A recent new member to Primetime (welcome to all of you by the way!) wrote me after I had accepted her application to our group and mentioned how amazed she was at the diversity of events we manage to put together in this group.
I cannot express to you how much that message warmed the cockles of my heart.
This group was founded on the idea and in furtherance of diversity, both in events and membership, and although I still feel we still have some room for improvement on the latter, one thing is clear.
You guys are some very cool dudes and dudettes, and I for one am proud to be associated with you.
Let’s keep up that energy. This group is called Primetime for a reason. So let’s continue to live up to our name.
Primetime’s Fifth Anniversary Picnic (A Note From Louise)
A Great Big THANK YOU to everyone who braved the heat and came out for the PrimeTime 5th Anniversary Picnic and made it such a great success! It did my heart good to see everyone chatting, smiling, enjoying the wonderful food, and having a good time connecting. I enjoyed meeting some new people, and hope you did too. It also seemed somewhat appropriate that we hit 800 members during the week we turned 5 years old!
Of course, an event like this doesn’t happen by chance, and we are grateful to everyone who contributed food and games. I want to give a few shout-outs, however, to those who went the extra mile to make our day so enjoyable:
Barbara Abbate was my right-hand person from day one! She drove us all over the city to many Austin parks until we found one with the space, shade, restrooms and grill we needed. She helped in writing personal notes to members who have not attended an event in a long time, and she volunteered to accompany me on a lengthy shopping expedition to buy hamburgers, hot dogs, two little grills, the cake, and other necessities. I cannot overstate how important and helpful it was to have her assistance and opinion, and especially her company on all these tasks!
Gregg Perry devised the survey that was so helpful in determining how much we should buy. Last year I over-bought and a lot went to waste. This year we were spot on! Even though not everyone answered it, we used a ratio to “guesstimate” what we’d need. Gregg is working on making it a little more user-friendly for the next event.
Patty Watson arrived early and helped set up the tables and buffet.
William arrived early, brought charcoal, assembled the and grills we bought, helped get the fires started, and worked as a Grillmaster!
Jerry M and Michael Glacken also volunteered as “Grillmasters” who did a great job with the burgers and hot dogs!
Michael Glacken and Dinah stayed late and helped with clean-up and returning things to the car.
And last but certainly not least:
Greg White who is my chauffeur, go-fer, and hauler! He packed the car, unpacked the car; made countless trips up the hill bringing the food, games, grills, etc.; and put up the PrimeTime signs. When it was over, he helped undo it all, too!
In addition to those who helped with the picnic, I want to give shout outs to our other event hosts for the month, including Anne, Greg, Louise, Martha, the other Greg, Andy, Jeffrey, Penny, Lynn, Heidi, Robert, Barbara, Patty, Deborah, Mireya, Nancy, Michael, Clare, and we managed to sneak in an extra movie night to say goodbye to Roger Corman despite the weather postponing our regular movie night (which was rescheduled for June 14).
We couldn’t do this without all of you.
Another Very Important Reminder
Our event hosts put a lot of thought, time, effort, and sometimes their own personal money into these events. It can be very frustrating when members who have RSVP’ed Yes to an event, especially a limited attendee event at a restaurant or venue, suddenly cancel an hour or two before, or even worse, during an event. We all recognize that emergencies come up, and sometimes you just can’t make it. But all of us need to respect our event hosts and try to make such last minute cancellations at least 24 hours in advance. Repeated violations of this policy will need to be reviewed by the Leadership Team.
Take care of yourself in this heat, but also don’t let it keep you indoors all summer Primetimers. To coin a phrase…Winter is coming…and will be here before you know it.
Gregg, on behalf of Louise, Andy, Barbara and Patty
Wonderful, Gregg! Thank you! I love the graphic for the RSVP reminder! Also, Andy asked me the other day at Happy Hour what I say to people about what makes our group special, and it’s exactly what you said above. Many groups focus on one kind of event, such as hiking, dinners out, pub crawls, dancing, etc. but our strong point (in addition to our wonderful members) is the number and diversity of the events on our calendar. There really is something for everybody. If you think something is missing–post it as an event~ I’m sure you’ll have others who will be happy to join you!