"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
- Helen Keller
Introduction
Team 1 was assigned to plan and organise an I.T event at the Atrium event from 8th to 10th May 2012. The Overall In-Charges (OICs) were Hema and Lucas. The Logistics ICs were Boon Keat and Leo and the A&P ICs were Shaaa and Jonathan. We started planning early and even made a pre-poster for our event to create awareness for our event. The I.T. Fair was initially named Eat & Buy I.T. Fair as we were supposed to have of food vendors participating in the event. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, they were withdrawn. Though we were rather sad and discouraged about this, we managed to pull ourselves together and decided to contact vendors selling accessories instead. We even changed the name of the fair to Style & Shop I.T. Fair to accommodate to the wide array of items that would be sold at our event. We used the pre-poster as a benchmark and ensured that all the subsequent posters which we designed were consistent to the pre-poster. The initial sales target was $20,000 but was changed to $15,000 in view that the food vendors have withdrawn. Now that all the preparations were in place, let the show begin!
Day 1
Team 1 members reported to school at 7:30am whereas Team 2 members reported at 8am. We started moving out the fixtures from the fixtures room at 8am and set up booths according to the floor plan. Leo was stationed in the fixtures room taking records of the fixtures that were taken to the atrium while Boon Keat was stationed at the Atrium with the floor plan to instruct the rest on the placement of the fixtures. Set up went on smoothly and we were able to commence sales at 10:30am. Everyone adhered to the manpower list set up by the OICs. On the first day, we had Youth.sg at our event giving away free candy floss and popcorn to students who ‘Liked’ their facebook page. The atrium was relatively crowded and we received many enquiries from the students about the duration of the fair. Tear down for the first day went on smoothly and we received a total of $8,023 in sales which we were happy with.
Day 2
The set-up for Day 2 was relatively slower than Day 1 as we only managed to complete it at 10:20am despite having to set up fewer booths. Some vendors were late but it did not affect the crowd flow. Getting more familiarised with the fair, students came strolling in at 10:30am. Even though there were no more freebies on the second day, the crowd turnout was better than Day 1. However, there was a dip in sales and we received $7,760.40 for the day.
Day 3
As it was the last day of the event, most of us have become experts at setting up our booths. Hence, we managed to complete set up just before 9:30am. Students and staff immediately flocked to the fair and bought the items which were on sale on the last day. The response for Day 3 was definitely the best among the three days and the team members assigned to manage the respective booths were busy handling customers. Tear down for Day 3 started earlier as we needed to tear down the banner as well as the stage. And to our surprise, we managed to receive a whopping sales figure of $10,380.60 for that day!
Conclusion
We managed to exceed our sales target of $15,000 by quite a huge sum as we achieved $26,164.00 for all the three days. We were elated to know that our hardwork and teamwork were paid off handsomely. We also received positive feedback from all the vendors working with us.
Here are what some of us had to say for the event:
“It was a great opportunity to be liasing with external vendors and planning for such a large-scale event!” – Shaaa
“It was…… AMAZING!” – Boon Keat
“A memorable and great learning experience! :D” – Leo
“A major success!” – Lucas
“The IT Fair has benefited me in many ways such as allowing me to be able to handle a big event and react quickly to problems and to find solutions to solve them effectively." – Jonathan
We would like to convey our heartfelt gratitude to our supervisor, Ms Quek, who has been guiding and mentoring us all along. The encouragement and knowledge she has given us were priceless and we have learnt a lot from her. We would also like to thank Team 2 supervisor, Mr Sudesh, for lending us a hand when we needed one. Last but not least, we would also like to thank Ms Siow and Ms Choo for sharing their expertise and encouraging us. We have learnt a lot from this event and we appreciate the dedication the supervisors have put in. Team 2 was amazing and helpful throughout this whole event.
And finally, Team 1 was formed not by chance- but fate. The friendship we have made throughout the stopover will definitely go a long way.
Thank you for the opportunities, EMRS!
