Podcast Transcript

Transcript by Nausheen Punjani

Nausheen: you are listening to Plantastic Events podcast episode number ten
 [Music]
Nausheen: hey everyone welcome to Plantastic Events I'm your host Nausheen Punjani, this is a weekly podcast dedicated to help you plan your events with ease be sure to subscribe at stoogeapp.com and stay up-to-date. That's stoogeapp.com plus you'll receive tons of resources, freebies, guides and show notes. Thank you for joining and now let's get into the show.
00:50 Nausheen: I’m your host Nausheen Punjani and today our guest is Courtney Spriggs she is the Milton community outreach and engagement manager she creates community engagement and builds relationship through many community events prior to her current role she spent 15 years in law enforcement that is just incredible Courtney although she is not in law enforcement anymore she volunteers as a secretary to the board of directors and I hope I get this right of the sergeant David P Memorial Fraternal Order of Police Lodge number 82 they aid officers and their families in North Fulton and Forsyth Hall and Dawson counties that is truly impressive and Courtney I just have to give you a shout-out here just to say that to be a woman and in the law enforcement world I think that's truly empowering it means a lot to me it means a lot to all I think you're just very impressive and to all the women out there I think it means a lot to everyone I've read up into you I've looked into your background and I think it's truly fascinating what you do you've just not only supported the community in so many different ways yet you still continue you still maintain your law enforcement background through volunteer work and you're part of the city so that truly is wonderful thank you so much for doing what you do and empowering the rest of us women out there thank you so my first question to you is how are you doing today
02:19 Courtney: I'm great thanks I love your facility here is beautiful thank you yes very impressed I love
02:26 Nausheen: thank you and thanks to prototype for giving us this chance too can I ask what
inspired you to join law enforcement and how did you jump to the city of Milton.
02:35 Courtney: well I got into law on foot my original plan was you know when I was in college was to be a lawyer and I went to school and I majored in criminal justice and taking those classes I met a lot of police officers yeah I got to be good friends with them and you know you make plans and life happens and life's plans were not for me to get a law school and so I did not get in after a couple of attempts and started I'm gonna decided to take a different route um you know perhaps that is not for me so I went to work at a University of Georgia I was the plan was to was to get my master's degree and work for the police department I get a job at the police department so work there very briefly I'm they put me through the police academy and I had a great time and very shortly after that I went to work for  he Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office so a bigger a bigger agency but still in a small town and worked on patrol there so but what inspired me to get into law enforcement was um really maybe sort of what you referred to in your introduction of me is that it is not very common for women but I knew that there was something I could offer in listening in building community and bringing people together that really is always my goal and I guess it always has been um community was very important to me growing up and continues to be and so that was that was an important part of my law enforcement career in fact I was hired under a community policing grant in Lumpkin County and so it always has sort of been the foundation of what I've tried to do in addition to all the other things you do in law enforcement community is it's a strong foundation but there are a lot of other things yeah it is super difficult yeah
04:40 Nausheen: so how did you switch over to joining the city of Milton and what you do now especially working with different events just all kinds of festivals runs and everything else
04:49 Courtney: so part of my part of my career in law enforcement involved being the community outreach specialist for the first South County Sheriff's Office and I did that for several years I think seven six or seven years and the biggest part of that job was educating people about law enforcement and more you're gonna hear me say community about a thousand building community so educating about law enforcement but also sharing community resources again bringing people together and as part of that we had a bit one big event called celebrate Safe Communities okay and it brought together all of the different resources in Forsyth County that kept Forsyth County safe and so that was not sure that's not just the Sheriff's Office it's the coming Police Department its family Haven a woman's better women shelter kids the health department it's neighborhoods who participate in in looking for suspicious activity its neighborhood watch its businesses who do those same things and network with each other so it brought all of those together on a Saturday morning to sort wasn't a party but it was a mini of celebrate what they did and so and it  festival celebrating what made that area safe and so that was just that was just one instance of the one of the things I did in Forsyth County but we were always reaching out to the community and a big part of that in law enforcement is not just educating but sort of reducing speculation as you know in a in a neighborhood in a in a business setting if something happens and people don't have the facts or they just see a lot of blue lights when they get to work and they don't know what you don't know what to do with it they don't know what to do they don't know what happened and so what's what starts to happen is they start to speculate or guess about what happened and so what was really important to