My “Date” with Lindsey Stirling

pressable October 11, 2012

Being a member of the Campus Activities Board (CAB) at Florida Tech has its perks. For one, you get to be actively involved on campus by bringing awesome shows and events to the student body. The second reason… well, just read the title. This isn’t the first time I was able to hang out with celebrities since becoming the events coordinator for CAB. Last semester we were able to go the Broken Barrel (an alumni owned restaurant) with popular ska band REEL BIG Fish after the concert we coordinated. I always get asked, “How come you get to do all these awesome things?” or “How can I get involved and bring concerts and other events to campus?” Well the answer is simple: Join the Campus Activities Board. The reason I joined CAB was to provide an escape from the daily campus routine through awesome events.

My first major project was the Humans vs Zombies game at FIT which happens each semester. Additionally, I worked with several comedians and magicians as their “liaison” where my duties included getting them to campus, making sure they had all the materials they needed for their performance and touring them around Florida Tech, which usually involves a trip to PDH.

Now you may be wondering how I managed to bring YouTube sensation Lindsey Stirling to campus and go to dinner with her. It’s actually a long, meticulous process that has confounded men of science. Just kidding. It’s actually pretty simple. I came up with the idea of bringing her over so I looked up her booking agent, contacted him, asked for a quote, brought it back to the rest of the CAB executive board, they approved, and we booked her. Once the booking is done then comes logistics, which includes things like where we are we going to have the show, the date and the time. On the actual day of the performance we double check the “tech writer,” which is basically making sure all the A/V equipment is available and ready to go. We also have CAB members work the door and help with stage setup to ensure that we put on an awesome show. True story: The care package we made Lindsey included an ENGINERD shirt from the FIT Book Store which she proudly wore on stage!

Afterwards we do tear down and some of us escort the performer (in this example, Lindsey) so they can meet our students and sign autographs. And that’s basically how we turn a concept to a reality in CAB.

You may still be wondering why I stated I went on a date with her: Well, since I was the lead in this event, I was Lindsey’s main point of contact so we exchanged numbers and after the show we went to Meg O Mally’s (another alumni owned restaurant) to celebrate her awesome performance, the release of her new album, and her upcoming birthday, my treat of courseJ. And according to several of my brothers, buying a girl dinner and getting her phone number counts as a date.