A massive amount of work for sure and it seems like she is still going with thank yous to clubs etc! Brilliant.
Something many don't realize is the prep work and post work that goes into a successful, annual event. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into events. We host an event in October. Other than last year, we get between 2K and 10K attendees. Last year, we had about 3,500 participants, but they were all virtual. Each attendee pays a registration fee of about $2,500. The event has sponsors, with sponsorships starting at $50K. We have various vendors present. Booths are $10K. We have one staff member who is the event coordinator, and she spends about 90% of her time working on this event. I'm not saying she is the most efficient person, but this certainly takes months to set up. Her duties include handling the sponsors, attendees, and vendors; dealing with the city for permits and such; dealing with whatever venue; organizing volunteers and ambassadors; handling the web site and payment processing; doing some of the marketing and promotion of the event. We have to rent equipment for lighting and such, as well as trucks for moving stuff. We have to buy food and drinks, there is various swag, awards, and such, lots of apparel, security, signage, and other items. For the month leading up to the event, most of the staff assembles "goodie bags". All the attendees must be sorted for various things. Various activities must be handled. Then there are all sorts of support services. Medical staff is on hand. After the event, there is cleanup, and often things must be mailed out. There are always challenges that must be dealt with. One year, the official who signed a permit had been removed from office, and his successor decided to revoke the permit--as the event started.
We lose money on this event, every year, if you add up all the labor costs.