the administration at the sheriff's office at the time was to educate people about what had happened be very transparent and share with them the facts and so if for instance something had happened in a neighborhood say there had been several burglaries and to prevent that speculation and to share the facts and be transparent we would go to that neighborhood I would go as a community outreach specialist detectives would go who are working the case patrol officers who had responded to those burglaries we would all go so I was like in a community going together yeah a mini town hall meeting you know a community meeting about that explained everything that had happened that was going to happen and that we hoped would happen and how they could assist and it was very beneficial to those communities and to the county as a whole to share that information to outreach and so I did that for years and years and built neighborhood watch programs if we saw that a crime had been committed in a neighborhood we were to reach out to either that victim or some of their neighbors and say you know listen we have a neighborhood watch program where you can be educated on what to do on how to prevent this and what to do if it happens again and look forward you know and be proactive in your neighborhood and preventing this in addition to I'll say it again building that community bringing people together because when people talk things change so and what we found was we built those neighborhood watch programs it's sometimes people have lived in a neighborhood for 10 or 12 years had never met their next-door neighbor it was very sad we brought them to bringing them together and that's why we had meetings in their neighborhood we came to them yeah and so that outreach part I noticed what a huge difference that made in so even in so Forsyth County is huge and I think their population is upwards of 150,000 and so if you can connect people in a community that large I knew you could do the same thing in Milton which is much smaller but retain that that small-town feel I'm from a small town I'm from Fitzgerald Georgia it's its South Georgia you've probably heard of it I know no but that is that is where I was I wasn't born there but I was certainly raised there and the community raised me because in a in a small rural poor community yeah families have to come together neighbors have to come together and people have to help one another and I think what happens in larger more affluent neighborhoods is you're not so dependent on your community or your neighbors or outreach programs you've got it all you can do it or you think you can do it all and that connection is missing and I won't even get to get into how technology affects that you know and everybody stares at their phone are they you know are they really connecting your 640 friends on Facebook you really know are they your friend are they gonna you know if you're if your husband gets hurt at work and can't provide anymore are they gonna be they help you with dinner right those that is that is community and when community really comes in but I don't think we should wait on that I think so when I came I came to Milton as a patrol officer yeah answering calls for service you know driving around in a patrol car but when this position came open well it wasn't 10:18 the position as is now it was a public outreach coordinator and it was helping plan events and Milton is has that same nurturing sense of community in place and desire to do that and I knew that this was that was what I wanted to do yes and though it meant leaving law enforcement my husband is still in law enforcement I'm still on the board of the Fraternal Order of Police which is a great organization but I knew that I would still have my connections there - the uniform in the car and the gun I can still make a difference and still make an influence even though I was leaving the profession right
10:56 Nausheen: and I love that about you I think that you have that community sense involvement and being able to build you know that type of environment even in much larger areas you know much larger communities you still bring that family unit back you know build out awareness connect the dots make sure that people know who's what's going on who their neighbors are if something does happen their neighbors need to know what's happening you know those type of situations are actually very helpful to learn about right so knowing that you do that knowing that you have that background that's very helpful and very impressive when you plan for events for the city of Milton I'm sure that you know that you have this law enforcement background and the fact that you're still volunteering in this what do you think about while you're I mean it's just pretty much a opinionated question it's more like what do you do what do you think about do you always think about something when events are going on um is it always on the back of your mind about how to make changes here or there what to do I just wanted to get your background
11:57 Courtney: sure yep so I do think of that and we talked earlier about what a different perspective law enforcement gives you it's um and they're two sides of that coin it's a good perspective in some ways it keeps you it keeps you aware it keeps you know focused on your surroundings and looking out for maybe dangerous situations on the on the other hand you're looking for dangerous situations you're not the life of the party you know if your ear is over here because that person is acting suspicious you're not you know you might not be probably present with your with your friends or family but so it there are two sides of that coin but I think it's very beneficial in this position now because of that unique perspective yeah I do I am looking for those dangerous situations and not just from an event planning perspective but from a public safety perspective right absolutely yes and so I do I guess I my husband is so law enforcement many of our friends are still in law enforcement I have a strong connection you know with a Milton Police Department because of my history there and so but I also keep up with current events what is happening not just in Milton what's happening in our surrounding communities that could affect events what's happening nationally that could affect events and seeing what we might need to plan for yeah and so but the safety of people attending our events is certainly foremost and as I plan their mind
