And it finally came to an end....

Well today is my last day. It was so exciting to end the internship with a Photo shoot at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. The shoot was held on the 2nd floor of the Sheraton on an outside terrace. I went over there around 3 and watched how they set up and get the talent ready for the shoot. I never realized how time consuming it really was to take a few pictures.

When I got there, the 14 individuals that were hired on for the talent for the shoot were getting their hair and makeup done, along with finding the right outfits for the shoot! I wish my closet had as many clothing articles as the stylist brought over. I mean there were hundreds of clothes. One the talent was finished with hair and makeup, the stylist got the clothes steamed so there were no wrinkles and made sure that they were pressed. Once the talent was dressed, they had to either stand straight up for the next couple of hours or if they did sit down they were not allowed to cross their legs. Wow that must be pretty uncomfortable. My feet were hurting by the end of the shoot and I can’t imagine how the talent was feeling.

So around 4:30-5pm the talent was put into place and the photographer and the designer placed the talent around and snapped hundreds of shots to make sure that they found the perfect placing for the shoot. Once they found the perfect placing (2 hours later), they were ready for the shoot. They had to make sure the talent was in the right place and also that they had the perfect lighting that they wanted.

There was a lot more to it but that is the gist of it. Overall it was a great experience and I’m glad I got to end it on that.

Well I hope everyone has a good few weeks left before graduation.

See you all on May 15th.

Nikki

Final tasks!

Well, my supervisor, the Marketing Assistant, the Director of Marketing and the Internet Marketing Manager, took me out to lunch today. It was a thank you lunch for all the hard work that I have put in over the past 14 weeks. We went to the District that is located in the Sheraton Downtown, and let me tell you, it was WONDERFUL! I was so lucky to work with this fabulous group of individuals! They had really taught me a lot about the marketing field especially in the tourism industry. I will hopefully take all of the knowledge that I have acquired over the past 14 weeks and apply it and other knowledge gained through school (of course) to my future job opportunities.

So today there really wasn’t a lot for me to work on so I have been helping out the Membership Department with taping ‘Membership 2009’ plaques in these membership cards that they send out every year. Tedious and time consuming but it is keeping me busy!

I know from personal experience that the job search will not be easy. Like my mom always tells me “Finding a job is a full-time job in itself” so I will just have to push myself until I find what I am looking for.

Best of luck to all to those of you in the same position that I am in. I know you will all do wonderful!

Keep in touch….

Nikki

Time is ticking....

Well it’s the start of my last week here at the Phoenix Convention and Visitor Bureau and there really isn’t a lot of work for me to do. All morning I worked on downloading files to our database so that we had them on file for any upcoming projects that they will be working on. I have been cleaning out my drawers and my desk, which is kind of sad now that I think about it. These past 13 weeks have gone by so fast.

I just set up my twitter account last week so I am currently trying to figure out what it is all about. I never thought I would have so many social networking sites and now I just have to figure out how I am going to maximize them to their full potential. Hopefully that will help with the whole job search process.

Last week was kind of slow as well. I help with the set up of a green brochure that the membership department was putting together and we luckily got it done and approved by the Friday deadline. My manager set it off to the printer last Friday so hopefully when they get it back it will be perfect. We did find one little spelling mistake after we sent it over but we caught it in time before it got printed off. It’s funny how you will stare at something for so long that you will totally look over an error. That’s definitely why we need 4-5 people proof reading anything that is sent out.

Keep in touch!

Nikki

The countdown is on...

Well it’s Thursday. One week and one day left of my internship with the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor Bureau! How exciting. This week hasn’t been much different than the last weeks. I have been doing a lot more small projects with the marketing department since they are getting closer to the launch of the new website. Oh and not to mention the spring-cleaning that I have been doing around the office. Always a fun time!

Other then that I am just doing the whole job search thing. Which I have come to find out that that is a full-time job in itself. But hopefully my persistence will pay off in the long run!

Anyone have any good ideas for a bakery in the Tempe/Chandler area for graduation cakes? If so, let me know!

Nikki

Finding a new career path?

