Change of Time for July 25 Party
Conflicts Between the Evite Invitation and This Page
Dancing with JJ Williams and Glenn Kinney
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 the Ritz-Carlton. 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.
Facade
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
Taylor Hayward, an improvisational ambient classical piano player, will be performing at these parties at the Ritz:
He has been playing piano for 15 years, and performing in Boston for 4. To hear samples of his music go to www.taylorhayward.org. He is also a well-known software developer, having designed the Gnome graphical user interface for the Linux operating system.
At the July 25 cocktail party, JJ Williams will be teaching everyone swing dancing. Instruction will start at 7:30 p.m. and dancing will start at 8. Glenn Kinney will be the D.J. Please read this page to find out how the instruction and dancing will be conducted.
At the August 14 party, Tim Ireland will be exhibiting his photographs. His art work covers photography, print design, and web design. He is a drummer in a local band, plays soccer, and loves incredible food. His other professional background, in working with children, has given him wonderful experiences and sense of the innocence of child's play, and the truthful inquisitiveness of childhood. He brings this experience to every project that he works on. As an important part of his work, he regularly donates pieces of his work to a number of children's charities and to a variety of other charity events and organizations around the Greater Boston area. Tim has been published in such magazines a LIGHT Art and Entertainment, Rowing News, Restaurant News, and WHERE Magazine, to name a few. He is a happy person and loves working with people.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel
15 Arlington Street
Back Bay
(617) 536-5700
www.RitzCarlton.com/hotels/boston/overview
The Ritz is located on the corner of Arlington and Newbury Streets in Back Bay. Please note that this is the "old" Ritz, not the "new" Ritz on Avery Street. (The "new" Ritz has LA Sports Club in it.)
Facade
If you're taking the MBTA, take the Green line to the Arlington Street subway stop.
Directions to the Ritz-Carlton
Valet parking is available at both the Arlington and Newbury Street entrances, for $27 per car. You should give your ticket to the parking attendant at least 15 minutes before you need your car. You can also park in the Boston Common garage after 5 p.m. for $10. The Boston Common garage is located on Charles Street, between Beacon and Boylston Streets, and between Arlington and Tremont Streets.
The party will be held in the Grand Ballroom. If you are entering the Ritz through the Arlington Street entrance, there are two staircases. The one on the left takes you to the Lounge. You want the staircase on the right, which will take you to the Grand Ballroom. If you are entering the Ritz through the Newbury Street entrance, the staircase straight ahead takes you to the Grand ballroom. Once you go up the stairs, go down the corridor and you'll be at the foyer, with the Grand Ballroom on your right.
My large cocktail parties without dancing at the Ritz start at 6:30 and typically last until 11:30 p.m. My large parties with dancing start at 6 p.m., 30 minutes earlier to give people more time to talk before the dancing starts.
Lobby
The foyer is the area at the end of the corridor.
The Grand Ballroom is to your right as you enter the foyer.
Coat Check — See below.
The restrooms are at the end of the corridor, immediately before the foyer.
For the large cocktail parties, we ask that people dress up. Cocktail party dress is strongly preferred; this is the Ritz, after all. 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.
At the end of the corridor is a foyer. There are several tables on the left and back sides of the foyer. If you're on the invitation list or if you are a guest and we've been told your name before the party, then we've already printed a nametag (and descriptive tag if you've written one) for you, which will be on these tables. If for any reason a nametag has not been printed for you, please handwrite one, neatly, listing your first and last name.
At the party, guests wear a nametag on their chest, and a descriptive tag if they have one. Please note that this 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 and descriptive tags 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 color coded:
If your tag is always falling off and you want to purchase a plastic holder, the greeters will sell you one for $2. There are two types available: a clip on and one attached to a string that you wear around your neck. The plastic holder is yours to keep for future parties.
Grand Ballroom
Depending on the weather, an attended coat check may be available. I will state in the reminder if this will be offered. To find the coat check room, go to the end of the corridor. Turn left. If an attended coat check will be offered, immediately once you turn left, the coat check will be there. For a few of the parties, after you turn left at the end of the corridor, you should proceed to the end of the second corridor. The Ritz charges $2 per coat.
If a coat check is not available, at the back of the foyer there will be coat racks to check your coat. There is always a small chance that someone will take your coat. You can, if you want, check your coat with the concierge on the first floor.
Restrooms are located at the end of the corridor, on the left, immediately before the foyer. If you cannot find the restrooms, ask the greeter.
Unfortunately the Ritz is not set up to provide food in the Grand Ballroom. You can order food at the Ritz Café (Cafe menu) or the bar. If you do visit the Café or the bar for dinner, either the evening of one of my parties or another time, please, please, please tell the maitre d' that you're coming because of my parties. The Ritz is very kind to provide the room for free and I'd like to steer as much business to them as possible.
For parties in the Grand Ballroom, to purchase drinks one must have cash; credit cards are not accepted. If you ask at the front desk, they will tell you the location of the nearest cash machines. If you're having drinks in the Café or the bar, you can, of course, use credit cards.
Approximately 500 people attend my large cocktail parties at the Ritz.
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 the party, there will be at least a dozen 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. At the party, there will be several posters with photos of some of the facilitators.
On the tables slightly to the right as you enter the foyer, there will be two white notebooks. These contain a list of everyone who RSVPed "Yes" or "Maybe," their descriptive tag, and their description. If you want to know about someone attending the party tonight (assuming they are on the invitation list — look for a white nametag or descriptive tag with no border, or tags with a red border), feel free to look through these notebooks. If they are wearing a white nametag, then in almost all cases they will not be listed in the white notebook.
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.
The Ritz is incredibly nice to us to give us this wonderful ballroom. If you're considering having a catered function — such as a wedding, birthday party, bar mitzvah, or a corporate function — please call Bill de Saulnier at (617) 912-3319 or e-mail him at william.desaulnier@ritzcarlton.com.