13:24 Nausheen: yes to have that ability you know that even when you are at an event that's on the back of your mind you're always thinking about the situation of what could happen yes I'm sure you have a very safe household too  a family of law enforcement background so even in that sense I know that you plan a lot of outdoor events how do you handle security if there's a run or a festival that's in an outdoor setting what do you do to pre-plan I guess we do
13:52 Courtney: it well pre-planning is probably the biggest part of it and so we take into consideration as we pre plan who needs to be involved what is our venue really is our timing what is our who is our audience what specific events are going on what time of year is it who do I need at that event to make security the best it can be and security not just meaning preventing criminal things from happening at that but weather hazards right hazards tripping hazards ad a compliance making sure that our events are inclusive of everybody in the community but specifically safe and so as we pre plan I collaborate with our public works department police department our fire department our geographical information systems communications and all of those come together to ensure the safety and so communication and collaboration probably being the most important part of pre-planning knowing who I need to who I need to talk to who has ideas on an evacuation route or a detour route what the fire department can do what and so I guess that is beneficial to being a city and hosting public events is having access to those I mean experts and all these different resources you know when we've talked about security I'm not hiring private security I have police officers with vast amounts of experience and knowledge who will be providing that security at my events but if you're if you're planning a different sort of event say a private concert I still think that safety should be the forefront at the forefront and so even if you're if you're hiring off-duty police officers or hiring armed security hiring what you need for that event trying to anticipate that and pre-planning is huge a huge part of that 
15:50 Nausheen: yeah I'm sure that I mean you have the ability to use the resources that you have just based on the city for those folks I don't yeah you should hire and pretty plan accordingly right knowing what to expect yes how you
16:07 Courtney: take into consideration sure yeah and
16:08 Nausheen: seeing what's out there nationwide or all of the current events you know pre-planned based on situations that happen yes um and I guess you mentioned this briefly but I'm sure you have to think about often times like emergency routes like identifying emergency routes or identifying situations where I don't know an active shooter you have to have an active shooter response plan correct or certain other types of emergency related things like weather situations or you mentioned this earlier before we started recording the podcast about if someone's just driving through you know right I know where it's a bad turn yeah doesn't know that that road is closed
16:44 Courtney: so one of the things we planned for crabapple fest is our will be there is our big Arts Festival the first weekend in October and so we shut down a road so I mean to start to talk about logistics for that event and we shut down a highway so even at the very beginning months and months in advance we have to get permission from Georgia Department of Transportation how we have to explain to them that we want to show the road what it's for and what the detour route will be how will because transportation as you traffic yeah is always an issue and I guess it always will be but planning for that is paramount you know so that's just one of the first steps we take and I work with Public Works to make sure that we have a safe even without an emergency that we have a safe route out but one of the other things we plan for it that big event with so that the section of roadway closes probably a tenth of a mile and we have vendors in the streets of the street is clear we have vendors with tents in the road and we have pedestrians in the street we have entertainment we have the huge silly things doing this you see in the street so all about all of this is in the street and so we have to we one of the first things we had to consider was say there's something as and I don't want to say simple but something that there's a lost child so not specific you know it's not as dangerous as an active shooter or a tornado or any of these terrible many that can happen but a child is lost and that that is very important to that child into that to that parent how can we most quickly get them some help and so we how do the how will they know where to go or who to talk to and so what we do is divide that because if you're if you're just at the festival you're just in the middle of a bunch of people there who know you know imagine you're two feet tall you don't know what to look for and so that we gave our public safety the way we divided that up so we can most quickly communicate with public safety as we divided that up into section numbered sections and we put big numbers up on the light poles so one two three four five six and so in there big red poster boards visible very visible yes what huge probably three or four feet wide you know on the on the light pole we got a fire department to put them up for us but that was so I could say they