Well this week was completely busy, but not with marketing things. I mainly did projects for administration, which was interesting to find out that I actually really enjoy administration work. A lot of the projects involved filing member dues and making sure that they match their invoices. Another time-consuming project that I worked on was in-kind reports and making sure they balanced on the given spreadsheet. In-kind reports are the reports that each department turns in at the end of the month showing the expenses with clients. It is time consuming because it is a lot of search and find type of work that fortunately kept me busy.

Nothing too exciting in the marketing department this week, mainly my day to day activities involving mailing visitor guides, updating the online calendar and approving photos. I did however get to do collateral on Friday. I don’t know about you but it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. :)

One more week down, only 3 more left. That is so crazy to think that these past 11 weeks went by do fast. Now it’s time to start job hunting. Oh JOY! Well I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Keep in touch!

Nikki

What I've learned!

Well the site visit was successful with Sara Owen and now I know what I need to work on and what I need to accomplish over the next couple of weeks remaining here at the CVB. For the homework assignment, “Action Plan”, my major concern was that I wasn’t getting enough work and I felt that my skills were not being taken advantage of. So for my action plan, I put together a list of things that I wanted to get out of the remaining weeks.

One important thing that was discussed was networking. I have worked a lot with different companies and have gotten to get to know some of the people that I worked with. This is a great opportunity for me and I just need to maintain the relationships so in the future if something comes up I might be considered for it. Also in my action I talked about how I was going to try and get together with my supervisor and the rest of the department and get some insight from them as to how I would further my experience in the Marketing World and what I could do to improve myself so I would be a better candidate for a position.

It was interesting with we did “Offer a Solution” because my major concern was that the marketing intern does not have enough things to do to keep them busy for the full 40 hours for 14 weeks requirement through the school. It was interesting because right away I approached the situation as an opportunity for me to help out other departments and get to know them just like I have gotten to know the marketing department. This has been a major success because not only do I have a ton of things to do, but I am also broadening my horizons as to what I might want to do in the future.

Well that’s it for now. More to come tomorrow!

Nikki

Nearing the End....

Well last week was a pretty slow week. There really was not much to do around the office. I worked on a couple of projects here and there for the Marketing Department but a majority of the tasks that I did came from other departments such as the Travel Industry Department, Communications and Sales. Nothing really too strenuous, just mainly inputting data and filing folders.

This week has been the same. I just met with Sara Owen on Monday morning for the mid-term site visit, which everything went well. She met with my Supervisor Kim and she also met with Eric who is the Marketing Assistant who I mainly get all of my projects from when Kim doesn’t have anything for me. It was a short meeting and we basically talked about what I have been doing for the past 9 weeks and what I would like to see myself doing for the next 5 remaining weeks of the internship. It’s kind of weird to think that it is almost over and it will be time for graduation. Real world time.

Other exciting news for us, President Obama is coming to speak at Arizona State’s University Commencement. How exciting is that. Not too many people who graduate get to say that the President came and spoke at their Graduation Ceremony. We are just one of three school to be lucky enough to have him grace us with his presence on this exciting day. So I hope you all take advantage of this opportunity because tickets will be numbered and we definitely are lucky to get first dibs on the tickets.

Other than that there really isn’t much else to talk about.

Keep in touch!

Nikki

Back after Break!

Hey Everyone,

Well the last two weeks went by pretty fast. Mainly considering the fact that I only worked on day last week because the other four days I took off for spring break, which I spent back in Wisconsin visiting family and friends. As some of you may know already, I did also come back will a little more than the chills, I also got a fractured ankle from slipping on ice which we obviously don’t deal with here is Arizona. Other than that, I had a nice relaxing vacation at home.

Well the work in the Marketing Department is kind of slow so I have been offering my help around the office. I helped out a lot with organization for some of the other employees around the office. It didn’t bother me doing that kind of stuff because I am a total organizational freak. I like to have things in places where I know I can find them right away. Plus, an organized office is a successful office. Pretty much anything I can do around the office, I hope will make it more successful.

Other than that, it’s a new week and I just made it through my first day back to work after spring break and the whole fractured ankle ordeal.

Hope everyone had a great spring break and stayed safe.

Keep in touch!

Nikki

Busy Bee at Work!

