Week 8
This past week I worked collaboratively with others in my department. Specifically, I worked with my immediate supervisor on projects. After we put forth our best effort, we would show our work to the head of the department. Then, the head of the department would provide several tips on how to further improve our work. Through this process, we were about to create the best possible work to present to the public. It was helpful to see an organizational process used to create a final product. I will use this observation in future work places in order to come up with the most effective process to perform the best possible work.
Again, I worked on compiling demographic and television rating information to put into the PowerPoint. Additionally, I worked extensively with my supervisor to create a strategy for conducting a focus group regarding member benefits. This involved creating a pitch to present to prospective groups that we would like to participate in our focus group. Thus, we needed to come up with an effective method to present how their participation in this focus group actually benefits them.
Also, I worked on creating a list of potential event activation ideas. This list was created based on a vision of what track and field meets actually entail. Furthermore, I met with another intern to study the current USATF website. Through this detailed study, we began working on creating a way to better present the website to the public. Primarily, we focused on reorganizing the tabs on the website.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Last Full Week (Week 8)!
Week 8
This week was primarily focused on creating a plan for a focus group. While I have done this task in the past, it was great to receive feedback from my boss on the best way to gather information. Some of these tips including using video, pictures, and certain irrelevant small talk. Overall, the primary purpose is to make the participant feel a strong level of comfort in group. Once you establish this comfort level, it will be a lot easier to get good information from the focus group.
A secondary part of the week focused on some minor event planning for the 2009 Outdoor Visa Championship Series Office Olympics (the annual summer office picnic). For this event, I created several interesting emails and signage that emulated the business of USATF. This provided some fun to the entire event. In addition to fun, the event help me better understand how company culture is created and why several companies typically have office picnics. Despite the fierce competition, I noticed that people really became friends and I would argue that this friendship creates a much more conducive work environment.
For a small portion of the week, I worked on overcoming some of the barriers to recreating the USATF website. I had a meeting with web team as well as my supervisor to discuss implementing changes. Fortunately, I was in charge of leading this meeting. Still, I did notice some tension coming from the web team. This tension helped bring to life the tactfulness you must use when suggesting changes to someone’s job. As the textbook say, people do not like change, especially when it comes to their jobs. Therefore, you must discuss the issues in ways that help to advance the organization as well as enhance their position in the organization.
Additionally, I continued to make edits to the powerpoint presentation. With that said, I ran into some technological problems due to some video content. This problem helped me realize to always be prepared to go to Plan B when using technology. You never know when technology will fail on you in the middle of a presentation so you must be prepared.
This week was primarily focused on creating a plan for a focus group. While I have done this task in the past, it was great to receive feedback from my boss on the best way to gather information. Some of these tips including using video, pictures, and certain irrelevant small talk. Overall, the primary purpose is to make the participant feel a strong level of comfort in group. Once you establish this comfort level, it will be a lot easier to get good information from the focus group.
A secondary part of the week focused on some minor event planning for the 2009 Outdoor Visa Championship Series Office Olympics (the annual summer office picnic). For this event, I created several interesting emails and signage that emulated the business of USATF. This provided some fun to the entire event. In addition to fun, the event help me better understand how company culture is created and why several companies typically have office picnics. Despite the fierce competition, I noticed that people really became friends and I would argue that this friendship creates a much more conducive work environment.
For a small portion of the week, I worked on overcoming some of the barriers to recreating the USATF website. I had a meeting with web team as well as my supervisor to discuss implementing changes. Fortunately, I was in charge of leading this meeting. Still, I did notice some tension coming from the web team. This tension helped bring to life the tactfulness you must use when suggesting changes to someone’s job. As the textbook say, people do not like change, especially when it comes to their jobs. Therefore, you must discuss the issues in ways that help to advance the organization as well as enhance their position in the organization.
Additionally, I continued to make edits to the powerpoint presentation. With that said, I ran into some technological problems due to some video content. This problem helped me realize to always be prepared to go to Plan B when using technology. You never know when technology will fail on you in the middle of a presentation so you must be prepared.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Still 2 and Half Weeks!!