all have radios they talk to one another but that's also considered that's something to consider as you're pre-planning how will they communicate with one another at the event right um so they communicate with one another via radio and so what we planned was we have this divided up into sections you get on the radio and say I have a lost child at section I'm in section one and so that everybody can look up at the light port and see that's at the beginning of the festival and you're going to look for somebody in a uniform near light pole one if they want to get more advanced you know more detailed in in their location after that they can say you know I'm at the vendor selling bird house yeah in section one but we divided that up into sections simply to improve public safety I'm at better than so they can communicate better with one another and they can communicate better with attendees and provide a higher level of safety unto them so and all of that I've gotten off I know you’re your own point actually great so you'll this comes back to the pre-planning and so one of the things that we do that it's very helpful for me is we have what's called an Operations order and so that is a joint operational order and that is Public Works fire and police department all come together it has the times of the festival what the situation is what our mission is yeah for instance this I have with me the joint operational order from last year's crabapple fest and the mission for the police departments portion of it number one is event and attendee safety Wow and so it goes from there traffic congestion parking issues what to do if someone becomes intoxicated and that actually happens I've seen it absolutely well we're yeah alcohol is served at that festival so it could absolutely happen and then it talks about the execution what's gonna happen from the time we shut down the road the night before who's going to be in position who the contact is for that yeah and then what will happen throughout the day and then it goes through what the fire department will do in certain situations and what what's what their mission is what's expected of them it also has everyone's contact information it has maps of the event so people can get their bearings you know see where they are exactly where we're talking about so and then and everybody has a copy of this day up to refer to or we last year we're headed digitally so people could refer to it on their phone even pull up those maps so my hope is to improve that actually with your app so hopefully we get anything we can do to improve safety for both attendees of the festival and the people providing that safety is again very important probably the most important thing as we plan
21:56 Nausheen: yeah I loved how you described you divvy them up in different sections to that you have like almost like section one or this area or that location this is where a lost child is you know I've seen events and I've seen different functions where I've seen like children missing not knowing where to go what to do who to reach out to you know right and it just causes chaos but when you have all of these things pre-planned when you already have like you said your operations order to you give everyone you it's everyone before the event they have it with them they have all the contact information that they need to reach out to the appropriate people to contact you know and they're dispatched on time that's like that's the work that needs to be done for all events you know I wish yeah I wish that and it doesn't have you know
22:44 Courtney: we certainly use one template but there are a number of templates for event security and it really would be event specific if it's a music festival I'm used to say a night time Music Festival in the summertime with alcohol but no ticket sales you're gonna have a much you're gonna have a very different audience then if you have a symphony at a high school you know so you have you have very different it's gonna be different levels of security different things or needing someone so particular way to provide safety but it certainly needs to be considered and consider what has to be considered is all the unfortunately all the different things that could happen to trying to anticipate those really is probably the hardest part but very important
23:31 Nausheen: different probably emergency routes in that case too right like I would say I mean obviously an outdoor event you would have different emergency routes and then indoor events you would have different emergency routes but probably pre-planning in that sense too like let's say if there's a live concert or a music event that's happening indoor you know that the event planner or the event organizer should already learn about that area probably beforehand I was like where they're located well in advance we are well in advance where the doors where the exit how are they marked yeah are they accessible from the outside we've seen 
24:07 Courtney: I know you all have seen those stories where there was a fire and people can get out because the back door was chained and that just wasn't a dress oh man so making sure that those things are taking care of checking them physically checking them you or your designee checking them beforehand is very important so 
24:21 Nausheen having that response plan like already planned out in advance yeah sure yeah wow that's actually interesting I'm just curious do you oftentimes have to deal with like controversial speakers you know and I'm just giving this example because there's a lot of political issues that are happening in our current events you know and that also ultimately leads to sometimes peaceful protests but also many times that could become problematic when you have a controversial speaker coming in and you have to manage that event unfortunately sometimes even you may not be okay when the situation that you have to take care of but then you have protests or riots at the same time how do you handle situations like that and what advice can you give to our listeners
