A Missing Event Planner Might Spell Disaster for the Family Reunion

As many of you know, I'm supposed to be attending a family reunion of my father's family in New York City in August of next year. At least that's the plan and the goal. Of course, the previous two reunions were held in Europe, and were planned by the family member who has joined all of us together through the genealogical research he has been doing. Since this one was in the USA, he assigned the organization to a volunteer named Lisa. Who seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. 

"Lisa" has dropped off the face of the earth, 
apparently. No-one's heard from her at all 
since mid-September, when it was a single 
sentence. You would think she would be in 
weekly contact with the family head, but no. 
She's totally MIA. 

That's leaving a lot of very frustrated and angry people in Europe and the Western Hemisphere without a firm plan in hand for this reunion. The location is supposed to be New York City. There has never been any inquiry that went out asking for a head count. There has never been a firm date (although most of us seem centered in on an August 18-20 date framework) and the last any of us heard from "Lisa" was a rather cryptic "Narrowing down the date" on our Facebook group in September. Well, here it is, December, and we haven't heard peep from her. 

I know nothing about New York City. I've been there a 
few times, but that's as good as it gets. I don't know hotels, 
schedules, places for a larger group of people to meet for 
a meal ... nothing. I can't event plan this one, so I'm really 
hoping someone else who is more knowledgeable than 
I can take over and make things happen. What we really 
need is an event planner. Hans planned the past two reunions 
in Europe, and he enjoyed doing it. He knew, however, 
that he didn't know anything about NYC, so relied on 
other people which may turn into a huge mistake. 

The group is becoming restless (quite understandable). Our European counterparts would like to get their travel reservations made, I would like to know if the weekend of the 18th is a yes or no because two weeks after that is the State Fair and Sharon's annual visit, so my time is rather compressed. We're all starting to clamor for specifics, and I have a feeling Lisa has gone to ground and we're on our own. 

There is at least one member of the family who has booked 
passage for himself and his wife on the Queen Elizabeth II 
ship which will put into port in New York City in time for 
the August 18th dates. If this falls through, hopefully he'll 
have a lovely time anyway, but that's a ton of money he's 
already put down for a voyage into the unknown. 

I'm NOT an event planner and have no desire to become one. I know NOTHING about New York City, and have no idea how many people are planning to attend, so without basic numbers, how could anyone even think about booking blocks of hotel rooms at various hotels or event halls for one large get-together with food and drink? I'm really hoping someone steps into the breach and gets this moving because we're almost out of time to get this nailed. I know it won't be me, and that it's also possible that the event may need to be postponed a year which would disappoint a lot of people who have already made travel arrangements (or are in the process of making them now). What a MESS! 

What a mess! The reunion that I've been looking 
forward to for more than a year is on shaky ground now, 
because someone dropped the ball on the whole thing. 
I've done large events before, I know what planning is 
necessary. This person has totally disappeared and 
this may doom the event completely. I'd be so VERY 
disappointed. 

On a positive note, at least my niece was able to resend my annual post-Holiday Party e-invitation so that I could triple-check it's appearing on my calendar. I missed this one because it's actually happening on January 1, 2023, not in 2022, and I hadn't looked quite that far ahead. I've got it down now, though. This one is easy - just a few miles down the road. No hotel or air flights necessary - LOL. Here's hoping you all have a good beginning to your week. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.