Confidence Retraction

 (Sorry folks, I'm going to have to retract my high horse rant wriiten in Monday's IPP Panel post)

APPROVED! Wait no, REJECTED! Ah, that’s not right. CONDITIONED? 

Okay...conditioned. That’s the only word I was supposed to focus on during my IPP panel on Monday.

Apparently hearing the word “approved” threw me off because I seemed to have stopped retaining information after that point because I was too excited. I misunderstood the panel’s decision and found out that the condition was not that I have to follow everything in my proposal to the letter (which is still true for everyone), but that I provide the panel with an official letter or document stating that I have made arrangements to receive a venue and catering service for my gala for free, by the next panel day. I’m happy I was told this yesterday because I would have missed the next panel and who knows what would’ve have happened then. Thank goodness for my blogging ways.

Now, what I said in my panel when they asked if I had any new developments in my project was “I have a venue and free catering donations in the works.”  I’ve been going over this portion of the panel all day and figured that I must have said the words “in the works” in a whisper, through a mumble, or in my head...all of which are entirely possible. However I said it (or didn’t say it) the word “guaranteed” must have snuck its way in there...also possible. (I’m not being sarcastic, just to clear that up) 

Anyway, this doesn’t seem like too big a setback, all I need to do is get this letter, right? However, the thing about CreComm is that some of the projects we do are mixed with “real-life” and “school-related” elements. Why is this a problem? Even though I’m planning this gala as a very real fundraiser event, it is still a school project. What I’m learning as I speak with those on the other end of my pitch letters, is that the more eager I am to receive quick responses and quick confirmations to meet school deadlines, the more sponsoring a charity event looks more like sponsoring a “school project.”

Without the letter I have to re-propose the project idea to something I can “actually do,” meaning something smaller. If I want to keep the same event idea I would need to take out the dinner, or the fashion show, or something along those lines. Lucky for me, instead of writing one IPP proposal...I wrote two! The reason I wrote two is because I had a strong feeling that if I proposed the one I really wanted to do, it would seem like too much for one person. I had a smaller version written up, but decided to go big or go home.

My way of thinking about things like this can be described in this musical number from High School Musical 3.

Didn’t watch the video? My favourite lyrics of the number are: “bigger is better, and better is bigger, a little bit is never enough. No, no, nooo.”

Even though I still have my second proposal, I’m not ready to pull it out just yet. Getting this letter in time is still a possibility. I have two meetings this weekend with venues I’ve been speaking with to discuss what we can do with this gala. Even though this is impossible and has never been done before I have my fingers crossed that things will work out in my favour.

Let’s see how this turns out...