25:04 Courtney: unfortunately I have not had to deal with anything that that controversial you know but so I haven't had to deal with that but in law enforcement we did have to deal with say a very controversial situation at a town hall meeting or people are angry that's something that the sheriff's office or the police department have done and those people are very angry I fortunately haven't had to plan security around the people being so angry they were protesting or rioting and that to me that is that is almost specifically a law enforcement I mean that's who would be dealing with that but it's a nice way to put it if you know if you can anticipate that something is going to be controversial addressing that ahead of time it's absolutely key getting proper people in place to take care of that upping security if you need to the protection even of that person who is controversial yeah might need to be to be notched up they might need you know people around them they might need to wear clothing that protects them they might need so it so you're and you're also pretty you're protecting even though you paper taking people are protesting you're protecting the person they are protesting yeah so thinking about all of that is really gonna be very law enforcement specific I think 
26:33 Nausheen: yeah because you have to help on both ends too it's not just it's not just the speaker it's also maybe the protesters I could be either way who knows you know nobody
26:41 Courtney:  that the goal is for no one to get hurt ultimately so keeping that in mind I mean trying to anticipate how they could get hurt yeah is how you would start to plan but I can't I mean the there's so many different factors I'm implanting those again venue location audience additional layers of security that involves around all of that I'm sure it's yeah but it but again it would come back to even though it's law enforcement specific it would come back to communication and collaboration yeah I'm working with other people communicating what your needs are and making sure they're met prior yeah I'm so there no surprises
27:20 Nausheen: so I'm sure like in those type of events I'm sure it's for city the city can use their resources but for other folks they probably have to hire right um you know police law enforcement soar other security events that are out there sure but I could get chaotic and it could and it has happened like n school events too yes you know and it's happened recently I'm just with many of the different events  r football it just happen recently right it really can happen anywhere I mean anything can happen as we know you know in a in a
27:48 Courtney: changing in a changing society but I think you know anything can happen anywhere but I think planning and trying to anticipate that sort of walking through it before I happens you know what would you do even personally you know I used to teach him women's self-defense and we would teach those the women taking those classes think through what you would do hmm what in this event if someone is trying to get in your car what would you what would you do and so you're doing the same thing at an event if a terrorist is going to drive a big truck you know through my event how can we prevent that and so we've talked through that what our response would be how we're going to try to prevent that yeah and what our response would be if it happened and what the aftermath would be you know how we'll do that so all of that I think it's helpful to work through that before it happens sort of pre-planned pretty much exactly the same we in law enforcement used to talk about muscle memory so as I said yes over and over and over again shooting or drawing your gun or you know clearing a house or crouching a certain way you do that over and over again and it builds confidence and it builds you know your memory remembers that your brain remembers what to do in that situation so it's not there's always going to be a level of surprise and panic muscle memory once that you know now your brain knows oh I need to call number one I need to remember you know this a certain thing and then do this certain thing and you your brain has done it before so it has something to refer to
29:13 Nausheen: yeah and I think like obviously for law enforcement it's muscle memory that's already built in you know so they learn it over and over again in the situation if this happens what do you do next like the self-defense class you taught you know I've taken a self-defense course and I remember even like for martial arts in general but we were zip-tied you know and in my mind I'm thinking oh my god if this does happen I have no clue what to do you know they taught us how to break through now I do but also it was just scary at the moment because in my mind mentally I'm going there you know I'm visualizing myself in that event in that situation you know I was nervous even though there was no force around it but it built that muscle memory you know if I do it
29:59 Courtney: imagine in a in a panic you know that was a real situation how your Adrenaline's gonna be high you're gonna get tunnel vision your hearing is gonna go and so you're gonna you're gonna need that to draw back on you know oh I this is what I did in class yeah unfortunately you have that so to me is it's this it's the same for events planning for those walking through exactly what's what could happen should happen is going to happen gives it sort of the event the event and the people at it some something to refer to
30:28 Nausheen: exactly and like I mean I guess I'm for ordinary folks like us me not yeah so much experience and building those type of muscle memories but what about local citizens like let's say if there is an event happening and they noticed something suspicious you know some suspicious activity that's going around them how what kind of tips would you give them or advise them on what to do how to react and just be aware of their situation like that what's
