Every fundraising event looks effortless from the ballroom floor. The check-in line moves, the program lands, the paddles go up. But as Kirby Cathey will tell you, that ease is manufactured on a random Tuesday weeks earlier, when someone was digging through the banquet event order and asking, "if this goes wrong, what's plan B?"
On this week's 501(c) Drop, BetterUnite CEO & Co-founder Leya Simmons sat down with Kirby Cathey, Account & Event Specialist at BetterUnite, for an unfiltered conversation about what event day is really like when your boots are on the ground. Kirby has worked over 1,000 events, starting as a seven-year-old volunteer trailing her mom at setup and eventually running that same annual event herself before joining BetterUnite. Today she spends her weeks reviewing campaigns and her weekends running check-in tables from Austin to Nantucket. Here's what she wants every event lead to know before fall season arrives.
Kirby's timelines start with the hard anchors: start time, end time, venue access. Everything else gets built backwards from there, and the most common gap she sees is buffer time. If your VIP reception opens at 5:30, volunteers arriving at 5:15 is not a plan. Work backwards from every anchor, pad the in-between moments, and treat your volunteer schedule as its own variable, because without those hands, one person cannot do everything.
Her rule for volunteers: on site 60 minutes early at a minimum. That hour buys seating, briefing, a walkthrough, water, and a bathroom break, and it means the person running check-in feels confident instead of ambushed. Her pro tip is to hold the pre-event volunteer training on a live call and record it. She has watched volunteers arrive early, pull up the recording, and scrub back to the part they forgot. Everyone on site stays calm, cool, and collected.
Asked for the single biggest event day timeline mistake, Kirby didn't hesitate. Picture it: the program starts at 8:00, the fund-a-need begins at 8:30, and someone closes the silent auction and clicks the button that sends every winning bidder notification at once. Right in the quiet moment of the ask, the room lights up with phone screens and dings. The speaker is connecting guests to the mission, and half the audience is checking whether they won the wine pull.
The fix is simple: close bids before the program if you like, but send winning notifications well before or well after the fund-a-need. Never during.
Every timeline change touches a vendor, a room flip, or the guest flow. Preplated desserts need dessert picks ordered. A shifted arrival time moves VIP check-in. Kirby's guidance is to lock your core timeline two to three weeks before the event, then let the final stretch be about execution rather than renegotiation.
Kirby's signage principle is worth taping to your planning binder. Walk every guest path with a clean mind, as if you have never been to the venue. Anywhere you don't instantly know the answer, you need a sign. Where's the ballroom? Arrow. Where's the bathroom? Sign. Where's the silent auction? Sign. Guests should never need staff intervention to find their way, and your check-in team should never double as a directory.
That principle showed up in one of her favorite saves. At a large venue with two parking lots, check-in stats showed only a trickle of arrivals fifteen minutes after doors. The reason: hotel guests were entering through a second, unsigned entry point and walking straight past check-in. The team sent greeters and mobile check-in iPads to the far door, recovered the night, and wrote signage and pre-assigned bidder numbers into the debrief notes for next year. That's the pattern she teaches: watch your check-in data in real time, and treat a quiet line as a signal, not a relief.
Some of Kirby's most memorable events won on inexpensive touches. One organization ran year one of its auction with no displays, just a QR code in the program, and the auction fell flat. Year two, they added simple auction displays and a few more items, and results jumped. Displays double as engagement, giving solo guests and early arrivals something to do.
She has also seen on-theme flash tattoos at an animal organization's event, custom hat stations, photo booths, and typewriter poets, none of them major budget lines, all of them the thing guests mention on the way out. The goal is to turn "that was executed well" into "I can't wait to come back."
First-time guests and longtime donors need different versions of that experience. First-timers need hand-holding and a clear why from the moment they arrive. Longtime donors need to see what their money did: last year's impact, this year's vision, and a path to stay involved. Both messages have to be strong, and both belong in your program plan.
Something will shift on event day. Kirby's honest admission is that her own instinct is to panic-solve, and she has learned to resist it. Her three-step play: assess the problem, communicate to get the right people involved, then solve it once. Without that middle step, three people solve the same problem three different ways while other stations sit uncovered.
She also plans for the moment training evaporates under pressure. Assume people forget everything you taught them, and build the paper backup: scribe sheets with instructions at the top and "return this to" at the bottom, one-page cheat sheets at every station. And a word for executive directors and development directors: stay out of check-in. Your job is to mingle, build donor relationships, and talk about the mission. As Kirby put it, leave check-in alone. She'll call you if she needs you.
For anyone planning a fall event, Kirby's do-it-now list is concrete: confirm your volunteers now, while they're making their own fall plans, and get ahead of marketing deadlines tied to sponsor promises. If a logo goes on a t-shirt, those shirts have a print deadline, which means those sponsorship sales need a push today.
And her advice for a first-time event planner is the perspective that anchors everything else: it doesn't have to be flawless. Guests will never notice the backwards dessert pick. They will remember how the night made them feel.
Transcript Recording:
Leya Simmons (00:06)
Hi everyone, welcome back to today's 501c drop. You're not coming back to today's 501c drop, but you are coming back to the 501c drop. So welcome to today, Tuesday, August 4th 501c drop, where I get to be joined by my good friend and colleague, Kirby Kathy. She is our account manager and event specialist. And she is going to talk through every little, probably not everyone, right, Kirby, but many of the like
Nooks and crannies. Yeah, I know, right? Exactly. We've already talked
Kirby Cathey (00:36)
Do we have all day?
Leya Simmons (00:39)
about this. This was our conversation before you guys joined us, was how we can and particularly Kirby, but go on and on and just talk about this like forever. So I will I will mostly be minding the time today, I think. But Kirby is our event specialist. She has gone to over a thousand events in the last few years. She's going to talk to us about run of show, the things that you aren't thinking about when you're looking at your check-in.
⁓ every little part of the of the plan that you need to have and how you can best execute these events when your boots are on the ground. So welcome, Kirby.
Kirby Cathey (01:16)
Thanks for having me. I can't wait to talk about my favorite subject. So I can't believe I've never been on one of these before. I I could talk about them all day. Yeah. So thanks.
Leya Simmons (01:19)
I love it. I know, right? Isn't that so strange? I well, and here we go.
This is like this is your opportunity to talk about it all all day. I'm trying to stop my share here, but it's taking me a second. So I apologize that those of you who are watching, I'll talk about that. Those of you who are watching are seeing ⁓ that I can't stop sharing my presentation. But you also have a lot of different ways that you might be joining us. So if you are joining us live.
Kirby Cathey (01:40)
No.
