What I Felt Participating in Event Management as Someone with a Fragile Mental State

The other day, I had the opportunity to participate as a member of the management team for an event called the 'Lab Art Club' at the Web Writer Lab, to which I belong.

I joined when I was working as a web writer.
Even after becoming an illustrator, I have stayed on because I want to keep learning about the current state of writing.

What kind of event is it?

The event I participated in managing this time was the Lab Art Club, which is independently organized by members of the Web Writer Lab.

The Lab Art Club is a group where several Web Writer Lab members visit art museums, have lunch, share their thoughts, or just have a fun conversation.

This is the third time the Lab Art Club has been held.
However, for the first one, I was involved as a participant, not as management.

But as I became friends with the organizers, Ootsu-san and Natsumi-san, before I knew it, I ended up being involved in the management together with them.

If I recall correctly, at first they asked me to create an illustration for the Art Club, and in that process, I somehow smoothly ended up in a management-like role.

Those who participated in the first one might be thinking, 'When did that happen?' or 'What does that mean?'

I think so too.

Trying it out

This time was also the first time the Art Club held an event with a large number of people.

By the way, to introduce myself a little, I have almost zero communication skills, a fragile mental state, and I'm the type of person whose brain freezes and breaks into a cold sweat when I hear the word 'event'.

I only manage to get by because client work is based on text communication.

Someone like me getting involved in managing an event with 20 people.

Thinking about it calmly, it was something unthinkable for the real me.

：

So. Here are my thoughts after trying it out.

Surprisingly, I found it very enjoyable.
The preparation, the meetings, the site visits, and of course the day of the event itself—there was no anxiety at all, just pure fun!

“Maybe I’m not actually bad at events!”I enjoyed it so much that I even started getting a bit carried away.

Of course, there are personal areas for improvement.
But overall, it was great.

But I thought about it calmly.

Wait a minute.
My participation this time was strictly in a “supporting” role.

▼The core person was this individual.
Natsumi-san. In my heart, I call her Natsumi-cchi.

She is a true art person, with years of art experience.
She has such a passionate heart for art, and I believe the Art Club exists precisely because she is here.

▼And the person who handled the essential, critical parts like coordination was this individual.
Otsu-san. In my heart, I also call her Otsu-san.

She has extensive experience in hosting events and a wealth of knowledge.
It’s amazing how she manages things so naturally, as if she knows exactly where and how to move by instinct.

This time, too, she moved quickly and efficiently on the important parts.

:

That being said, this is a group that could essentially be run by these two alone.

What was the meaning of my participation?

The Lab Art Club management is already complete with just the two of them.

“What can I do in that mix?”
I didn’t exactly go as far as self-reflection, but...

In the end, I feel like I was able to be useful by leveraging my natural mental fragility.

“Maybe this part might be a concern!”
“It might be convenient if we had this!”
“People might be happy if we did this!”

I was able to address those kinds of concerns.

For example, thinking that since there might be people meeting for the first time, it would be good to have place cards at the lunch venue! Or, since they might forget what they ordered in advance, I should write the menu on the place cards too!

It's not strictly necessary, but it's convenient if it's there!
That's the kind of thing it is.

↓↓↓The result↓↓↓
＼There were even people who said, "I liked that part too"／

🥺Thank you so much for even sending me photos～～🥺

The two organizers and all the participants were so kind😭

Come to think of it, it was the two of them who readily accepted my suggestions, even though I tend to worry about the little things. And it was the participants who received them and were happy.

It was a day where I couldn't help but think,
"It's so warm... so warm..."

A future image that suddenly crossed my mind

This time, I was in a supporting role. However, that also feels comfortable.

Because when I stand in front, my hands and feet start to tremble.

(By the way, when I get nervous, my hands and feet really do tremble. When I gave a speech as a representative of the friends at a friend's wedding, my legs were trembling so much that the first thing everyone said to me afterward was, "Your legs were trembling, weren't they?")

I'm happy to do what I can in a supporting role if it makes things easier for the person standing in front.

And I also love the smiling faces of the participants who are happy because of the success of the person standing in front. Even if my face is straight, I believe I'm smiling on the inside.

:

But you know, I suddenly thought that maybe, just maybe, I might host an event myself in the future.

Just a feeling.

It's not that I want to, though.

If that future really does come, I'll probably think, "Being able to see how Natsumi-san and O-tsu-san handled the hosting back then was a very valuable lesson and experience."

I would be happy if I could participate in the management again, aiming for the next event in September. I want to enjoy doing it while cherishing the excitement.

I feel like if I'm excited, everyone else will be excited too.
I feel like a chain reaction of excitement will happen!

Thank you for reading this far💡
Here are some announcements.

▼ You can see the history of illustrator Kotomi Takagi's struggles so far here

▼ I have compiled my first steps as an illustrator from zero experience into a Kindle book

▼ I am posting illustrations to the Everyone's Photo Gallery!

I draw illustrations that help you relax, so please feel free to use them on note💡
*As a courtesy, I will add anyone who uses them to my'Heartwarming Illustration Friends Magazine'.