Hello (for the last time!),
It's been a while since by last post, but upon the conclusion of my internship at City to Surf, I've been madly catching up on all my uni work I missed! I though I'd take the chance to reflect on post event challenges and successes, as well as the overall experience.
At the conclusion of the event, after packing up all of the signage and labelling it to be returned to the sponsors, it was back to the office ( i place i hadn't seen for nearly 2 weeks!). It was nice to be back in an environment where i knew all the faces, and everyone was in such high spirits thanks to such a successful event!
The Friday was very casual and easy going, with very little "serious" work to be done. There were a few sponsorship issues which required attention, such as complaints from a few that their signage allocation on the day didn't match what was agreed upon in the plan. Sitting alongside my supervisor Alicia, we discovered that in fact the signage WAS correct according to the plans that were signed off on. This was frustrating (and a little nerve racking as I was terrified I'd made HUGE mistakes!) as they turned the blame on us for things that were a mutual mistake.
After sorting out these minor issues, I had the chance to read through the post event survey responses from participants. This was both rewarding and frustrating as there were plenty of wonderful comments, commending the event and labelling it faultless, but then there were the complaints. I managed to sort through many which were regarding signage and this was when the anger and disappointment really hit. Numerous participants had written on their feedback that there were "no kilometre markers". I can assure everyone who is reading this blog, that there were kilometre markers at EVERY single kilometre mark for the 42km, 21km and 12km distances. I know because I watched my crew load them into the Ute the night before, and saw them blowing in the breeze as I drove to the event early Sunday morning. This was such a frustrating situation (as the girls in the office and the other interns would know by now!) for me as I had done SO much hard work, and no one seemed to acknowledge it, instead complained that it didn't exist!
I realise this is the nature of events, that not everyone is going to be impressed and there's always going to be people who into the event with a negative mindset, but I was still a little hurt that they would say this- especially the huge number of people who said it! Continuing to flick through responses I also found some wonderful comments regarding the on course entertainment I had sourced, with one participant even saying the musician gave him goosebumps (the musician was David Lazarus in case anyone is wondering). It was so rewarding to read these comments, and I couldn't help but phone those who performed and thank them personally, before writing a letter of thanks, including quotes I'd pulled from the survey. I really hope when they received those letters, that it put a huge smile on their faces!
Looking through the hundreds of photos was our next task of the day- such a strenuous working day i know! it was so nice to see all the photos out on course, as I was located at the finish oval all day i didn't actually get a chance to see the race in progress. Seeing photos of all the signage was the most rewarding as all the hard work had paid off and it look fantastic!!! I was so proud of the crews who had followed the plans and instructions and got the signage out perfectly!
Overall, i had the most incredible time at my internship. I learnt SO much about the industry, as well as about myself! I definitely know that events is my area of passion, and I would love to pursue a career in event coordinating or directing for sporting events. If I had the chance, I would certainly do another placement with City to Surf, and am hoping they'll allow me the chance to work with them again next year!
That's all for now, I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my placement as much as I've enjoyed reading about yours!
Sarah Ball
14262784
(Bentley Campus)
1 comment:
Hi Sarah,
Your post was very interesting for me to read because I was in the same position as you in regards to complaints.
As much as our internship is rewarding and fun it also comes with a negative side sometimes and the best thing we can do is just smile and try and take the complaint with a pinch of salt.
At Lifeline WA, where I did my placement, we held a huge ball and I called a lady who attended last year to see if she wanted another invite and instead of politely saying no, I had a 20 minutes conversation with her about how the event was so main stream and there were too many people and the event wasn't intimate enough and she even said that for a charity that promotes health she couldn't understand why we were serving alcohol.
I really liked that you sent out thank you letters with the intent to put a smile on peoples face, I can just imagine that you made their day.
Your internship definitely sounds very interesting and it seems that we've both had to implement our knowledge and skill not only in the public relations sector but also in the events sector, which like you I also highly enjoyed.
Hope you had a great experience,
Jessica Dreier
14270952
Bentley Campus
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