Leya Simmons (01:45)
Please say hi in the chat. Ask any questions that you might have. it is, because something a little bit strange is happening. It's like covered up my my ability to pause my share. Kirby, can you do it from your end? Stop sharing. Nope. I jumped around to a different thing. Small technical difficulty with the share here, but okay. I'm gonna jump in. And while Kirby figures out if she can stop my share from my from my my screen here that is frankly just saying this is who we're chatting with.
Kirby Cathey (01:57)
See.
Leya Simmons (02:15)
I would like I really can't do it. Can you do it, Kirby? I like I don't know why. You see that it's covering it up? Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (02:19)
Yeah, it's it's here, I'll try to just share something else. Yeah,
I'll I'll share something else. Isn't that funny?
Leya Simmons (02:25)
Okay, we'll we'll we'll figure it out here in a second. But what I would like to do with all of you today, and those of you that are joining us by podcast, you are also able to get the transcript and the show notes from our webinar section at betterunite.com/slash resources. But we're gonna start out with some nonprofit fundraising ⁓ data and news. So
Grants and major funding funding. The Denver Foundation's Reichsher Scholars Program awarded $3.25 million to CU Colorado University Denver on August 3rd. It's part of a broader $25 million statewide initiative marketing, marking, excuse me, the program's 25th anniversary. She did it! Way to go, Kirby. Supporting the first generation and transfer students across Colorado. Very exciting news.
Yesterday also marked the beginning of Black Philanthropy Month, and more than a hundred thousand dollars of funding has been allocated and it's just waiting distribution to Black-led nonprofit organizations. This whole effort is presented by, organized by, and promoted by the Black Black Movement. Better Unite is a very proud data provider to the Back Black Movement and their efforts around Black Philanthropy Month, right here, right now in August.
To collect data and understand better the philanthropy that is pointing towards Black-led nonprofits. So these funds will provide critical infrastructure and resources to Black-led nonprofits. So if you are interested or you know somebody that should be, go to backblackmovement.org/slash get-funding for details and you can apply there as well. And also on August 3rd,
The Nonprofit Finance Fund launched a $3.7 million initiative backed by the Prudential Foundation to provide capital and financial guidance to community development nonprofits in Newark, New Jersey. And today, on August 4th, the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service opened a $500,000 funding opportunity for agricultural nonprofits and universities to lead technical assistance projects supported.
Supporting, excuse me, eco-friendly biofertilizer adoption in Vietnam. So if you are an NGO and looking at anything like that, let's go. On August 4th, Purpose-driven Commerce Platform Plus Shop announced a partnership with tech infrastructure firm Change. The integration lets schools, nonprofits, and brands automatically capture charitable donations from everyday online shopping during our back to school season.
And also on August 4th, global malnutrition nonprofit Mana Nutrition detailed a domestic expansion of its good spread retail peanut butter product, directing 5% of operations toward domestic food bank supply to build resilience again federal against federal foreign aid policy shifts. And finally,
Community health updates on August 4th highlighted that food pantries are seeing up to a 20% spike in local demand following recent federal SNAP work requirement expansions. Nonprofits are responding to this call by scaling up corporate sort surplus food recovery software and expanding volunteer delivery networks to meet the gap. Lots is happening out there, as always, but I'd like to get back to ⁓
Today's conversation. Kirby, you wanna hear a secret about me?
Kirby Cathey (05:57)
Yes, absolutely. What is it?
Leya Simmons (05:59)
secret just between you and I and everybody joining us
on this call and listening on the podcast later. I actually started the University of Texas at Austin, ⁓ Hookem. And I thought I was going to be a broadcast journalism major. That was my first major. Isn't that crazy? That is not what I graduated with. I know. And I just got to do it. Isn't that cool?
Kirby Cathey (06:20)
Yeah, I was like, Your cadence is really awesome. I thought you've you've done this for years, so
Leya Simmons (06:22)
I I I practice
I was a I was on my high school newspaper staff and then I was like, you know what? I and then I was also like in plays and stuff and I was like, Ooh, let's combine those. But then I had this thought. I literally decided like part way through my freshman year that I didn't want to talk about interesting things happening to other pa people. I wanted to go out and do it. So I switched over to being an intr and like a comparative governments major. But I I felt like I was gonna be more in the throw. So, you know, anyway, and now here I am, CEO of the tech.
company helping nonprofits. Whatever. Okay.
Kirby Cathey (06:55)
I think
I should we should our next one should be me interviewing you. Have we done this already? Like that's ⁓ I think we should. because you're talking to an Okay, fair enough. ⁓ well, okay, back to me, Leah. Hello, I'm kidding.
Leya Simmons (06:59)
Yeah.
I'm just old enough to have a long story.
Let's start with your. So this is
actually with the you're taking me right to my first question. I want to hear your story. How did you become fascinated? We are like Kirby is our energizer bunny around here. She loves events, loves the travel that's involved with going to events for a software company and managing all of our contractors and everybody that shows up at your events. Like, what what what brought this madness and craziness to you? Tell me, tell me how you came to nonprofit events.
Kirby Cathey (07:34)
Yeah, a little bit of crazy. You know, I have always really loved nonprofits. So when I was, you know, seven years old, I'd volunteer at these events. And funny enough, my first job out of UT Austin was at a nonprofit and in the development team. So ⁓ those that same event, I turned in from a volunteer to a, you know, lowest rung events, you know, event support and then part-time and then full-time, and then I took it over and then took it over for years.
And then Adopted Better Unit as well. And so, you know, I I've seen the from the first hand experience, just even personally from a nonprofit side of event day logistics and the problems that you see and how to overcome those. So it's super awesome. I didn't really introduce myself, but account and event specialist. And so ⁓ a cool thing about my job is that I look at campaigns all day. I can I see where the, you know, hey, this is a common thread that
lot of people are doing identifying some gaps for people as well. So some things that ⁓ that I really enjoy too are going to the events. You know, I just came back from from Nantucket last weekend and, you know, going, going and just running check-in because right, your your on-site event manager, what are they doing? They're figuring out why table 34 doesn't have a chair and talk to the caterer and let me take over check-in and let me train your volunteers.
Leya Simmons (08:45)
That's right. Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (09:03)
So we'll we'll get into more of the nitty gritty in a little bit, but ⁓ but yeah, that's that's my gig. Yeah.
Leya Simmons (09:07)
So seven years old, Kirby. That is impressive.
I did not I knew you had a long backstory, but I did not realize that it extended to seven years old.
Kirby Cathey (09:16)
Yeah, well,
let me tell you, I followed my mom was the main volunteer and it was kind of like, Hey, can kids come? You know, it wasn't it was the setup of the of the event. And you know, the one that I end ended up running, it was, you know, 20 years, 25 years, like it's an annual one. And really just follow follow mom along and say, All right, put all put all this stuff out. And I was like, Okay, like this, like this, yeah, perfect. ⁓ so talking about
Yeah. I know, they're the best. They really are.
