Behind the Curtain

What does it really take to create a High Protocol event that feels effortless to the people experiencing it?

Behind every elegant table, smoothly executed protocol, and seamless act of service are dozens of decisions someone had to make before the first guest walked through the door.

Behind the Curtain: Setting the Stage, Setting the Table is a practical guide to creating High Protocol dinners, formal teas, and other Power Exchange gatherings, drawn from Dawn Williams' more than twenty-five years of experience creating them.

This isn't simply a book of etiquette, protocols, or to-do lists. Dawn takes you Behind the Curtain, sharing the stories, mistakes, unexpected disasters, creative saves, and lessons that shaped how she approaches formal events today.

You'll explore:

• Turning an idea into a workable event
• Choosing guests, roles, protocols, and expectations
• Planning menus, kitchens, tables, and service
• Preparing followers for their responsibilities
• Creating an atmosphere that supports Power Exchange
• Handling the inevitable moment when the plan doesn't go according to plan
• Bringing service, intention, and devotion into the details

Questions at the end of each chapter help you apply what you're learning to your own event. At the end of the book, the Toolkit brings those questions together into a Master Event Sheet, with additional worksheets to help you plan from beginning to end.

This is not a rulebook for the one "right" way to do High Protocol. It's twenty-five years of experience offered as a starting point.

Borrow what works. Change what doesn't. Learn from the stories.

Then create something that belongs to you.