So last week was a very interesting and busy week. I worked a lot with resorts in the valley and throughout Arizona getting contact names and getting our files up to date. One of the things that I was working on was making sure we had the correct contact name for individuals at resorts that would receive sale leads. This was interesting because I was able to talk to a lot of different people that were in the position that I one day would like to be in, Director of Sales and Marketing. That would be ideal for me.

This was a time consuming project that carried over to this week and now I am finally done with it. Not only was it a time consuming project but it also gave me an opportunity to network and work on my verbal communication skills. I feel that verbal and written communication can make or break you. In order to be successful you need to know how to communicate with others.

Other than that last week went by very fast. As an ongoing task I do everyday, I have been updating events, photos and information for CVB members also. I definitely can say that I have learned a lot in these short weeks and feel that I have definitely gotten my foot in the right door by doing an internship with the CVB and it has been very beneficial.

Keep in touch!

Nikki

Keeping up with the GPCVB!

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Valentines Day! I sure did :) Well things at the CVB have been a little busy the past week. I have been working on a lot of projects involving the new Spring Stimulus and have been getting a lot of data complied in a condenced form for the website. One of the big projects that the Marketing Department has been working on is to really bring revenue into the Great Phoenix Area and keeping the businesses alive.

With the harsh economic times we are facing, there has been a lot of downfall in the tourism area including the restaurant business and the accomadation/lodging industry. People aren't spending money the way that they use to so what the CVB is doing is they are compiling information of discounts that the local resorts and restaurants are offering and putting them on the website for its viewers. Definitley check it out, there are a lot of great deals out there (http://www.visitphoenix.com/springstimulus/) . This is a great chance to go try out a new restaurant or even get a weekend break from your everyday life and stay at a resort that you normally would never stay at. Just a few ideas.

Other then that, I have jsut been staying busy with updating the website's calendar section, adding new photos to the online photo tour, and doing research on the GPCVB's competition. These are all part of my everyday tasks here. It's suprising that this week will mark my half way week with the CVB for the purpose of the internship. Very exciting.

I hope you all are enjoying yourselves and learning a lot.

Keep in touch!

Nikki

New Experiences....

After a third of my internship is done, I have found that this week was probably one of the busiest weeks that I have had so far. I worked a lot with different hotels, restaurants, attractions and many other places to try and get photos for the new Greater Phoenix CVB website that will be launched in the summer. One thing about marketing is that in order to use photos from other companies, you need to make sure that you have the rights to use them. Some people may not know that you just cant go to a website and cut and paste from one to another. There is such thing as photo protection. So what I did was contact a list of CVB members to see if they wanted to participate in our new website construction by submitting some of their photos at no charge to them of course. This was basically just a ‘free per say’ way to advertise through us. I found that a lot of the companies were more then willing to participate because the economy is so bad right now that any extra advertising they could squeeze in would be a benefit to them.

Other than that, I also had my first press release meeting. Three of us from the Marketing Department and 3 people from the advertising agency that the CVB use met at a large print factor to approve the letterhead that was being made for the CVB. At first I was like, okay, we are going to walk into a room and look at the letterhead. How hard is that? Well that was not the case at all. We actually went into the back where all the printing is taking place in a large warehouse and actually watched them mix colors to make the perfect color for our letterhead. It definitely took like and precision to make it perfect. That was a great experience for me because it really gave me a good understanding as to what really goes on behind the scenes.

I hope everyone has a great weekend with all the events that are going on in town involving the NBA All-Star Game and of course, Valentines Day! :)

Keep In Touch!

Nikki

P.S. If you want to check out some of the events that are going on in town this weekend come look at the CVB’s event calendar. (Something that I have been working on over the past weeks is to keep up-to-date events on the calendar). So check it out. http://www.visitphoenix.com/calendar/

Research is everything...

Well it has been a complete month now at the Great Phoenix CVB and it’s hard to believe that I am starting my 5th week. So last week was kind of a slow week in the Marketing department. There really were not that many projects to work on so I did a lot of research on the CVB’s competition which was perfect because the assignment that was due on Sunday was all about competition. That is really something that I have learned about marketing, it’s not all about making an advertisement look pretty in order to sell a product (even though that has a lot to do with it), but you also have to do a ton of research to see what others are doing so you can be one step ahead of them so your product it more marketable. Other than that, nothing new and exciting has happened.

