1. Articulate an objective (just like you did for every course you taught over the past 30 years).
2. Gather together an amazing event support team. Coordinate through Zoom meetings and email chains.
3. Pick a location that reflects your community engagement and has stunning views of the Pacific Ocean, order tacos from Super Cucas (just like you did for faculty meetings when you were department chair) and pies (because you gave a TEDx talk on pisexuality), decorate the venue in pink, blue, and purple (colors of the bisexual flag).
5. Ask guests to share a word that describes you, a song they associate with you, and a question for you to answer. Create a word cloud, a playlist, and an interview protocol. Make table tents with the words.
6. Develop icebreaker activities.
Timeline prompts: 1) Go to the year when you connected with Tania and share with a few people at the same timepoint. 2) Go to the year when you got your first job and tell the other people there what you did and where. 3) Go to a year when you did something you were proud of and share it with the other people there.
7. Ask dear friends, colleagues, and students to speak
8. Slip out for a few minutes and re-enter the room to your walk on song (Joan Jett’s version of the Mary Tyler Moore theme song) wearing your academic regalia. Have former advisees unhood you, revealing your party outfit, and don a tiara.
9. Be interviewed by former advisees, using the questions guests submitted in advance.
10. Make your remarks, closing with a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
11. Enjoy lovely messages from advisees, friends, and colleagues
If this wasn’t enough and you want to hear me describe the event in even more detail, check out this episode of the Of Course I’m Not OK podcast!