Yeah, so great question. I mean, in particular, I knew that I okay, so my dream job when I was little was I want to be a business lady. So what does that mean? What does that mean? I want I like spreadsheets. I like I like planning stuff, I like executing. You know, I didn't know those things at the time, but I want to be a business lady. And ⁓ and but I really like the thrill and excitement of like I want every day to be fun also. So I
For a good cause. It's like the the over, you know, what starts here changes the world kind of thing. I know. I know. It's just like every year a new element came in. you know, Kirby, what's your dream job? I don't know. This I wanna do good, make positive change. You know, as a seven-year-old, you know, I'm just kidding. I didn't say that, but I was like, I wanna, you know, I wanna help people. I like helping people. So, ⁓ but in terms of like what was the defining moment of going like, yeah, this is this is it. I like this. ⁓
You know, it's just kind of that even in the volunteer role that turned into to helping the real, like seeing the back, you know, ⁓ backstage or behind the curtain of wow, there's a lot that goes into it. And I was talking to a ⁓ a donor and she was like, you know, y'all make this look easy. And I go, that's because on a random Tuesday I was digging through the BEO and I and I was thinking about plan A, plan B, plan C. Okay, if this goes wrong, what could I do there? You know, so
How do you make it look easy? I and I like it elevates my energy. Like even talking about it, I was like, wow, yeah, let's go. How can we improve for next year? ⁓ so I guess that's really the the the twist of going like, yeah, events are for me within the first one or two years of just planning one. But I I mean I knew I loved hosting in general, like generally speaking, but and having like the little little decor and having everything that the logos
spi t twisted outright, like my Starbucks not Starbucks, the K C up maker. You know how all they all have like you twist the the the logo on the front? Gotta twist those. ⁓ I'm one of those people. So
It's it I was gonna say it's a blessing and a curse as anyone who has ⁓ experienced that themselves because you go to a wedding you go to a wedding I went to two weeks ago and I go, I should have told her about that I knew that would happen, you know. It's like it's it's it kinda hurts a little bit, but it's also fun. So yeah.
Mm.
Obviously, I think the the hard the hard anchors, right? We have our start time, we have our venue. When can we enter and all this stuff? So you know your anchors or start time or in time. And some of the in betweens, as in silent auction in time and when does auction or when does the, you know, registration open? And those are the things that I usually see or give the most ⁓ feedback on because people don't really give themselves some buffer time in between. ⁓ you maybe like
Okay, we have a VIP reception opening at 5 30. Well, your volunteers are getting there at 5 15. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. You know, so talking about a timeline in terms of the event execution, you know, you have your right, your okay, so your anchors, and then kind of working backwards from that is probably where I'd go. ⁓ in particular, volunteer is another variable that always will affect that timeline, in my opinion, because without the hands,
You know, you're kind of running with your a chicken with your head cut off, going like you can't one person can't do everything, right? So ⁓ it takes a village to pull off and you gotta trust those people too. So ⁓ even back start your end time and back it up, back it up, back it up, prevent trainings, things like that. So I'm kind of going all over the place, but
Not gonna call out anyone. Yeah, so ⁓ the the biggest okay, so the the biggest mistake, let me think about this. So at an event, you know, when they bring me on site, we'll close out, you know, all right, check-in's done, we're in the program, program's happening, and the ⁓ you know, the mission moment, the fund of need is occurring, right? And they I I mean
When I'm there, I don't let it happen. But I have seen it happen and heard about it where their say their program starts at eight o'clock and their funded need starts at eight thirty. Well, their auction, their silent auction, they're clicking the button to award all of their winning bidder notifications go out during a quiet moment of your funded need ask. You're supposed to be connecting with, you know, the speaker, connecting with the mission, and this is why you're making positive change for the world. And everybody's getting a ding. When you get a ding on your phone, what are you gonna do?
Or, ooh, I want something. I gotta go. And so I see the the urge people to okay, it's fine if you want to close your stop taking bids during your program, during the funding need. Cause you know, every program it's always ⁓ you know, so and so came late and then it's y it's you're gonna nobody's on time, always a couple minutes over, fifteen minutes over sometimes. ⁓ but really
If there is that ⁓ level of discrepancy and timeline, don't ⁓ send a text out during the quiet moment. That is the biggest mistake and the one that hurts my heart the most because I you I mean you can hear it in the room. You can see lights, you know, now on their phone going, why are you looking at your phone? Stop it. Look at the screen.
Yeah, so that's probably the biggest mistake in an event timeline that that I personally see. Yeah. Hmm.
Yeah. Well before well before or well after. And and even, you know, you can stop taking bids on so they know that they won, but at least just not sending out that notification that they did. ⁓ depending on, you know, your needs and everything. But so yeah, a hundred percent. Before or after, not in the thing.
Mm.
You know, I guess the the core timeline for sure in two to three weeks, because what does this affect? You know, it affects if you're preplating your desserts and you need dessert picks to go inside of them, when do I need to get that that marketing th tool over there and you know, all these different basically two to three weeks is what I would say. And then, you know, because every change affects a vendor or a room flip.
Or, you know, the guest flow, sh sh are they arriving earlier now? Does my, you know, VIP check-ins suddenly have to start later and so on. So two, three weeks, honestly, is the is what I would say. But what do you think?
Mm.
yeah. A hundred percent.
Yeah. The the first thing that came to mind when you asked me that just now was the what time do you tell your volunteers to get there? Cause each person, yeah, you also you know your volunteer base best, but also if I want people to be seated, briefed, walk through, bathroom, food, snack, whatever it is, water, I 60 minutes early at a minimum having those people arrive just because
I I person that's against what I personally like. I want to know what time am I working, what time am I seated? Because I want to do my own timeline. That means I'm gonna get an hour and a half hour early and I'm gonna park and I'm gonna do all the stuff, you know. But but some people, you know, you said six o'clock. No, the people are arriving at six o'clock. I haven't even re- you know, all it's just kind of madness. So in your own timeline for ⁓ because somebody's has to run this check in, you know, somebody has you those people I want to feel confident in their role.
having a buffer time of just from the very beginning, having those people arrive early. And it also gives you the opportunity before a VIP check-in or something to walk through different scenarios of, okay, we're having a raffle today. And some people might forget that information and go, yeah. And but ⁓ the pro tip there is try to get on a live phone call with those folks because the and record it because what I see is that I I'll do this for people. ⁓ you know, if I go on site like get a pre-event
check-in training and I'll say, okay, you know, you you have the the basics on what we're gonna talk about. I send out the recording and I'm watching I it's awesome to see, but I'm watching them get there early and they're watching their video and they're skimming through and go and they go, I forgot what she said there. Scroll through and I was like, yes, because also it it helps the event manager feel better and, you know, on site it's what everybody feels nice, calm, cool, and collected.