In the past week, I have also found myself undergoing additional research that doesn’t involve the Greater Phoenix CVB. Instead involving my future. With this internship just flying by, I have started research future jobs that are of interest to me. Even though I have just started, I have already come to the realization that I would love a job in the marketing field especially in the Tourism industry. With the contacts I have made in the marketing departments at local resorts here in the Greater Phoenix Area, I am doing research and putting my resume and contact information out there.

Keep in touch,

Nikki

Time Flies on Intern Row

So as I come to a close to my third week of working at the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor Bureau I think about how quickly these last three weeks have gone by. It’d hard to believe that I only have 11 weeks left and then it's time for the real world.

During this last week, I have found that I am starting to get the hang of what it means to be a marketing intern with the GPCVB (as many of you might not know, that stands for the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor Bureau. I will be using this sporadically throughout my blogs.) This last week I have gained more responsibility as I am now dealing with more aspects of the website including uploading and photoshopping photos for the members and the local businesses here in the Greater Phoenix Area. Not only that, but I have also been dealing a little more with the Prop 302 projects and helping out my supervisors as much as possible whenever needed. As for those of you that are following other classmates blogs, you may have observed the fact that I have three other classmates interning right along side me in what is known as Intern Row (a bunch of computer cubicals in a room where all the interns have a place to call their own.) I have Alexis who is the Travel Industry Sales Intern, Natalie who is the Housing Intern and Diana who is the Membership Intern (part-time). Everyone is great and we all have one goal in common, to help make the CVB successful during these troubling economic times! Who could ask for a better team? :)

I know that interning can seem like tedious work and even boring work at times, but I have found that no matter how tedious something maybe or even how boring something maybe, you always have to do it 110% because those little things may make a BIG difference in the long run.

With that said, I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the FBR Open and watching the Cardinals in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Oh and don’t forget, have a FABULOUS weekend! Maybe I’ll see some of you out on the greens.

Keep in touch!

Nikki

Networking is everything!

Hi Everyone! So I am almost done with my second workweek here at the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor Bureau. I have already learned so many great things within this short period of time. There really has not been too much excitement around the office but I was given a great opportunity this morning to go to a meeting held by the Marketing Department (which I intern for) at a local resort here in Phoenix. Attendees to this meeting included the Directors of Marketing and Directors of Sales at local resorts here in the valley. This was wonderful for me because I was able to network myself with these few individuals in an area that I would love to get into, Hospitality and Marketing (perfect).

As weird as this may sound, I actually got this idea for a website while sitting in the meeting and listening to participants discuss their pros and cons about what is out there right now and what they would like to see as far as internet and such. So with that said, I think this is something that I should really look into. I have always liked to try out new things and see how far I can push my limits so this definitely will be a limit pusher considering I really know very little about website construction. Oh well, I will just have to see were things take me.

But as for next week I really am not sure what is all in store for me but we will definitely have to see!

Keep in touch!

Nikki

First Week of a New Life!

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year because I know I did. Well to start off with, I just recently started my Internship with the Great Phoenix Convention and Visitor Bureau Monday January 12, 2009. I am working in the Marketing Department as the Intern and I am expecting to learn a ton throughout the next four months.

To start off with the first week, there was a lot of housekeeping to be done. Before I could really get into any large projects, I needed to learn how the Marketing Department within the CVB works. I learned how to update the website, mail out any information that the CVB offers to their members/clients or individuals just acquiring information about the Great Phoenix Area and many other simple office tasks.

One of my duties for the first week was to set up informational interviews with other Directors with the CVB and learn exactly what they do here. I found these to be great. One of the interviews I had was with an individual who works in the exact department I am wanting to work in and they gave me a ton of information and really got me thinking about how I want to get into a position such as they are holding.

Not only have I done that, but last Friday I worked over at the Phoenix Convention Center an was a vendor for the Rock N Roll P.F. Chang’s Marathon. All thanks to the CVB. I am already headed down the right track.

Keep in touch. There will be more to come :)

Nikki