What is RSVP?

You will be asked this question too many times to count: "What is RSVP?" So, the first order of business is to know everything you can about RSVP. There's only one way to accomplish that--good ol' fashioned eyeball time and digital elbow grease. Only you (and no one else) can learn what you need to know about the origin, history and current state of RSVP. Yes, it's a tall order to fill but it's one that you absolutely MUST fill. You simply cannot "blow off" this critical research phase of your early days with the organization.

Luckily, most of what you need to know is located online so that you will be able to conduct almost all of your research while sitting in front of your computer. I suggest that you immediately begin and dedicate a separate ring binder to the topic of answering that all-encompassing question, "What is RSVP?"

It won't be long before you understand the nature of RSVP and can answer that question in a heartbeat, phrased specifically for any type of individual, from a child to an octogenarian.

About the only real documentation available in the RSVP office is the CNCS RSVP Manual. It's a huge and intimidating tome. It's poorly organized and was most likely designed by a committee with AADD (Adult Attention Deficit Disorder). Don't reply too heavily on learning about RSVP via this mass of paperwork.

Do you own due diligence. Read about not only the gubmint's spin on RSVP but also visit as many websites of RSVP around America as your brain can handle. Read about what they do. Study their programs. There's supposedly about 740 RSVP throughout America. Most of them are about as different as snowflakes--that's a polite way of saying no two are essentially the same.

When you are studying the RSVP "reality" be aware that there are different RSVP "realities" due to a huge variety of cultural and traditional differences all across America. Who sponsors the RSVP will also have a huge impact on how that RSVP evolves. RSVP's are unique creatures unto themselves but they are also reflections of their sponsors. No RSVP can exist in a vacuum--all RSVP's MUST have sponsors. It's a fact of life and law.

SO, you have to understand the whole "sponsorship equation" before you can really understand RSVP in general and each RSVP specifically. Sponsorship management exerts a great influence on the direction of any given RSVP. This influence can be benign or benevolent or it can be ominous and overbearing. We will talk a lot about this aspect when we discuss EICAP.

Your education about that common question will continue forever, evolving as your understanding matures. I urge you to look forward to the question and to smile happily when someone asks it. Always start you reply with this preface, "I sure am glad you asked that!" When people see that you are happy to explain what RSVP is and what RSVP does, it puts them at ease in dealing with yet another gubmint acronym.
Put some enthusiasm into your answer but keep it short--don't go off on a long, boring tangent about arcane gubmint stuff. Keep it short and sweet and always invite more questions from your listener.

As we delve more into the creation of this blog, we are going to go back and include links with the blog text to help you easily find what you need. However, right now, we are just getting our feet wet and developing a "feel" for how to approach and organize the structure of this blog.