Week 6
Overall, this week again focused on preparing the PowerPoint for the sponsors. Specifically, I dealt a great deal with inputting the broadcast ratings and data. While I still don’t quite understand what this data means, it at least got me curious as to what is considered a “good” or “bad” rating. Also, I researched attendance numbers for all Visa Championship Series events. I also found this interesting because it enabled me to compare how USATF has improved and/or not improved on certain events. It would be interesting to get more information on whether certain promotions were done to alter this attendance in one way or another.
In addition, I was able to gain a new skill. For approximately three days, I worked with a video editing program entitled Avid Express Pro. Once I learned how to upload these large tapes into a digital form, I was able to use this program to edit out video clips. These clips will be used to enhance the presentation to sponsors. Specifically, I was given a list of events to pull out that were sponsor entitled events.
Overall, I found this basic video editing experience very useful because it makes my skill set more versatile. Thus, I can now make an easier transition to other basic video editing software because of my exposure to this program. Moreover, I now have a better appreciation for the complex editing many sports entities, such as the NBA, ESPN, ABC, etc. do to put out interesting content.
Overall, this week again focused on preparing the PowerPoint for the sponsors. Specifically, I dealt a great deal with inputting the broadcast ratings and data. While I still don’t quite understand what this data means, it at least got me curious as to what is considered a “good” or “bad” rating. Also, I researched attendance numbers for all Visa Championship Series events. I also found this interesting because it enabled me to compare how USATF has improved and/or not improved on certain events. It would be interesting to get more information on whether certain promotions were done to alter this attendance in one way or another.
In addition, I was able to gain a new skill. For approximately three days, I worked with a video editing program entitled Avid Express Pro. Once I learned how to upload these large tapes into a digital form, I was able to use this program to edit out video clips. These clips will be used to enhance the presentation to sponsors. Specifically, I was given a list of events to pull out that were sponsor entitled events.
Overall, I found this basic video editing experience very useful because it makes my skill set more versatile. Thus, I can now make an easier transition to other basic video editing software because of my exposure to this program. Moreover, I now have a better appreciation for the complex editing many sports entities, such as the NBA, ESPN, ABC, etc. do to put out interesting content.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Its Actually July Now...
Week 5
Overall, this was a shorter week because my supervisor as well as most of the office was still out of town at Outdoor championships. Also, we were given Friday off because of the 4th of July holiday.
Most of the week, I worked on editing the 2009 Indoor Visa Recap to the 2009 Outdoor Visa recap. This involved changing numerous entitlements, pictures, titles, etc. Also, I worked extensively with PowerPoint. I aimed to make the presentation more visually appealing than its current state. Since this recap is a tool to show sponsors that investing in USATF is worth it, I felt like it was very important to improve the quality and look of the recap.
Additionally, I did some research on how to overcome the problems I had encountered when suggesting improvements for the website. Specifically, I found a way to use Constant Contact to put polls on the website. Also, I found a product known as Google FriendConnect, which basically allows websites to incorporate social media onto their websites. It seems like it could be useful to better connect with USATF fans through such tools as comments, chats, and fantasy profiles.
Once my immediate supervisor returned, I presented all the work I had done in the past week in a half. While this was informal, this gave me the opportunity to practice presenting my ideas in a clear manner. Of course, the more practice I have presenting the better public speaker I will become in the future.
Overall, this was a shorter week because my supervisor as well as most of the office was still out of town at Outdoor championships. Also, we were given Friday off because of the 4th of July holiday.
Most of the week, I worked on editing the 2009 Indoor Visa Recap to the 2009 Outdoor Visa recap. This involved changing numerous entitlements, pictures, titles, etc. Also, I worked extensively with PowerPoint. I aimed to make the presentation more visually appealing than its current state. Since this recap is a tool to show sponsors that investing in USATF is worth it, I felt like it was very important to improve the quality and look of the recap.
Additionally, I did some research on how to overcome the problems I had encountered when suggesting improvements for the website. Specifically, I found a way to use Constant Contact to put polls on the website. Also, I found a product known as Google FriendConnect, which basically allows websites to incorporate social media onto their websites. It seems like it could be useful to better connect with USATF fans through such tools as comments, chats, and fantasy profiles.
Once my immediate supervisor returned, I presented all the work I had done in the past week in a half. While this was informal, this gave me the opportunity to practice presenting my ideas in a clear manner. Of course, the more practice I have presenting the better public speaker I will become in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)