Yeah, and and then but that delay on the other side, right? It just throws everything off. 'Cause if you have people walking in brand new, okay, now all two people are good, now the line's getting longer and it's like, ⁓ Yeah, domino.
Yeah, well and the and the other thing too is I mean it's I'm just I've been touching on check-in mainly, primarily, but also it's those revenue enhancers, those raffle sales people, the point of sale, the, you know, ⁓ selling well, whatever it is, bubbles and bling, right? So it's it's like, whoa, what is Kirby, volunteer, what is this about? They go, I don't know. You know, so ⁓
Leya Simmons (23:12)
Never never seen it
before.
Kirby Cathey (23:15)
Well, they skipped the briefing and the mistakes cause guest confusion and, you know, operational chaos, but ⁓ not as not as y you know, catastrophizing, but it is I do think it's just in invaluable, very important. So yeah.
Leya Simmons (23:20)
Yeah.
So would you then
would you do would you say a different timeline for like a fun run as opposed to a gala for those volunteers and check in and everything else that's coming pr prior to the event, I guess?
Kirby Cathey (23:37)
I mean, yeah, definitely
I guess so. I mean, in a fun run in particular, you know, we have a morning gala, you know, luncheon, we have a fun runs, fun runs and golf tournaments make me nervous because of the why early morning check-in. And so my volunteers, I need you to get there at six thirty because the guests are arriving, you know, the golfers are arriving at seven, seven thirty. And so ⁓ those in terms of timeline buffer for those I mean, it just volunteer wise.
Leya Simmons (23:45)
Golf tournament, that's another one.
Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (24:05)
Yeah, I mean you gotta you gotta have to more legwork or get get there earlier 'cause that's the most stressful s it's the most stressful part and you know, you gotta gotta be have a plan B.
Leya Simmons (24:07)
Thanks, Jennifer.
Have some extras, maybe. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. All right. All right.
So we've got our timeline. There's our skeleton. ⁓ that's, you know, how it felt. So let's now talk about the the feeling of being at the event, the experience that we want people to have. What is a detail that is like so tiny that you think a development director would maybe never plan for it, but you think that they should.
Kirby Cathey (24:43)
Let's see. Well, I did I did talk about the the auction, you know, winning bitter communication. Cause that's that's that's ⁓ causes so much chaos in terms of staff time and the guest time because they they think they're skipping the line, you know, they're getting they're getting there early, they're doing a good thing, but ends up being organizationally like, gosh, I'm writing, I'm scribing. Right? Yeah, I'm I'm scrubbing you know, or even just you know, staff time, they they're scribing and everything. There's no one over there to take the item or you know.
Leya Simmons (24:47)
that's a good one.
Hundred percent.
Well and also you're leaving revenue on the table. Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (25:10)
check them out or give them the item. And so now you have people waiting in the foyer and not looking at the program. ⁓ talk about tiny. Let me think about that. The other thing I was thinking of is having an activity or something to do during the ⁓ which I mean, I feel like that one's pretty obvious, but I have been to a couple of events where ⁓ it was a strip bare. It it was executed really well and it was great, but really it w there wasn't as much engagement or like the
Leya Simmons (25:11)
yeah.
Kirby Cathey (25:36)
Maybe the the energy was flat whenever you just arrive and I I'm having the small bites and chatting with my friends, but where's the photo booth that I can, you know, promote for this event or where's the an extra revenue enhancer during my time or even auction displays? I think this is gonna come into a future question, but ⁓ I think auction displays are just something to something to do. A little activity, it really like pushes pushes the the experience along. It makes me want
Leya Simmons (25:38)
Mm-hmm.
I hear you. Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (26:03)
Instead of like that was good, you know, that was executed well. I had an airline chicken and, you know, no nothing to write home about. ⁓ but I I n I wanna change that into I wanna come back, like that was whoa, that was super fun. Say something like that. So I don't know, did I answer your question?
Leya Simmons (26:15)
Yeah.
Okay.
No, I love that. I think that's
actually a really good one too, that I don't think a lot of people 'cause you know, those all sometimes when you're i I I can say when I was development director and when I was working events, like each one of these things that we're discussing, particularly when it comes to like a revenue enhancer, it means more effort, time, what have you, organization. If I'm gonna find and source raffle items, if I'm gonna like pull these.
But but what what I'm hearing you say, and I ⁓ completely agree with you, is that those things are very important because it makes the entire evening feel like a cohesive evening, feel like something that was interesting and fun, and it wasn't just like you said, go sit down, eat your chicken, watch a show and then leave, or maybe even go to the after party, like you know, great. But but if you had some other
parts in there that made it more engaging, then then it's becomes something that people will remember better.
Kirby Cathey (27:14)
Yeah. There's a ton of fun, fun, like budget ⁓ sensitive ⁓ activities that even I mean, well, you'd like a revenue enhancer, but I've just seen so many cool things that aren't a big line item in your budget that it just makes like wow, I remember that event for that specific thing. I wanna I wanna do that next year. I didn't get the opportunity this year. I I can't wait to go back. ⁓ so things like that. Yeah.
Leya Simmons (27:31)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Like you mentioned photo booth. ⁓ we said raffle. I'm thinking like Bidboard is another, ⁓ wine pull, what's one?
Kirby Cathey (27:44)
There was yeah,
well, there was another one ⁓ that I haven't heard any other fundraisers talk about, but it was a ⁓ flash tattoo. I don't know if that org is in there, but it was so interesting. I'm going like, what are y'all doing over there? It's I wasn't I didn't expect that, but it was for a ⁓ a ⁓ animal rescue. Well, not really rescue, but anyway. ⁓ they and they were doing, you know, on theme kind of fun flash tattoos.
Leya Simmons (27:52)
⁓ that's fun.
Kirby Cathey (28:12)
And I just thought there was the the cutest thing. It was you know, not free, you had to pay for it, but there's other other ones like ⁓ you know, the hat. They they made their own hat, you know. cowgirl hat, cowboy hat, whatever. ⁓ it's really successful.
Leya Simmons (28:22)
cool.
⁓ I've seen that. And you know, another one I was thinking of is there's the typewriter,
typewriter poetry or s r po typewriter rodeo where they they like type up a poem for you. And then another one I was at that was fun that I still have the drawing somewhere. My friend and I did, where they like they did a drawing, like a fashion line drawing of you and your friend and your outfit and it was really cool. Like, yeah, so all of those things. And you're right, none of them are insanely expensive, but they are like they've stuck in my head. I've I've experienced these.
