English Listening: How to Plan and Announce Events – A Case Study of the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle

Welcome to the final module in this course. In this module, we'll be talking about planning and announcing events. In the first lesson, we'll focus on planning the details of an event. In the second lesson, we'll look at guidelines for writing a formal announcement for an event. The final lesson is about the language for writing an announcement. You'll have a chance to write your own announcement for an event at the end. We'll start by reading about a special museum and events venue in Seattle. Then we'll listen to an interview with someone who is involved in events planning at that museum. Then we'll look at some important things to consider in organizing an event, as well as the language that will be helpful. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to plan details of a business event and describe an event using terms from this lesson.

Before we start, I'd like you to think about any events you may have planned. Maybe you had to organize a retirement party at your office. Maybe you were on a team that organized an awards luncheon. Did you ever help organize a birthday party at your office or for your kids? Or maybe you helped a friend plan her wedding? All of those take a lot of thinking and organizing. Think about all the tasks you needed to do. Did you have to send invitations, order food, ask someone to be a guest speaker? We'll start this lesson with a short reading about the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, which we call Mohye for short. Let's read and listen about Mohye and what makes this place so special. After, answer a few questions about what you read.

Mohye, the place to discover Seattle. What kind of a museum would convince the CEOs of Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing to contribute to it? A museum like Mohye, the Museum of History and Industry. Many people come to this fascinating museum because they enjoy seeing the icons or important symbols of the city. Hanging from a 65 foot, 20 meter, ceiling of the Grand Atrium is one of Boeing's first airplanes, as well as the Hydroplane or Speedboat, which set the 1950 World Speed Record. One popular part of the museum is the Jeff Basso Center for Innovation. Jeff Basso, the founder and CEO of Amazon, made a personal donation of $10 million for the center. It is the largest donation ever made to Mohye. At the center, you can learn about ideas that originated in Seattle. There is a focus on music, Sub Pop Records and Nirvana, and business, Boeing 787 Dreamliners windows that can be darkened and seen through at the same time, and sports, Eddie Bauer's design of a quilted down jacket.

Jeff Basso doesn't know why there is so much innovation in the city, but maybe it is the rain, he says. Many visitors just love the history of the city itself. In the upper galleries that surround the Atrium, there are four million historical artifacts and photos. They show important events in the city from the early Seattle Fire to the birth of Microsoft to the NBA Championship of the Supersonics. You can even see the very first Starbucks sidewalk sign before there was even a logo. To keep it fresh, exhibits are always changing. Recently, the Seattle Hip Hop exhibit included the distinctive jacket that Grammy-winning rapper Macklemore wore in his popular video Thrift Shop. Another well-loved exhibit was on the Seattle houseboats, which were made popular by Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle.

Finally, Mohye is a very popular venue for corporate events, not to mention weddings and other celebrations, and why not. It's interesting, beautiful, and unique. So if you're in Seattle on one of our famous rainy days, consider going to Mohye. There is something there for everyone.