took umbrage with was to be told by yourself that it was a "dress rehearsal". I don't think it's fair to charge people £30 for a dress rehearsal.
I wish you well in the execution of your future events.