Kirby Cathey (28:54)
Yeah. So if there's something yeah. Something something that fits on theme even better. You know, how can we weave in even even your mission too? I mean, like I was saying with the the animal related one, you know, the flash attitudes you're doing cute dogs and cats and stuff like that. I want I want to give you fifty dollars for that. I don't know. It's it's so cute. So anywho.
Leya Simmons (28:55)
Good idea.
Right.
What do you feel about so I'm gonna shift here now to like room flow? So how how do you how do you feel about signage or the way that the room is set up? Are there broad strokes kind of tips you can give us on that front?
Kirby Cathey (29:22)
Leah.
Okay, everybody listen to this. The principle is simple. Every guest path, okay, so everywhere they every entry point, I I want you to turn your brain off with a clean mind. I've never been here before, right? Turn your mind off. And if you know the answer, if you don't know the answer, you need a sign there. So if there is a vert, you know, yellow brook and a lane that way, what do you need? A sign that has an arrow. ⁓
Leya Simmons (29:30)
I guess so.
It had.
Kirby Cathey (29:58)
It just it w I want it to be obvious without without staff intervention where you don't necessarily have to have a greeter there. It would be great if you did, you know. follow me this way. But some of these hotels, there's thousands of ways to get there, right? You know, there's the elevator and the escalator, and it's on the fourth floor and blah blah blah. So many even there's other creative ways. Exactly. I've seen a lot of creative solutions to that too, where it's like they had a sticker on the ground over the escalator, or you know, if if
Leya Simmons (30:10)
yeah.
Chicken's on the third floor, but the event's on the fifth and yeah.
Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (30:27)
Yeah, it's like a vinyl sticker. The peop hotels will allow you to that. But ⁓ the answer is absolutely. Absolutely. And I I mean, I just no I don't want any questions. Where's the bathroom? Bathroom sign. Where's where's the silent auction? Silent auction sign. So but some people, you know
Leya Simmons (30:35)
Sign it.
Yeah.
Okay. Cause otherwise, you know what
happens is the people at check-in get asked all this litany of questions from all these people and you're like, okay, you know, so we're we're having to train the silent auction folks on where the toilets are, where the silent auction is.
Kirby Cathey (30:57)
Yeah. But
also, yeah, it's just an extra an extra th thing that guests feel, you know, l I hate feeling lost. I hate being somewhere the first time and going, I don't know, where is it? I've asked fifteen t times where is you know, so ⁓ it small touches that can be, you know, lower budget, you can you can make it happen. But anyway, yes, absolutely.
Leya Simmons (31:05)
Yeah. No idea. I know, right? Yeah.
Another one
too, Kirby, to that point is that within the guest link that we send folks, so with BetterUnite, you get a guest link that you get texted as soon as you walk up and walk into the event, and you can make visible to your guests what table they are seated at, what table number. And that way, like the sign is in your is literally in your hand. And you can instruct the check-in staff to say.
Click through that link and actually the body of the text will also tell them what table they're at. But I always like use that as a reason to get them to click through the link, which has other knock-on effects, and then they know where they're sitting, even if they forget the table number is like right here. So is your bid number, by the way. If you lose that too, it's both here. ⁓ okay, so do you have a story of a like little fix that you saw an organization make or a small tweak that totally changed everything?
Kirby Cathey (31:56)
Yeah. Exactly.
You know, interesting enough, I was thinking I was thinking of because my position, I go to these events in real life. Sometimes I don't see the background or, you know, the reasoning behind the staff time or whatever the case is for these decisions to be made. But ⁓ year one that I went, it was the there's one one event that they didn't have auction displays. No auction displays.
So, you know, I love I love that. It's okay. ⁓ you know, they ha that's one way to do it, as my mom would say. ⁓ but you know, in the program maybe they had one QR code that some of the people they don't, you know, that they didn't want to take the program. That's they didn't look at the program. ⁓ and so the auction fell flat and they didn't even really know there's an auction. And maybe they the silent auction.
Leya Simmons (32:47)
I yeah, yep. Yeah, just yep.
Kirby Cathey (32:56)
And so, although it was mainly because, you know, that there was not a mint not a lot of items and everything, but even just that that decision, just now I'm comparing it, the same event, year one versus year two, where they had an auction display. And now there's a couple more items in there. And suddenly, wow, the auction did really well compared to last year. What well you look at that.
Leya Simmons (33:18)
Wow. I mean which also
can be another engagement tool, like having your silent auction out as just something to do and go and look at especially if you were like by yourself or, you know, wandering around, you kind of I love it. No, that's a good one.
Kirby Cathey (33:31)
Yeah, so I mean
Leya Simmons (33:32)
do
you how do you think about the guest experience when you're thinking about maybe like a first time attendee or somebody that your organization has never really, you know, engaged or or even known and versus ⁓ your, you know, one of your longtime donors. Do you do you have any thoughts on that?
Kirby Cathey (33:48)
Mm.
I mean, I guess the the main difference in terms of events is that like the the first time donor they they need some hand holding, you know. So I want as soon as they arrive, kind of that ⁓ understanding of not just like let me back up. I want them to feel like the why. Why are you here? But also as soon as soon as you enter, I I want the signage as well. That's where I was coming back to. I like 'cause longtime donors that go come year after year to the Hilton, to the JW Marriott to the
Leya Simmons (34:10)
⁓ that
Kirby Cathey (34:20)
Blah, blah, blah, golf tournament, they know the deal. They know why. They've given before. And so for those longtime donors, you know, the to capture them is to see how did their money affect positive change in this organization's mission, right? So, you know, in that funding video, you're showing what what did we do with your money last year and recurring, recurring, recurring. How can we make you even better? Post event reach outs volunteer opportunities and things like that. So ⁓ all around saying,
Leya Simmons (34:24)
Mm-hmm.
Kirby Cathey (34:50)
you know, how here's how you can stay involved, you know, for that first time donor and in honestly the long time too, but ⁓ the the first time first timers I need ⁓ like why really push through that why. Why are we here? Mm-hmm versus, you know, our long time.
Leya Simmons (34:55)
Sure. Right.
Big why. And it can't hurt for the longtime
donors to see that too, right? Like it's great for but that's a great point, Kirby. Just like to be thinking about, you know, we we both need to all rearticulate the why and wrap up folks in we took your money that you gave us last year and look what we did. So it's just really those those are truly two different messages and they both need to be strong. Very good one.
Kirby Cathey (35:29)
You're right.
Leya Simmons (35:31)
Okay, this is the part of the conversation that I honestly think that most of the people are very hungry for. ⁓ because I mean, I feel like no matter how good your plan is, I'm sure there's a saying here that I can't think of, but like something's gonna change it and shift it at some point. Like, this is going to happen. So, this whole thing was called real talk with Kirby Kathy. So, Kirby, here's our real talk. Ready? What is the one thing you wish every event lead knew about how event day?
