Conflicts Between the Evite Invitation and This Page
Read James' essays.
We now have sections for Business, Computers, and Dating & Romance.
See photos from previous parties.
This page is written generically for all of my parties given at Great Bay. If there are any conflicts between the information contained in the Evite invitation I sent to you and this page, the information in the Evite invitation supercedes the information contained in this page.
For both the large and smaller cocktail parties, we ask that people RSVP, even if they are not attending. You can tell that a response is expected because the invitation begins with "RSVP --". If you don't know whether you can attend, please RSVP "Maybe." If you don't respond, you will continue to receive reminders until you do. See our RSVP policy. We print nametags for those who RSVP "Yes," but we do not print nametags for those who RSVP "Maybe." Therefore, if you've RSVPed "Maybe" and you want a nametag printed for you, you should change your response to "Yes" by noon of the day of the party.
Great Bay
500 Commonwealth Avenue
Kenmore Square
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 532-5300
www.GreatBayRestaurant.com
Located within the
Hotel Commonwealth (617 933-5000)
Hotel Commonwealth is three blocks west (i.e., going away from Boston) of Massachusetts Avenue. Take the Green line to the Kenmore Square subway stop. While you are underground, go the left. Once you emerge onto the street, turn right and Hotel Commonwealth is immediately there.
You'll enter the first set of doors to the hotel. On your right will be the entrance to
The Foundation Lounge, which you don't want. Go through the second set of doors.
The entrance to Great Bay is immediately to your left, before the
stair case. The party will be held in the bar area.
Alternatively, Great Bay has its own entrance, immediately to the left of
the Hotel Commonwealth's entrance.
Directions to Hotel Commonwealth and Great Bay
Valet parking is available for $12.
For the smaller cocktail parties, we ask that people dress up. Cocktail party dress is strongly preferred. Business attire is acceptable if you're coming directly from work. Anything less formal — including business casual — is not acceptable. At a minimum, men should wear jackets and shirts with collars, and we prefer that women wear dresses or skirts. Please see our dress code. If in doubt, err on the side of overdressing slightly. We do drop from the invitation list those who are substantially underdressed. If you have any questions about the dress code, please give me a call at (781) 647-0136, which is good day and night.
If you are entering through The Hotel Commonwealth, once you enter Great Bay, immediately to your left will be a registration table. If you are entering directly from Commonwealth Avenue, the registration table will be on the left. The nametags will be on the registration table. If one has not been printed for you, handwrite a nametag.
We print nametags and descriptive tags for those who said they will attend. Please note that unless we say otherwise, wearing a nametag and descriptive tag is not optional. Nametags and descriptive tags should be worn on your chest, rather than your purse, your pants or your shoes.
We print nametags for those who RSVPed "Yes"; we do not print them for those who RSVPed "Maybe." Therefore, if you RSVPed "Maybe" and you want a nametag and descriptive tag printed for you, you should change your response to "Yes" no later than noon the day of the party.
Nametags and descriptive tags are usually color coded:
Great Bay will check your coats if you wish, at the very front of the restaurant.
Great Bay does not have restrooms in the restaurant, so you have to use the restrooms in the Hotel Commonwealth. There are two entrances to Great Bay — the entrance within the Hotel Commonwealth, and the direct entrance on Commonwealth Avenue. Exit the first entrance (the entrance within the Hotel Commonwealth); on your left will be a staircase. Go up the stairs and turn right, up a few more stairs. Immediately on your left are the restrooms.
You can order food at Great Bay.
Cash or credit cards are accepted at Great Bay.
We encourage you to bring several guests to the party, preferably the most interesting people you know. One girl brought nine friends to one of the parties. The most appropriate guests are those who would be eligible to join as members. Please inform your guests of the dress code. The kind of people we're looking for is explained here, and our expectations of our members are described here. If you have doubts about whether you should bring a particular person, we've learned the hard way that it's best to err on the side of caution and to not bring them, as our experience has been that when members have doubts about a particular guest, such doubts are well-founded. Our invitation list is already quite large and is growing at an increasing rate, so it's more important to focus on keeping the quality of the invitation list high than adding even more people. If you have any questions about what we look for in guests, please give James a call at (781) 647-0136, which is good day and night.
If you know ahead of time that you're going to invite someone, we strongly encourage you to e-mail James their name and e-mail address. That way, we can add them to the general invitation list and we'll print a nametag for them. If you don't know, you're free to just bring them to the party.
Please bring numerous business cards with you in case you meet people you want to follow up with. After every party, I receive several e-mails from people, saying that someone they met at the party wrote down their contact information and they can't read their handwriting. Wouldn't it be easier if the other person just handed them a business card? If you don't have business cards, Professional Taste Printing will print 1000 business cards for as low as $35.
At most of the smaller cocktail parties, we have facilitators, who will introduce you to other people if you request. You can use them to meet new friends, to find business contacts, or for dating. Facilitators wear nametags and descriptive tags with a red border. The Evite invitation will tell you whether or not there will be facilitators at the party.
During the party, you can reach me on my mobile phone (781 718-1301). Except when you know for certain that I am out (i.e., I'm hosting a party), the best number to reach me is (781) 647-0136, which is good day and night. When I'm out, I transfer the 647-0136 number to my mobile. phone
If you have not already done so, please create an Evite account. This will allow you to view all of your Evite invitations — whether sent by me or someone else — in one place. If you delete an Evite invitation sent to you, you can log into Evite and it will be there. It costs nothing to create an Evite account.
Some anti-spam programs incorrectly identify the invitations I send to me as spam (a false positive). In your e-mail package, please add jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com and info@evite.com to your white or approved list. Your company's technical support department should be able to show you how to do this.
If you're busy and wish to not receive invitations for a certain period of time, you can suspend your membership for X months or X years. Simply write to James and tell him what X is.
If you wish to no longer receive invitations for any parties going forward (as opposed to suspending your membership), simply write to James. Before you do, please read this page and this page.