Notes For Make A Buzz Attendees 2023, Thursday, May 11, 5:45 PM

These are some notes for ticketholders, you can share the link https://liveworkplay.ca/make-a-buzz-attendees-2023/ with other members of your party who would not have their email listed from the original ticket purchase. If you have questions or concerns contact rebecca@liveworkplay.ca for anything related to seating or dietary needs, contact keenan.wellar@liveworkplay.ca for anything else. If you are not sure, hey, you can email both of them! Just try to do it sooner than later – the afternoon of May 11 is definitely not a good time to reach them, they will be hauling auction items, setting up cords and cables, and the rest of it, so getting in touch on Wednesday is ideal.

What is on the menu?

A flavourful chopped salad, chicken supreme (chicken breast with savoury cream sauce), mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and cheesecake with coffee or tea. There are substitutions for every dietary need, just let rebecca@liveworkplay.ca know about it if you have not already, and then notify your server if there is any error – we have a seating plan and are in communication with the banquet hall caterer, but with 200 people and a wide variety of unique meal requests, the occasional error might occur – just let them know and they will fix it right away. A tip if you are used to an early dinner – although we will be getting started quite quickly (see below), the food won’t hit the table right away, we do have a few ceremonies to open up the evening, so a late snack before you leave work or home is a great idea.

What time should I get there?

You might be used to coming to these sorts of events and there’s a “cocktail hour” so when it says it starts at 6pm they really mean 7pm. This is not that. A great time to arrive would be 5:45 (you’ll have to navigate the area and the parking and we highly recommend using your GPS to plan your trip, as there may be road closures or traffic issues that weren’t a problem the last time you attended) and we really appreciate people coming on time so we can start the proceedings about 6:15. Yes, really! If we have everyone through the door and finding their seats by 6:15, we’ll get started with the welcome message and we’ll actually have our first set of awards before the salad! There is a cash bar on site and that’s where a lot of people head right away – just a piece of advice, if you can wait a bit, it clears up almost completely after the initial rush.

What is the dress code?

From the LiveWorkPlay perspective, we don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable, and there is not a formal dress code. Probably “smart casual” would be the best advice, but if you don’t know what that is and don’t feel like looking it up, the general advice is put on something fresh from the closet that makes you feel good about yourself, and we’ll be happy that you’re happy.

What are the expectations as an audience member?

This is a very social community, it’s rare that we’ve ever heard anyone say “Gee, nobody was talking.” We sometimes have the opposite problem, it can be hard for people at the microphone to get a word in, even with an amplifier on their side. We’ve taken that desire to be social into account, and we also strive to not have the evening go on too long – what we need from everyone in attendance is to do their best to give the speakers their focus and attention when ceremonies are happening on stage. We’ve worked hard to keep them as short as possible while still properly honouring the recipients and providing enough information that even those who are new to LiveWorkPlay can understand what’s going on. Please try to put your conversations on hold whenever we fire up the microphone. It will show respect to everyone and help us stay on schedule.

I heard there’s an auction and a 50/50?

You bet there is, but it’s all online! The best way to enjoy it is to use the AUCTRIA app which is in the App Store or Google Play store, and we recommend that you add it is soon as possible, as the auction is already 100% live! After you register with the app, just use the “find an auction” and enter buzz2023 and we’ll also have these instructions at your table. You can also go to https://bzbz.ca/buzzauction2023 which is a shortcut to https://event.auctria.com/958e37e8-0076-4789-b4f2-9438993596e6/ (in case the shortcut doesn’t work). You can participate through a web browser, but the experience with the app is even better.

The 80 items on auction will all close automatically at 8pm on Thursday night. We will be able to bring your winnings directly to you or your table in most cases! There is also a 50/50 draw, we have real tickets for that, but you pay for them online, they are items #1 (2 tickets for $5) and #2 (10 tickets for $20) in the auction. If you buy them before the event, we will have them ready for you when you arrive. If you buy them during the event, just show the receipt on your phone to the 50/50 team, and you’ll get them handed to you. (You can always buy more, anytime before 8pm). If you buy online but aren’t coming to the dinner, don’t worry, we write your name on the tickets and put them in the hat with everyone else, if you win, we will announce it live and of course we will contact you with your winnings.

Will there be photography?

Yes, and we also roll video. We sort out the video afterwards and post it on our YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter channels (as actual videos and/or links to the videos). We don’t post random footage, the focus is on the presentations and awards, but a video camera will be in a fixed position capturing a wide view of the entire audience, so yes, if you are snoozing, you will probably get caught, and that’s OK, you had a busy day.

In terms of photography, you’ll mainly see LiveWorkPlay staffer Chris Floyd snapping photos, he needs to focus on the stage when ceremonies are happening, but he loves getting table photos, solo shots, or small group shots of guests, and generally, he will ask first. It’s also just fine to go right up to Chris and let him know if you don’t want your photograph taken. Just be aware that we may have photos and videos that pan the entire room and also individuals will be using their own phones and cameras to take pictures of friends and loved ones, so if there is any issue with this and you don’t feel comfortable attending the event, we will provide you a full refund, just contact keenan.wellar@liveworkplay.ca. And if you are excited about the photos, you can also go right up to Chris and say: “Can you please take a picture of me at our table” and that’s great he’d love to help. The photos will be posted to our Facebook page, and if you see one that you really like, just email Keenan if you want the original file.

What about accessibility?

St. Anthony’s is an older banquet hall, but it has a large lift that accommodates any mobility issue. It does require an assist from the St. Anthony’s staff to operate it, and they are always happy to do that, but sometimes it just takes a minute, so we appreciate your patience. We have captioning on videos shown in the presentations. We do not have live captioning or live interpretation for the speeches, but Keenan can provide you with digital or paper notes to all of the presentations as an alternative (please ask for this asap). Many events like this happening around the city are charging as much as 4x the regular admission to Make A Buzz, so we appreciate your understanding about some of the limitations. We are trying to keep the event financially accessible while at the same time, if people do not feel included, a lower price won’t help with that. We appreciate your understanding – LiveWorkPlay does not have a special events staff, so everything you will see on Thursday night is work that our team has done in addition to their regular full-time jobs. We will continue working hard to find ways to make our events as accessible as possible: financially, mobility, socially, culturally, you name it, we’re thikning about it and we always take your feedback very seriously and try to do better.