Kirby Cathey (35:33)
Attention.
⁓ hey.
Leya Simmons (36:00)
goes. Like when the boots are on the ground, what do you want them to know?
Kirby Cathey (36:04)
Okay, pretend I want you to this is kind of mean. I want you to pretend that people forget everything that you taught them. If I if I forgot everything that I told this volunteer, what's my plan B? So what does that mean? I have a piece of paper with the four points that you need to say. And if you forget everything, refer to your paper. Or or even if there is ⁓ let's say at revenue enhancers or sorry, maybe the scribes.
Leya Simmons (36:14)
Mm.
Kirby Cathey (36:33)
During the program, people are listing off the the bitter numbers. One, two, three, give five thousand. Thank you. One, two, three. I want instructions at the top. At the bottom, I want who to return this piece of paper to and where. ⁓ because ⁓ if you forget ever you know, in the in the throes of things where someone didn't show up and now Kirby has to go do it, I'm looking at this piece of paper and what is this? The instructions say what to do. Says who where does it go? Okay.
Leya Simmons (36:36)
Right.
good one.
Yep. Yep.
Kirby Cathey (37:02)
I don't need to talk to anybody. I don't have to go rush around and, you know, find somebody's phone number. So honestly, small things like that are probably what make an event manager's life or anybody on the development team's life a lot cleaner, happier for event day. So
Leya Simmons (37:18)
Yeah, because you kind of never
know what you're gonna have to throw at somebody and if and whether or not they in the rush of everything got a full explanation of it. So that's such good advice. So when when you do have something that goes sideways, which we all know is just going to happen inevitably, what is the first thing that you do before you even fix the problem?
Kirby Cathey (37:32)
Mm-hmm.
Good question. My and this I'm guilty of this. I am a panic sol not the instinct is panic solve, you know, jump straight to like how do we fix it right now? Fix it. ⁓ and that's that's great. But also ⁓ really I mean, communication is key. So some of the cool events that I've been to that are larger where these things you it just inevitably do happen. You know, I had a little walkie-talkie, table thirty-four doesn't have a chair. And so ⁓ okay, heard.
And I volunteer, get up. I'm taking this chair over there. ⁓ so really the steps, the series of events, you know, and send it, send a text to the group chat really quick, get the right people, solve. ⁓ because the reason why it's so important, because you might get three people solving the same problem in three different ways, and now are wasting two of you know, I only needed one person. I got it. Got it, heard, fixed. ⁓ but it just
Leya Simmons (38:07)
Yeah.
Sure.
Kirby Cathey (38:34)
creates confusion rather than than clarity.
Leya Simmons (38:37)
So communicate and
find clarity. Yes, I love this. Okay, here we go, people. This is this is the real stuff. How do you keep a volunteer team calm and focused when the room is as energetic as we want it to be? Everything is like buzzing and everything is just moving and moving and moving really quickly.
Kirby Cathey (38:41)
Yeah.
energetic. Let's see. I mean, I well, I wanted to say or initially, I got distracted for a second. My dog went off the room. I want to say initially, which is telling like everybody's what was the question? Is volunteers? The volunteers keeping energy high?
Leya Simmons (39:12)
Yeah, how do you keep your volunteer team
calm? How do you keep them to like stay on task, you know, like do the next thing when i everything is frenetic around them?
Kirby Cathey (39:22)
well that's a I mean, honestly, I I'm pro probably just speaking the choir. But it is like, okay, here's my team, my four people. You here's your one role, and then next we're moving on somewhere else. So I don't want you to stop and pet the dog and go over there, but also your job. Here's the here's just the finite, here's your here's the scope of my of my my opportunity here. Do this. What what do you think? I don't know. Chunk it down.
Leya Simmons (39:43)
Do this one thing. Mm-hmm. I mean, I agree with that. I also,
I mean, you know what's funny is like one one of the things that I'll say is ⁓ is, you know, just like at check-in, I'm like, okay, you you you complete this job before you have your glass of wine. And for the scribe, same thing. I'm like, you no drinking until the end of this because I've just, I mean, how many, I'm sure this has happened to you, Kirby, too, but like sat down and the person next to you at the check-in table is just drunk. And you're like,
Kirby Cathey (40:00)
yeah.
Leya Simmons (40:11)
You're this is causing more harm than good. Like please leave. But they're this important donor and you can't ask them to leave and also we're the can you know, hired help. Anyway, I just like that's one of my big ones is like if I've given you this job, you do it and then you get to drink, but you do not get to drink and do this job.
Kirby Cathey (40:13)
Yeah.
Wait, that's a good point. I usually just say,
I can see this is yeah. Maybe you need to take a break for a minute. I say, help. It's so funny.
Leya Simmons (40:33)
No, I I'm meaner than Kirby.
Okay, what is the biggest curveball you've seen on event day and how did the team recover?
Kirby Cathey (40:45)
let's see. ⁓ personal experience for this one was it was kind of a small, a small thing that ended up, you know, it wasn't a big deal, but also in the event planner brain going like, my gosh. So personal pulling from personal personal experience, excuse me, ⁓ we had preset desserts, right, on the table. Every dessert had a dessert pick. It had a logo and it had an image. And guess what? And well, in the BEO that we've
Dug through and perfected. Amazing. Doesn't always pan out. And you know, I did a little check-in, going, peek in there, see how's it going? Are we almost done? Presetting desserts. Awesome. what do I see? ⁓ they're actually all they're all the all the picks. Thirteen hundred.
they they were about five hundred in when I spotted it, but ⁓ and this is early morning used to luncheon. And ⁓ I I needed logo out, face, you know, the image out, you know, every other one inverted.
So that's what we promised the the sponsor. And so ⁓ what do we do? Don't panic. It's okay. Communicate, get the right people. Let's talk to the let's talk to the the person and then whoo.
Leya Simmons (41:57)
So you so wait, so
your sponsor's logo was upside down?
Kirby Cathey (42:00)
Well, it w it was backwards, right. It's supposed to be it's supposed to be f you know. And it anyway, what has been promised, you know, I have to make good on. So ⁓ that was just one that, you know, kind of event a horror stories, you you could go not they're not horror. Okay, well, they're all fixable. It's all it's all good. But also, we could all probably I could probably go back and forth all day on on wow. Remember that one thing you learn from that.
Leya Simmons (42:05)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
For sure.
⁓ I mean Emma has one, right?
That there was a bear that walked in to the event that, you know, whatever. Anyway, there's a there's a million fabulous and terrifying, frankly. Sorry. Okay. How much should an executive director or a development director be in the weeds on event day versus being with their team or doing anything else, absolutely anything else? That's such a leading question. ⁓
Kirby Cathey (42:33)
yes, yes, I remember that.
You know the answer.
