The Making of OPN...

Members of the organising committee in various discussion groups at Pelita Nasi Kandar, Telawi Street Bistro as well as Chinoz

Goodie bag packing by volunteers at the Johnson & Johnson Medical Office in Petaling Jaya

Poll volunteers being briefed at McDonald’s Restaurant in Bangsar Baru

Volunteers collate results on the 600 poll forms the week after OPN

An arch of balloons front the Telawi St Bistro while bunches of balloons are distributed to the other outlets

The PA system being put in place for the OPN in the afternoon

BCWA volunteers alight from their bus on the early evening of 11 June 2004. They were amongst the many volunteers in the “uniform” pink sash entrusted with the job of distributing the goodie bags. 3000 goodie bags were subsequently given away on OPN night. Other volunteers in “uniform” T shirts were from Johnson & Johnson

Briefing of volunteers goes on in earnest but is difficult in the normal background noise of bustling Bangsar Baru!

Volunteers become traffic marshals to close of the roads in preparation for OPN!

Part 1 saw the birth and planning of the OutRageously PINK Nite, including a promotional photoshoot. On 30 April, only the venue for the official launch ceremony had been confirmed.

Letters to the police and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) had been sent out with the DBKL responding relatively early. However, there was far more coordination and leg work required before all the “legal” issues about road closure and permit for procession for a Marching Brass Band could be finalised.

Much of the discussion and planning took place via the Internet, and that made things far more efficient for the organising committee members who held full time jobs. An email and web discussion group was started up for the core committee of the MBCC.

The committee explored ways on how to pack 3,000 bags and find freebies to place in them. Appeals were sent out to various corporate organisations and it was God-sent that Promotional Partners had many Disney premiums to donate. It required the Johnson & Johnson van to help transport these premiums to the packing centre in Johnson & Johnson Medical, Wisma Zuellig, Petaling Jaya. In the meantime, sourcing for volunteers to help distribute this great number of goodie bags posed yet another challenge.

Subsequently, the replies to the appeal resulted in more donations of various items in various quantities. May 29th was set aside for packing – a whole day affair but there were many ‘hands’ that made the job faster than expected. Irene Chan, a volunteer was integral in getting even lunch sponsored for the volunteers on 29 May 2004!

The MBCC (Malaysia Breast Cancer Council) organising committee members, with key volunteers and invited individuals met at Pelita Nasi Kandar on 27 May 2004 to finalise some of the events. Strangely, another thunderstorm resulting in flash floods in Kuala Lumpur occurred the same evening! It was déjà vu! By coincidence or otherwise, on the late afternoon of the 1st meeting, there was a thunderstorm.

The event had now expanded to include “get spotted in pink”, roving clowns, face painting, a Topless Contest with a Twist to raise breast health awareness in addition to the 1st Kuala Lumpur Boys’ Brigade Band for entertainment. More decisions were made and duties delegated and every one set off to do the necessary.

So much to do, so little time left!
Still so many things were not settled with regards road closure, entertainment permits and we needed to seek the assistance of the police and/or DBKL Road Transport division. More leg work would be required – and indeed it came to pass – where right up to the last minute on 11 June 2004, Mr Brian Lariche, our organising committee member rushed off to the Police Station in Brickfields to get the final permit in the late afternoon – hours before OPN was supposed to begin!

In the meantime, laminated tissue drink coasters, banners to announce OutRageously PINK Nite, informational leaflets were prepared specially for OPN! The various organisations of the council also contributed their respective leaflets. Outlets in Bangsar Baru confirmed their participation and there were a total of 17 outlets offering discounts or special promotions.

A survey team was organised to conduct a simple poll survey on OPN. Randomly selected people in the business district of Bangsar Baru were to be interviewed – a total of 600 was the target. 20 volunteers were specially selected for this, with pre-event briefings as well as documentation for them to read.

D-day was approaching and a final operational meeting was held on 7 June 2004. Fortunately there was no thunderstorm this time round! The MBCC committee reviewed the launch venue in Telawi Street Bistro and then, adjourned to Chinoz for more discussion. Still to be added to the event would be Havana Estudio’s Salsa Street Dancing! The event was definitely becoming more exciting although the logistics became more challenging – especially controlling the traffic and closing the roads temporarily. We were certain the motorists would be upset – to put it mildly

Laminated drink coasters with the message “Be Breast Aware” as well as pink balloons were distributed in the afternoon of 11 June 2004 to the participating outlets: These were:

The coasters also doubled up as badges for all the outlet staff to wear – since they would have to be in uniform which was mainly not in pink!

A last minute collection of donated freebies for OPN arrived very late – almost 7pm and this really created quite a rush to get it off the truck and organised. Pilferage was going on as it was impossible to control everything that was going on, despite the great number of volunteers on the job. Quite a few volunteers including those from Johnson & Johnson were also deployed to control traffic.

The OPN did not end on 11 June 2004. The opinion poll forms were collected and analysis began in earnest the week after the event. A group of 4 volunteers collated the results. Read this in the report on the OPN poll.

The organising committee also conducted a Post OPN Review to analyse the whole event and the organization that went into it.

We wish to express our appreciation to the following:
A zillion thanks to all the individuals and teams that contributed to making OPN such a success despite the very limited budget we had. In Bangsar magazine Editor, Simon Burgess for his input on the Topless With a Twist Contest (Mr Muscles), The Inbangsar editorial team, Dan Thompson & Telawi Street Bistro for the umpteen times we had to discuss with him the launch venue details, Siva Kumar of Chinoz for their staunch support (including of free flow drinks and even food on OPN) to our volunteers, the Starbucks team for lending their support to the Stamp “Tattoo” stand that went on until way past midnight, Bar Flam for being the host venue for Mr Muscles contest, Planter’s Jim for their assistance in the provision of a stand for Juwita Suwito’s debut CD.

To each and every one of our sponsors (Gold sponsors being Johnson & Johnson and Meditel) and PARTNERS IN AWARENESS – we thank you!