Episide: 50 Cent
Rap mogul 50 Cent asks the planners to organize a party for 50 VIP guests to launch 50 Cent's new movie, album and video game. The planners present their ideas to Laurie Dobbins of Violator (the record label for 50 Cent), and she selects Brett and Kinsey to lead the event. Laurie requested a sexy, Moroccan-esque atmosphere, with a healthy menu. In defense of the planner hopefuls, they only have one day to prepare for the event.
The planners created three major party areas for the event: a gaming room, a movie trailer screening area outside, and an outdoor stage for 50 Cent to perform from his new album. To be sure, the planners did a reasonably good job executing this week. And, in the end, 50 Cent viewed the event as successful. But a lot can go wrong when you only have 24 hours and some things did:
- Jilina is asked to handle inside decor to drape the walls and of the gaming room and to paint vignettes from the video itself (by the way, we learn later that 50 Cent's intention was to convey action, not violence); Jilina recognizes that the task is larger than the amount of time that she has, but chooses to complain throughout the effort, and the final product disappoints Laurie and 50 Cent at the event.
- The planners do not obtain enough fabric to properly drape the room.
- Brett and Jilina continue to fight and argue with each other in shouting matches during the planning and execution phases of organizing the event which is counter-productive to completing the work.
- Brett suggests that the planners could bring in guests to the event in groups of 10 so that the planners can showcase everything available; Laurie disagrees with the idea, and wants her guests to be able to arrive and walk through at their leisure.
- Brett and Kinsey present their concept to 50 Cent at a pre-event meeting, and 50 Cent isn't pleased with the choice of food (e.g., tofu spring rolls), and wants to make sure that the video gaming lounge promotes a sexy, action theme, not something that reflects violence. (The planners work to make adjustments.)
- For the walk through prior to the event, Laurie questions why there isn't any background music, wanting to make sure that the room reflected energy, and commented that the draping was poor and not the theme requested (adding that the room failed to meet her request for being sexy). Laurie also questions why she wasn't provided an itinerary for the evening.
- During the event itself, Cori offered 50 Cent a range of alcoholic beverage options; however, she had been told that he doesn't drink alcohol, and tried to correct the mistake by saying that she was offering it to the others who he was with (if you make a mistake in front of your client, just acknowledge it and apologize directly). Event planning tip: for situations like this, it is an excellent opportunity to create a non-alcoholic signature drink that reflected the theme of evening.
It's worth noting that Brian Worley and Michele Merkin provided some good words of wisdom to the planners, including comments about needing to stay on track when they create plans, and the importance of working together as a team with others. In addition, during the eliminations, Laurie Dobbins advised Brett about the importance of delegating and keeping the event on task.
Meet the Cast of Party Monsters: Cabo, next page
