Client Message

September 26, 2008

Dear Clients of the HLS Events Office:

Welcome back! We’re busy in the Events office working through the 150+ requests currently in the queue for the fall semester. We continue to receive dozens of new requests each day, often for the next day or week. Since September 1st, we have sent out 640 room confirmations which is a record-breaking amount for 26 days. We realize that you are under pressure to receive room assignments and we thank you in advance for your patience as we work to confirm these requests.

Please take a moment to read the following items related to planning of events on campus:

• Lunch Hour:
  When planning your events, please note that the class block after the lunch hour begins at 1:00pm. If your event has either AV or catering, we need to allot 30 minutes of pre- and post-time for setup and breakdown purposes. Events without AV or catering require a 15-minute cushion on either end to accommodate the flow of student traffic.
• Classes not Meeting Weekly:
  We ask that you PLEASE notify the Registrar’s office if there are dates when a seminar or reading group will not meet so the space can be released for use by others.
• Rooms Off-Line for Events
  All classroom space, including the small conference rooms, will not be available on the following dates:
  December 8-18, 2008 Upper Level Fall Term Exam Period
  January 5-14, 2009 1L Fall Term Exam Period
  Availability of function space -- Pound 335, 334, 332, Ropes Gray (Pound 212) and John Chipman Gray (Pound 213) -- is limited during this time.

Harkness Commons, Ropes Gray and John Chipman Gray will not be available as a result of construction on campus:
June 5-August 15, 2009
May 28-Aug.15, 2010
April 29-September 6, 2011
Questions about construction activity can be directed to the Harvard Mitigation via the Construction Mitigation Hotline (617-496-0857) or email.

• Using the Furniture Request Form for Ordering Furniture for Individual Classes:
  We’ve created a new request form (https://internal.law.harvard.edu/events/furniture/). This form may be used, for example, if you need refreshment tables or panel tables and chairs for a particular class. Please contact the Registrar’s Office if extra tablet arm chairs will be needed throughout the semester for a class as these chairs are not part of our furniture inventory.
• Events Office Web Site:
  We hope you take a few minutes to explore our updated web site and consider bookmarking:
  Room Capacities and Views
  Event Policies
  Pre-Event Checklist
• Events Staffing:
  I’d like to introduce our newest staff member, John McCourt, Events Staff Assistant who started in late August. John brings experience providing client service at a conference center front desk and day-of event client service at a downtown Boston hotel. Laura Hambleton, Jessica Pittenger and Leedie Wales will continue in their roles as Event Coordinators. As is usual, we will hire several temporary staff members to help with the record breaking number of bookings we continue to receive and also event coverage.

Please feel free to provide us with any suggestions on how we can best serve all of our Events clients in the busy upcoming months.

Sincerely,

Shannon Parker
Events Office Manager
on behalf of the Events office staff: Laura Hambleton, John McCourt, Jessica Pittenger, and Leedie Wales