30:57 Courtney:  so key to that if we back up they would have to notice situationally aware yeah so and by that I mean using all of your senses and it's is very hard to do I know it is but if you if you focus on it as much as you as you possibly can so knowing using all of your senses to see what's going on around you so you're psyched and you're hearing what do you hear around you is it strange or different is it something you're used to is it something you need to pay more attention to is it louder is it softer smells touch you know so just paying attention to things and I'm not saying you don't have to you know after meditating you know as you know be silent you don't do that all the time but just paying attention to I talked about on the way here one of the things we talked about per your perspective changing as a law enforcement officer one of the things I do that maybe civilians don't is pay attention to cross streets and landmarks and I try to know exactly where I am because I know if I have to call them on when their first question is going to be where is your emergency and I do not want to have to answer I don't know so I pay very close attention briefly you know it doesn't take over my day but I do focus on what street I just passed and what you know so to me that is that is second nature I know but I know it's not to everybody but training people are asking people to pay attention to their situation attendees at an event or at a concert anywhere just paying closer attention to where  you are so you can notice suspicious activity and so people have different ideas about what is this but is that suspicious or is it do I think it's weird you know or am I being silly or and so what and guess yourself to something you certainly do and that also that is that is certainly human nature but listening to that instinct is very important so paying attention being situationally aware listening to your instinct if it seems weird to you it's weird it doesn't matter if it's weird to anybody else it doesn't matter if nobody else is reacting to it you can still react to it yeah probably my next device would be depends on what that situation is you probably need to move away from it yeah and as you're moving away from it alert an authority that might be calling them on one that might be talking to the security guard who's nearby that might be you know if you're in an airport it would be different so depending on what the situation is reporting that suspicious activity in again people hesitate to do that because they don't they've already second-guess themselves well either maybe they haven't even noticed it right or they notice it and talk themselves out of doing anything about it you know or rationalized their instinct you know talk to talk themselves out of it and then don't report it because either they don't want to get involved or very afraid or they're scared right so you would just have to be brave and step up and report that and get involved because it may the safety of other people might depend on it if you see a backpack sitting on the ground that used to be so innocuous but now it is it isn't it should be very dangerous and so don't move that backpack but move yourself away from it yeah and just let somebody know somebody with some authority is not your friend right look at that weird backpack but um yeah let the authority figure know so that they can take care of it and that really protecting yourself and being a good witness it's all we all law enforcement needs civilians to do we don't need you know heroic acts of bravery are wonderful they're great but they can be very dangerous and we have security and officers and fired personnel trained for that yes they are they are trained Public Safety they know exactly what to do and they're very good at their jobs and so letting but we do need good witnesses and we do need people to pay attention and report things because there are so many of those yeah there are only so many police officer only so many firefighters who can do things and so when they are not in a certain situation we do depend on the community and civilians and people attending these events to help out at least to report things so we can say something here
35:22 Nausheen: I think I was chuckling initially because I always have the weird weirdest instances at the airport I think one of the cases was this lady was sitting next to me and she's like can you watch my backpack my bookbag you know I'll be back and I was like okay and my brother comes back and he's like are you watching somebody's somebody else's book bag no I don't know she'll come back I'm not even sure what I'm doing with their book bag mm-hmm fortunately she came back and fortunately she was normal by God situation I was nervous you know because I didn't process it but after I realized that maybe I probably put myself in a situation but I didn't need to or I think there was another instance when this lady was like can you watch my three kids okay and I'm watching her three kids like staring at them they're staring back at me I'm like you need to be aware you need to know how to react correctly anything one more case was someone was suspicious of me I was on the phone with my mom talking in a different language of course and she like Pat's me she's like excuse me I just want to make sure who are you on the phone with I'm like it's my mother she's like well you're speaking in a different language and I was like it's my language exactly strangest things you know what you know I know she ain't in her mom she's nowhere she
37:02 Courtney: she thought she was which is what about things strange behavior but at least she's aware but
