Reflections on Planning a State Drive-In

Reflections on Planning a State Drive-In 

By Eric B. Miller, Advising Manager, Middle Tennessee State University 

The “oh crap” moment. You’re familiar, I’m sure. Maybe you had one recently. Maybe you thought you left the iron on, or that you advised a student on something that would severely delay their graduation. We’ve all had them. Let me tell you a story about my most recent “oh crap” moment.

I was in Atlanta for the National Conference in October 2016. It was a Friday afternoon and the conference was in full swing. A colleague and I had recently agreed to host the Tennessee State Drive In and were meeting with the State Liaison for more information. When we agreed to host I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task. I had never planned a conference but I did work in Student Activities after graduate school and figured I could dust the cobwebs off those old skills. We could pull this off I thought. Until this meeting. Whatever event planning skills I gained working in Student Activities all those years ago were seemingly lost. I could feel my eyes glazing over as we reviewed every little detail needed to make this a successful event. And then it happened. Oh crap, I thought. I’ve completely gotten myself over my head. All I could think about were the dozens of unread emails and voicemails accumulating back in the office. Or how registration was about to start for the next semester and I was going to be face-to-face with students eight hours a day for the next month and a half. How I could manage this without sacrificing my regular professional and personal duties?

Want to know the answer?

It sounds simple, but I was saved by a top-notch committee. Our event was a resounding success. We had an outstanding keynote speaker, we beat our attendance projections, and we had well reviewed presentations. How did we accomplish this? Because we had an unbelievable group of people that simply went to work. And while it doesn’t take a genius to realize that “more hands make for light work”, the power of a well-rounded and willing committee cannot be overstated. Need a design for your save the date? Or an estimate for food or for printing programs? How about someone to ensure you’re not running afoul of your budget, or a team of volunteers to coordinate the program proposal process? These tasks would have buried me or my co-chair if it were just the two of us. But it wasn’t just the two of us. We consulted with NACADA who sent us a very helpful guide for State Drive Ins. We established six subcommittees led by one or two people who did a tremendous job taking charge of their committee. We held frequent committee meetings to report progress and troubleshoot potential problems. And we experienced wide support from senior campus leadership. The outcome of all this collaboration resulted in a terrific event.

Work-by-Committee can sometimes lead to a frustrating experience with disastrous results. It can also be a great way to break an iceberg-sized task into manageable cubes. And when the right team members are involved in can turn a classic “oh crap” moment into an accomplishment you can be proud of.

If you want to reach out to Eric Miller at Middle Tennessee State University, please email him at EricB.Miller@mtsu.edu.