Mardi Gras Madness

A Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences Department Study Break

The Purpose of Mardi Gras Madness is to provide students and faculty a chance to mingle while taking a study break from Midterms. This event was hosted by the Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences Department and was held on the fourth floor of the Agriculture and Life Sciences Building at Texas A&M University on February 24, 2020. The event featured lunch from Razzo’s Cajun Cafe, king cake, games, and various prizes. 

During my volunteer time at this event, I was in charge of the check-in table and set-up. During set-up, I helped move furniture, hung the photo-backdrop, set-up signage around the building, placed linens and centerpieces. While stationed at the check-in table, I assured everyone who wrote their name did it on the correct colored notecards; yellow for students and green for faculty. Finally, I informed everyone about the event who came off of the elevator. 

Through volunteering at this event, I have learned many lessons that I will utilize in my future career as an event coordinator. The first lesson I learned through this event is the importance of always having extra supplies. During set-up, some of the balloons, which were bought to spell out “Mardi Gras”, were not blowing up properly. Due to this, the event staff had to quickly run over to Party City to buy additional balloons. Hence, if they would have had extra supplies as a precautionary measure, it would have saved them additional time and stress. The second lesson I learned from this event, is to always double-check with the catering company that they have supplied you with all the necessary equipment you will need. During this event, we learned that the catering company failed to bring knives and forks which caused many volunteers to run around rampantly trying to find some. Finally, this event taught me the importance of making sure your volunteers are attentive at their stations. While working check-in, I noticed many volunteers were wandering around and not doing their specified tasks. Hence, it is imperative, as an event planner, that you assure your volunteers are fulfilling their duties consistently through the event.