Chicklet
plays well with self
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2002
- Posts
- 12,302
I have just pulled myself out of bed after a terribly necessary nap.
The last few weeks have been a trial, and a learning experience. Last night the moment of truth came, hovered, and finally left, leaving me victorious in its wake.
In February, I became the leader of a kinky group in Portland, Oregon. The founder and former leader had moved on to bigger and better things, as the President of the Portland Leather Alliance. He didn't have enough time on his hands for Whipper-Snappers (www.whipper-snappers.org), a group for kinky people between the ages of 18-30. Think TNG, but with a slightly younger cutoff. He called me one day, and asked if I would take the group from him, and I agreed.
That first week I came up with a number of goals. Maybe they're part of a mission statement, if the group had one. Triple attendance. Re-do the workshop line-ups for beginners. Keep everything FREE or as CHEAP AS POSSIBLE! Create a library that the 'members' could access easily and use to educate themselves.
When I started attending the Whipper-Snappers munches last year, there were an average of eight people attending the monthly munch. The weeks before my first munch, I made as many contacts through the other local munch groups as I could muster, contacted the 18-30 crowd via collarme and myspace, and the munch in March had over 30 people.
My first workshop was in April. There was a very, very large attendance for 'Toybag Show and Tell," during which we talked about toybag 'necessities' for safety, and everyone got a chance to show their favorite toys.
Since then, we have done Flogging 101 and Bondage for Beginners. This month is Caning 101, and next month is a Relationship Discussion.
About three months ago, the founder of the group called me. When he was still in charge, he had signed the group up to be one eighth of the committee for Oregon Leather Pride Week (www.oregonleatherpride.org). The meetings had been in full swing for several months, but the next one was coming up soon. I attended, and discovered that my group was responsible for multiple events during the week. Whips-in-the-Park, and the First Strike Play Party. Financial commitments had been made, contracts for locations already agreed upon, and here I was, completely green with absolutely no idea where to even begin.
Between that day and August 2nd, I have been learning first hand what kind of preparation goes into a large community event, like Leather Pride Week. I have been learning by necessity the steps that go into throwing a public party. The group I took on is not one with a lot of money... or, any money... I've had the stress of the bills for this public event hanging over my head, and the worry that I wouldn't be able to pull it off.
I am here to share with my online community the news that my event was a raging SUCCESS. I brought in plenty of money to cover the event, and plenty for my charity, SMYRC (sexual minority youth resource center)
The turn out was excellent. The energy was excellent. The scenes were fun to watch, although I was too nervous to stand at any one place for very long. My friends showed up, strangers showed up, people who had never been to play parties before have been sending me emails all day telling me what a good time they had, and thanking me for helping them have their first experiences in the public scene.
I'm walking on clouds, everyone. And I wanted to share.
Thank you = )
x 12
