Well, it’s time to get a little bit more serious about this. I have received a response from the proprietor of the Musical Museum. But before I get to that there are a couple of things that need covering.
[b]My Credentials[/b]
This is not intended to be boastful, but, as Charlie pointed out by reminding us that I organised the Happy Birthday Theremin World surprise, an important factor in a successful event is having confidence in the organisation, so a relevant question is – Why me?
I have a history of organising things. It started off when I married my wife. In the Hindu tradition, the Groom’s family fund and organise the wedding. In my family’s tradition that responsibility falls to the Bride’s family. So we ended up doing it all ourselves. This involved three ceremonies (Civic, Christian and Hindu) in three locations and two sets of caterers for the festivities - all on the same day. Despite a few setbacks – i.e. being let down by the florist and the car hire company at very short notice – it all went without a hitch.
On the Internet I have organised a good few things based around Freemasonry. (Please, if you harbour negative opinions about Freemasonry, go discuss them on a Masonic forum, not here.) I published an eZine with a readership of about a thousand. This led to co-administering a mailing list of a similar size, which led to arranging a holiday travelling half-way across Canada for myself and my family, staying with members of the mailing list, and to raising thousands of pounds for charity by selling lapel pins (in the days before eBay and Pay-Pal) and to arranging a number of get-togethers and social events with led to my being the founding master of Internet Lodge, the world’s first internet based Masonic Lodge, and arranging a diary of successful events for my year in office. Since then the lodge has gone on to organise group holidays in Florida and the Netherlands, as well as the usual events and meetings expected of a Masonic Lodge.
In short, I have a fair history of organising events and things of one form or another and they have all been successful.
Also, when it comes to the business side of things, I have a secret weapon – my wife. You don’t get to be Customer Service Auditor for Europe, the Middle East and South Africa for a major multinational without knowing your stuff. She was known as “The Rottweiler,” but not to her face! Currently she works for a charity, extracting bad debts from Local Government. They don’t stand a chance.
[b]How I Work[/b]
My successes have all been about teamwork. I believe in utilising the best and most effective tools for the job, and that means people. Namely You!
The key principles are Total Information, Full Involvement and Shared Responsibility.
Total Information means working completely in the open. When there are setbacks, and there will be, we will all know about them as soon as possible and in as much detail as possible. This gives us the best possible opportunity to resolve them as quickly and easily as possible.
Full Involvement means you are a part of the team, not a customer who just has to make a payment and then sits back to enjoy the show. Not everyone will have an active role to play, but as part of the team it will be up to you to see ways of helping, to identify potential problems and to suggest solutions.
Shared Responsibility means not waiting to be told what to do. It means being proactive, offering to do things without being asked and then doing them without needing to be reminded. If you are going to do something towards the event, then you are responsible for getting it done. No excuses!
[b]The Musical Museum[/b]
I received a very positive response from Richard Cole, the proprietor.
The bad news is that Musaire’s theremin is irreparable. It does not work. :-( He does own a second Musaire theremin, which he has restored to working condi
