Second Day of Work

Today was the second day of work. I think it gave me a better feel for what work is really going to be like.

Overall, I did a great deal of internet research. In particular, I examined the stickiness of websites. To do this, I looked at ESPN, NBA, MLB, NFL, and the Statesman. As I looked at these websites, I aimed to discover what exactly makes me (and other fans) stay on the website. Overall, it seems like fresh content, vivid pictures, and polls are some of the main factors for maintaining my attention. Additionally, things like discussion forums, blogs, and media seem to keep fans coming back for me.

At 3 pm, I was invited to my favorite part of day. USATF puts out two quarterly magazines--Elite Beat and Fast Forward. Originally, these magazines focuses on putting out pure facts about the runners, such as race times, meet results, etc. and things only hard-core runners would care about, such as shoe recommendations. Unfortunately, this limited the interest in the magazine. As a result, USATF decided to redesign the look and content of the magazine to appeal to more of the casual runner. These changes involved putting in more content about the players on and off the track, nike marketing articles, historical pieces, rising stars, and much more.

This meeting was particularly interesting because it was a departmental meeting where I was able to better understand the vision of USATF as well get familiar with some of the key athletes. It was also great to hear everyone pitch story ideas and see them really come to life.

Personally, I was asked to come up with ways to improve the magazine based on an old edition I was given. Unfortunately, the changes I was going to recommend were already in the works. However, this shows that my ideas would be credible and worthwhile. Additionally, at the meeting, I was assigned the task of looking through all the pictures from previous events to identify photos that will be included in a middle two-page spread of Fast Forward.

Lastly, the company culture is very laid back. There is little real direction given so long as you do your job right. Everyone seems busy all day, but I really have no idea what they're doing. It would be interesting to walk around and ask everyone what they're working on so that I can get a better understanding of USATF.