37:21 Nausheen: it's interesting it's interesting the things you encounter and you do like I've had three instances already know it happens you have those situations you have to be aware of your surroundings and you have to speak up you have to say something if you see something say something like what New York and I think or something I think the only security and I wanted to ask you I know since you work  ith city of Milton you may have upcoming events that you would like to share with our list and a lot of them are Atlanta locals so and we actually do have quite a few now that are growing globally so that's a fact I hope they can come to a Milton event
38:03 Courtney: with their listeners so next Saturday so not just coming up Saturday the 24th at 7:30 any morning we'll have the Milton mayor's run yeah and the mayor's run hosts jog for a cause so we always had the mayor's run but and we wanted to take on a charitable something to go with it so yeah we partnered with North Point Pediatrics for jog for a Cause and this is the 15th their 15th I'm jog for a Cause and the proceeds of the race benefit three local families who have children battling cancer so again bringing community together to help people who are who are in need so you can register online for the race at jog for a Cause 5k calm and that's the number five or you can register the day of its cash or check only but you can register on the 24th will be at Freedom Park in Milton and it's a 5k it's a Peachtree qualifier which I know it's very important it's also a flat fast race which I'm not a super runner but I run you know as part of my exercise flat would be very beneficial so it's a good one we also have I mean we have a number of events that you can find on the city of Milton website but one of our most exciting coming up fairly recently I'm over fairly soon in April I'm is a new event called the Milton rock for rescues cool you can find information about it online but it's a music festival a Community Music Festival and we're going to showcase local rock bands the chip McGuire band wow I slow boat to China Pony League and Lenny and Amy joy are gonna perform at different times throughout the day and we'll have food trucks and cocktail truck local vendors yeah right most people that's a big draw local vendors selling you know retail will have restaurants will have and so it's really gonna be a good time and all of the proceeds from that benefit five different nonprofit animal rescues in the area well national and local animal rescue organizations so it really brings together a Milton's love of music and animals I don't know if there's a better combination I certainly love hoes so I'm it's a free event all of all of our events in Milton are free and we again the goal of them being to build community and bring people to Milton and together in Milton so those are two big ones coming up but we have a whole number out crabapple fest which I prefer to interview very excite is a huge Arts Festival 100 juried arts and antiques vendors food music sec football beer kids activities you know bounce houses and rides and things like that so it is a big event first weekend in October always that probably is our signature event and it is it is really a lot of fun I mean it continues to grow and bring people together it started as a as a very small antique festival yeah it has really grown so that makes me happy 
41:17 Nausheen: and to all the listeners will share all of the events that you shared with us great we'll share it on our site as well okay and on our resources page just to make it easier for people to navigate through okay and we'll share it just along with your page as well as possibly even promote it out on our end as
41:30 Courtney: well some of them also have Facebook event pages so people can RSVP if they're coming it sort of helps me get a head count as we talk about pre-planning yeah very important I had a couple of other resources to share about security Georgia Tech event management checklist was so impressed with how wonderful it is but it its first task is convene committee for pre planning meeting out so exactly the guys right so that I'm gonna send you the link to yes please but it was great and then the Bureau of Justice Assistance had a big packet a PDF online about challenges and principles that law enforcement looks at as they plan security for big events so it could be you know it might be a multi-agency event but it also but it had really good information on different things to consider communications pre-planning considering what threats and impacts you might be facing so great information so I would like to share that with your other planners now would be listen so yeah I thought they were both really good documents
43:00 Nausheen: and very beneficial especially if they're early on like early on in the stages of event planning first I would really help them out Georgia Tech I don't even know about that but again it means so much to us that you joined us today
43:15 Courtney: thank you for how much I love podcast
43:24 Nausheen: and you did it fantastically but it does mean a lot and you are truly empowering for all of us women out there means so much to us and being involved in the community that you do is also by itself just so meaningful right so thank you for what you do and thank you for being on this podcast I know you have a busy schedule so for you to be on this it means a lot and thank you listeners for joining we may invite her again by the way thank you again although the event industry includes a lot of stressful work and
43:52 Nausheen: although the event industry includes a lot of stressful work and late meetings or late events just remember that every event you helped to bring to life creates memories of a lifetime for many people out there. Did you love this episode of Plantastic Events, we’d love for you to subscribe rate and leave a review on iTunes each week we'll give a shout out to the reviewer of the week also don't forget we have resources available at stoogeapp.com. thank you for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. Goodbye
44:29 Nausheen: produced by stooge app calm music by Justin Mahar