You know the answer. Do not be stuck at check in checking
in somebody. You know your job. It's to go mingle. I need you to I need you do your perfect. Talk about your organization, build donor relationships, get those people to tour your facility. Go get them secured for volunteer opportunities. Talk, you know, anything else, leave check-in alone. Leave me alone. I'll call you if I need you.
Leya Simmons (42:57)
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
And and it's so and also now having I I did not get this until I was on the software side or the event support side, but because it also
A lot of the times when the development director is up there or an executive director, they're slowing things down because people are now talking to them and they have full blown conversation. It's not like they can like take their major donor and just like, you know, look so you just need them to not be there like that the end of it all, like you're saying. Yeah, that's a good one. How about a sign mid-event that things are going off the rails before it becomes obvious? Is there something that we should look for?
Kirby Cathey (43:38)
Mm-hmm.
You know, good question. Actually, ⁓ this a couple of instances came in my mind. ⁓ there are some events where you have two check-ins or a different station or the check-ins not in the same space or something that like that. So if if you know guests are arriving at six o'clock, you know, you're near ready at six o'clock, it's six fifteen. Okay, there's a trickle. Like this is kind of weird. You know, usually they maybe there's you're looking at your check-in stats ongoing okay, and a lot of people not a lot of people are here. What what's going on? ⁓
Leya Simmons (43:59)
⁓
Well.
Kirby Cathey (44:18)
So on, you know, at six fifteen, six twenty, okay, something's something's off. And ⁓ and so in in particular, you know, I was at this event where in eye shot I could see there are those people did not come to check in. You know, I need you to get a card on file. I want to send you your text message. I want to send tell you what table you're at. I want to give you the program and the spiel. ⁓ but as soon as I spotted that, going, ⁓ there's another entry point. It's because this huge facility, there's a
huge facility with a different parking lot that you know the instructions were guests y'all arrive here or there's ballet or so on. But well they were staying at the hotel and they had a different parking lot and they came from a different area. And so and so they didn't they didn't know ⁓ you know any better because why? No signage. and so and so we're back yes. And so what did I do? Panic? I'm just kidding. ⁓ don't do that. We sent some greeters over there. So
Leya Simmons (44:56)
Smoopy buggers.
Yeah.
We're back.
Kirby Cathey (45:14)
We sent people, you know, either a mobile check-in, so iPads, iPhones, you can go over there, do a mobile check-in, grab a stack. ⁓ just to mitigate some of those people, you know, send the rest of them over to us if you can. And that's obviously in the debrief notes for the following year. Well, you know, prop proper signage, you know, pre-assigned bitter numbers. Now they're going on the tables. There's all kinds of ways that you can mitigate some of these things. So ⁓ yeah. If you before it becomes obvious.
Leya Simmons (45:21)
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right. I like it.
Kirby Cathey (45:44)
Why where's everybody? ⁓ okay, fifteen minutes have passed. So
Leya Simmons (45:46)
Where did you go? That's
awesome. Okay, so I feel like I skipped a couple of questions here.
All right.
Kirby Cathey (46:00)
Are we are we doing an hour or thirty minutes? Are we past?
Leya Simmons (46:02)
I
you know what? We're supposed to be close to finishing right now, but I feel like I've got no we okay, we did these. Yeah, gosh, probably we're plowing through our questions. I still have a whole other page of them. I don't know why I'm saying it like this. Okay. I want to do a lightning round with you. That's why I was saying this and I was checking on my things because I want to make sure that if we if we're gonna get if we're already at lightning round that I've gotten through at least what we wanted to make sure that I made that people got to. Yeah, no, we got through a lot of this. I'm proud of us. Way to go. All right.
Here we go, ready? Lightning round, lightning round questions. One thing that you would tell someone planning their very first in-person fundraiser.
Kirby Cathey (46:40)
Okay, doesn't have to be flawless. I'm a f I'm a perfection perfectionist as well. But also, I mean, it's really think about the guest experience, how it makes them feel, right? Are they are they wrapped up? Are they having fun? Are the are they are they feeling intrinsically valued by being here and giving and ⁓ you know, that's that's kind of it. Don't I mean it as as much as it hurts, it hurts me to see the the dessert picks being the wrong way or upside down or
Leya Simmons (46:43)
Edwin?
Yeah.
Yeah, right.
Kirby Cathey (47:09)
forgetting the sign and the other room for the you know, with the arrow. ⁓ just what's more important? Just back up back up five thousand steps.
Leya Simmons (47:19)
How did you feel?
Yep. Let's talk about that. Yeah. Most of them won't.
Kirby Cathey (47:22)
Th because they're not gonna know. They're but they're not gonna know. You know, it's like the
the the actors or whatever, you know, you're on stage and you said the wrong line. Nobody knows. It'll be okay. ⁓ so and I ⁓ sorry.
Leya Simmons (47:30)
No one has an idea. All right. Ready? Second. I'm not doing a very good job with this lightning round. I'm I'm I'm
totally agreeing with you is the problem. I keep like being like, yeah, that's a good one. Okay. One thing experienced planners get wrong. Go.
Kirby Cathey (47:38)
Ha ha
⁓ every organization is different, but the donor base, okay. I think some experienced planners that come into an organization that don't know their donor base very well, they have kind of like a wedding planner, they have their series of events. You know, they this is the standard of our anchors, and this is how it runs and this is how it operates. But some folks, you know, they might be more advanced or less advanced in terms of technology or
Leya Simmons (48:01)
Mm.
Kirby Cathey (48:13)
Or whether this is a recurring event or they're used to a certain way where you're kind of training them every year onto a certain, you know, the check-in station is always here. Yeah, something like that, right? Or the 90% of my donors are recurring, 90% of my donors are new time first time. So sometimes I see, you know, planners getting that wrong in terms of they say that check-in is gonna be right here when really I think, hey, ⁓ we're missing everyone. We should be right there.
Leya Simmons (48:22)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (48:44)
⁓ and so really I guess and program structure too for that matter, if there's like a you know, fun run, then whatever the case is. But it's just stay curious. One of better unites, hey, circle it back. Stay curious, ask, ask the question. You know, what do we what do we learn? Yeah. So ⁓ yeah.
Leya Simmons (48:55)
Take your like it.
Ask the questions. These are our better unite values. So that's what we're I love it. I love it. But it's totally true.
Okay, see, I'm not gonna I'm doing a bad job of lightning round. Ready? Favorite part of what's your favorite part of event day?
Kirby Cathey (49:11)
Ha ha ha.
Ooh, you know, the calm before the storm where everybody feels like really good. I love, I like I love that where it's like I have done all the things. I've we have done a pre-event training. We've talked about every scenario that these people will see. They know where the bathrooms are, they know what they're selling, they they know, you know, whatever the case is, everybody is set and ready. They have their iPad, they have their iPad. I have one right here. They have their iPad, they're ready. They have their they have their reader and they're ready to check in people with a smile. They have their water bottle, everybody has gone to the bathroom.
