day in the life of...

The Ongoing Legacy of Building a Better Beaumont

The Dancing With The Stars Committee

Describe your specific DWTS Committee placement duties.

Responsibilities for the year are overall planning of the event. We’re also responsible for overseeing the DWTS committee, ensuring that every person on our team is engaged and handling their specific duties so the event runs smoothly the day of.

Responsibilities the week and day of are a little bit more in depth. We coordinate our move into the Civic Center for event prep, oversee Atmosphere Chair and all work that is being done for set up, work with the tech crew on lighting and sound, work with Co-Chair on table arrangements, and oversee the Star rehearsals.

What time frame do you begin and end preparations for DWTS?

We immediately started planning for our upcoming year as soon as placements were announced in May. In all reality, planning actually starts as soon as the previous year's show ends. We have to have our formalized list of stars ready to announce at our Star Reveal event in October.

What does a typical day look like for you the week of DWTS leading up to the show?

Wednesday 8:00 am-5:00 pm

• As a committee, we move all of our things into the Civic Center

• We have the committee split up to start working on their different duties. Things like table set up, flowers, decorating lobby area, etc.

• We work on finalizing table and seating arrangements. We then verify that we have all of the catering numbers finalized to send to the caterer

Thursday 8:00 am-9:00 pm

• Atmosphere starts decorating tables and finishing the lobby area.

• We start rehearsals usually around noon on this day. Each of our stars get the opportunity to run through their dance on the big stage.

• I also work with our sound and lighting company on what we are wanting for show day.

Friday 8:00 am-11:59 pm

• SHOW DAY

• We handle any last minute atmosphere items that need to be taken care of.

• Get the Green Room ready for the stars.

• Dress rehearsals start after lunch.

• Committee gets ready for show around 3:00 pm.

• Cocktail hour starts at 6:00 pm.

• Show time at 7:00 pm!

• As soon as the show is over and people start leaving the Civic Center, we get into rush mode to clean up and move out by 11:59 pm.

What is your favorite part about this event?

This is tough. There isn't a part that we haven't loved! The best part is being able to raise money for the JLB to feed back into our Southeast Texas community through grants and community projects. This fundraising event continues to be successful for the League. I think our second favorite thing is to watch the Stars evolve from "I'm a terrible dancer" to "Hey Everybody, Watch This" mentality. They are the real MVP's with this event. Our committee works extra hard to plan a show that people want to come to, but our Stars are the ones that bring the entertainment.

What advice would you give to JLB members interested in joining this committee in the future?

Come to one of our committee meetings! We would also encourage anyone interested in this committee to volunteer to work a couple of shifts during event week.