Walk into a gorgeous event and you’ll see it: food on the dining table, flowers everywhere, a stunning home. Cecil Banks will gently tell you that isn’t an event yet. When he took over major events in UVA’s president’s office, he noticed too many gatherings were designed for the house instead of the people walking into it.
(Listen to the full-length version on YouTube 58-mins)
Underneath that instinct is a lot of unglamorous craft. He starts every event with roughly twenty questions before anyone talks about flowers. He’ll tell you the staffing plan matters more than the centerpiece, because “if you can arrange staffing correctly at an event, it doesn’t matter if the florist brought the wrong color flowers.”
And then the line that outlasts the whole conversation: traditions need a purpose. UVA keeps its traditions by letting them adapt, turning thousands of graduation balloons into a cohort that collects them for the children’s hospital. A tradition is only worth keeping as long as it still means something to the people living it now. The best events, like the best traditions, aren’t monuments. They’re built, every time, around the people in the room.
Big Themes This Week
Design the room around the guest, not the venue
Staffing and attention beat decor every single time
Traditions survive only when they still serve the people in them
Team Discussion Questions
Which of our events are quietly planned for the space instead of the people in it?
If we had to name the five people who must leave each event feeling seen, who are they, and who’s responsible for making it happen?
Which tradition are we protecting out of habit, and what purpose would justify keeping it?
Summary of Keynote is Primarily AI-Generated
November Agora
Topic: Everybody’s Working for the (William & Mary) Weekend!
Date: Thursday, November 5 from 12 - 1 pm ET
Speaker: Kelly Holdcraft, Executive Director of Alumni Success at William & Mary
Kelly will detail William & Mary Weekend DC 2026 which featured nearly 50 events with more than half sold out, over 1,100 attendees, and 15 university schools and units represented over a four-day weekend. From a kickoff celebration with NFL alumni to an immersive MLB college game day to a presidential conversation on artificial intelligence to tours of our 90-foot coastal marine research vessel to a sold-out auction and more, the William & Mary Weekend offered once-in-a-lifetime intellectual, professional, cultural and social experiences to all who participated!