Leya Simmons (49:17)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (49:42)
That that's like the calm, the 10 minutes, the calm before the storm, you know? All right, everybody good, everybody cool. and ⁓ I think, yeah, that just kind of is a a little bit electric when it turns from, all right, we're ready, we're set to okay, it's starting to pick up, you know, it's it's happening, it's happening. ⁓ so yeah, I love that.
Leya Simmons (49:43)
Yep. ⁓ Everyone exhales. Yep.
Let's go.
What about
your least favorite? Do you have a least favorite part of the event day?
Kirby Cathey (50:05)
Mm, the least favorite is probably like the shoulda coulda woulda, you know? It's like, ⁓ there was a detail that we missed, ⁓ or you know, it's something that fell through the cracks or something where ⁓ you can't all you can do is be better next time, you know, that we've learned from this opportunity. Don't send text messages during the program, you know, whatever it is. I'm going back to that one, but ⁓ so probably, probably that the shoulda coulda woulda always hurts you, but it's okay. You're nobody's perfect.
Leya Simmons (50:09)
Yeah.
Yeah.
How we know.
It's necessary, but yeah. Okay. Last question. What is the best piece of advice that somebody ever gave you about live events?
Kirby Cathey (50:38)
Okay. The best piece of advice is like I said earlier, close your eyes, wipe your brain, think through a scenario or scenarios from different kind of like what is called donor life cycles, where they we were talking about earlier, first time, you know, long time, and is this an annual event? And see, like if this thing happens, you know, let's say the world explodes, what are we gonna do? Well.
Leya Simmons (50:53)
Mm-hmm.
All
technology fails. I know, no. But you do have an analog backup. Like that's the answer. Yeah. Which I have been in. I've been at an event and hidden in a stairwell. Done it.
Kirby Cathey (51:09)
Well, don't say that. Don't say that. But if if it du if the if there's a if there's a tornado, what are we gonna do? If if we're an outdoor event, what's our rain plan? I have been
Yes, but I've also been to outdoor events where they don't have a rain plan. And I should have asked. I said, what is our rain plan? Hello. What are we gonna do? Yeah. So I I mean, if it does go sideways, don't panic. What are the three steps? Assess. Get the right people involved. Solve. So contingency.
Leya Simmons (51:28)
Yeah, yeah.
By the way, are y'all seeing these cards?
Solve communicate solve. All right, Kirby.
I love it. Contingencies, backups. This has been so good. I have to ask you, okay. I know I told you that was the last question, but I'm asking one more question because it's the question I always end with, which is if everybody listening here is planning an event in the fall, let's just pretend, and they went and you had, you had your choice and they went to do one single thing that they weren't already doing this week, what would that thing be?
Kirby Cathey (52:13)
This week. Okay, in the fall. So that means you're four four to eight weeks out. What's e we're August?
Leya Simmons (52:18)
That's how her brain works, guys. Are you listening to this?
Kirby Cathey (52:19)
I know. Well, it was like we got it. We where's our anchors? Okay. We got our we're
at our deadline. and I would say, well, I'm going back to volunteers because right now is when your volunteers are making plans for their fall event. And then marketing deadlines too. Because some of the things that you're not thinking about, well, some things I see people fall on their face about are that you're promising sponsor something, right? I'm promising the logo on my t shirt.
Leya Simmons (52:32)
I like that through line. I agree. Yeah.
Kirby Cathey (52:48)
Your t-shirts are due next week, you know, in order to get them in from XYZ with the logo and the coloring, da-da-da-da-da. And so some of those items, like you have to push right now for sales on those tangible branding elements. So push those sales, push them, push them. ⁓ but I mean, I mean, you y'all might know that, right? But sometimes people forget about staffing and then and then the the marketing deadlines. Yeah, that's probably what I'd say. What do you think?
Leya Simmons (52:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I love it. I love it, Kirby.
All right. Well, thank you so much for this. You are a true girl ⁓ genius, and we are all girl boss, for sure, girl boss. I was trying to decide the saying supergirl because I just saw the preview for that. And my so anyway, but yes. You're all of the above Superwoman, Supergirl, Wonder, Wonder person. Anyway, you're our events guru, and I want to make sure that folks know that they can connect with Kirby at any time.
Kirby Cathey (53:23)
Gaboss?
⁓ thanks.
Ha ha ha.
Leya Simmons (53:44)
If you have an event that's coming up and you need support in person, you need support ⁓ for your support people. Kirby is your go-to. She's the man and the woman, I should say. ⁓ and her email here is on this on the screen, Kirby at betterunite.com. Anything else you want to tell us, Kirby?
Kirby Cathey (54:03)
I don't know, I I I feel like you couldn't I'm a I'm a part therapist, part strategist, part consultant. So I mean, you need you need to talk to me about something, just shoot me a line. We'll we'll we'll chat.
Leya Simmons (54:08)
That is very true.
Well there you go. There she is. There she is. All right. And so
I ⁓ I also just quickly want to mention before I before we leave, next week I am going to be joined by Melissa DeClue. She is a CFRE, she's got a master's in education as well, and she's the founder and CEO of Amplify Missions. She's gonna be talking about some of what Kirby was just mentioning, designing intention.
mapping the donor journey before during and after your events. This feeds right into what we were what you were discussing, Kirby, like how is the first time attendee going to experience your event, how is the longtime attendee and everything in between. And what Melissa will be describing is how you can plan for that and plot it out before both before and after the event as well as during. So I think you should scan that QR code and show up next week, next Tuesday, August 11th at 130 Central.
Just like always, we'll be here. And then what else do I want to tell you? If you would like to have more information about BetterUnite, you're not already a BetterUnite user, scan this QR code or email us at support at betterunite.com. We would love to show you around, give you a demo. ⁓ same goes if you want to sign up for that ⁓ session next week with Melissa. You can always email support at betterunite.com or go to betterunite.com/slash is it webinars?
I don't know what it is, but go to butterunite.com and you'll see resources and yeah, there it's right there. ⁓ thank you all so much, Kirby. Thank you so much. It was lovely chatting with you. Not like I don't chat with you all day, every day, but it's great to talk about this all in one place. I hope this has been helpful. Again, the show notes are going to give you a path to our article about this session that will have a transcript, it will have highlight reels and all of the other things.
Kirby Cathey (55:35)
Trainings.
Course.
Leya Simmons (56:00)
I hope everybody has an incredible rest of your Tuesday. Let's go. We're almost to our fall fundraising season. We you've got this. We've got this. Let's all go do some good. Have a great day. Bye everyone. Bye Kirby.