The Opportunity: The Asian Business Students Association is a big organization with approximately 200 members per semester, so there is a need for communal events to keep people connected to each other and to the association.
The Outcome: Lead a team of 9 towards the vision for ABSA’s two end-of-semester banquets that cater to over 200 attendees. assets, and others. Constructed and oversaw an end-to-end process that included managing event logistics, outlining and executing fundraising ideas, collaborating with external teams to produce marketing assets which collectively contributed to the success of the banquets.
The Background
After a semester of accomplishments professionally, philanthropically, and academically, ABSA has always traditionally put on a celebratory banquet for its members. It is a time for everyone to take a moment to look back at the new memories made and prepare to send off the graduating seniors.
There are many crucial aspects of ABSA’s end-of-semester banquets that contribute to how much members enjoy the banquets, including theme, venue, script, member awards, and others. Thus, the main opportunity was how to pull together all the assets of planning and funding two banquets that would meet member needs and exceed their expectations.
The Process
Luckily for me, this was not a one man job: I worked closely with 9 others in order to make our banquets come to life. ABSA had a total of 7 branches and I was under Internal Branch because we were the team that was most focused on serving our current (internal) members.
1) Interact with members on a daily basis to gauge members’ interests and satisfaction with the organization. Being part of UT Austin also means that students have an endless list of other student-run organizations that they can choose to join if they do not feel heard or important within ABSA. That’s where Internal Branch comes into play.
2) Utilize direct member feedback when planning ABSA’s banquets. An example includes when we decide on banquet theme. The two themes that my team and I selected were “Chronicles of ABSA” and “Soar to Neverland”.
3) Oversee the production of marketing assets, such as promotional videos and strategic social media banners on various platforms, with help from ABSA’s Publicity and Media Teams. Working with these two committees gave me exposure to real-life conflicts that occur in a collaborative environment when there are a multitude of projects occurring. With compromise, empathy, and proper in-person communication, we were able to resolve the intergroup conflicts by reestablishing an appropriate schedule that was cognizant of both parties’ timelines.
4) Arrange and execute two fundraisers. The first fundraiser is an ABSA tradition: selling homemade dumplings on UT Austin’s campus. For the second fundraiser, I pitched the idea of selling macaroni and cheese on UT as well. After some discussion and a voting, we decided to move forward with macaroni and cheese.
To also encourage more bonding amongst members, both fundraisers are positioned as cooking socials. Thus, I forecasted a sales estimation, mapped out food preparation logistics, built awareness regarding the two fundraisers internally and externally, plus more. Collectively, over $2,000 was raised from these sales to finance the end-of-semester banquets.
5) Set up and host the banquets. With teamwork and member-centricity, the two end-of-semester banquets were successful with over satisfied 200 attendees each. Witnessing members shed bittersweet tears, excitedly take endless amounts of photos, and laugh wholeheartedly was such a rewarding moment for my committee and I. 10/10 would do again.
Key Learnings
Being ABSA’s Special Events Director was my first professional leadership experience in college. When the last banquet was wrapped up and I completed my last few duties, a feeling of bittersweetness hit me that my role as that director was finished. However, as I continue pushing forward with new leadership positions, internship opportunities, and others, I’m thankful for the insights and transferable skills that the Special Events directorship equipped me with. My main two takeaways:
1) Customer-centricity is the foundation of practically, everything. Whether it be creating a product or planning an event, every significant decision should be based off of the target customer base. Although “club member” isn’t exactly synonymous with “customer”, ABSA essentially caters to members’ needs and wants the way a firm would. To retain current members, to transform individuals to loyal members, to have a good brand image, to increase positive word-of-mouth marketing, and to attract new members are all crucial tasks that can only be accomplished if one pursues a customer-focused mindset.
2) There is no such thing as over-communicating. One of the key factors as to why the conflict with ABSA’s Media Team prevailed was due to lack of communication. I believe that miscommunication or poor communication is also the root as to how many business conflicts end up unraveling. Assuming that the other party received the information, correctly interpreted it, and will remember the message is risky. Therefore, it is more efficient to regularly check on to see if your information was accurately received by the other party. It is crucial to keep in mind that even if one perfectly communicates a message multiple times, misunderstandings can still occur. Communication issues can never be entirely eliminated due to people’s different perceptions, but constant communication can help reduce the frequency of these occurring.
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