Part I: The Prep Work (Loading the Truck)
One of Positive Impact Partners’ clients is the ALS Association. The ALS Association raises mone
y and awareness to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease. One way the association furthers the fight is by having several walks in the tri-state area to defeat ALS. The ALS association hires PIP to help manage the walks to take care of everything from the food, to the signage, to the bounce house for the kids. There are several walks throughout the course of the year, but most usually fall between May and June. Click here for a calendar of the walks.
Whenever there is a walk on an upcoming weekend, that Friday is usually a ‘manual labor day.’ On those Friday’s, myself and a couple other employees go out and get the UHaul van and load 
up the truck at the storage lockers. Depending on how many people are expected to attend the event, we fill it up with 5 – 10 jugs of water, 30 – 70 cases of water bottles, podiums, 
generators, bicycles, signs, ponchos, coffee, pans, coffee makers, snacks, tents, and many other things. We cannot forget anything, so we double check that we have everything that is needed for the event to run as smooth as possible. And then we head back to the office.
Before heading out for the day and getting to bed early in order to wake up for the event, we have to make sure that everything else is all settled and ready for the walk. We double check contracts and agreements with various sponsors and companies providing some
service or good for the event. 
These companies range from White Castle providing crave cases at their own individual tent, to the party rental service that provides tables and larger tents, to the various schools and sports teams that provide mascots and cheerleaders, to the men in charge of bringing 30 bags of ice.
A lot goes into the preparation for the event, but if 99% of the event logistics and schedule isn’t already laid out by the day before, then there is no hope. There is no event. And that is what I have learned throughout my opportunity so far at PIP; you can’t procrastinate. You have to be on top of things more so than most jobs. If you don’t come through, you don’t just let yourself down. You let your clients and customers down. And furthermore, you let their clients, customers, and supporters down. It may seem like all fun and games from the outside looking in, but the incredible amount of logistics that go into each and every event is crazy. And if you as a person don’t stay on top of your own stuff; if you don’t get stuff done on deadline, then you should not work in this field, not in any capacity. Not advertising, not marketing, not journalism, not event management. My advice is to go far, far, far away from this field and choose a new career path.
Sherman Fabes 