Internship Update

          When The Spring Festival and the Preview Party passed, I expected things at my internship to slow down. While there has been a little less frantic running around the city, my expectations were not correct. I figured that it was time to do a little “internship update,” filling everyone in on what I have been doing post-Spring Festival and Preview Party.

            Perhaps the biggest part of the Preview Party is the silent auction. The winners are announced at the end of the night and the guests are instructed to pay for and retrieve their items on their way out. However, many guests either leave before the winners are announced or do not realize they have won something. This leaves us with many unclaimed and unpaid-for items. We then take all of these prizes back to the office where they sit untouched until they are given to their rightful owner. I have the responsibility of making these prizes go away.

            For the last few weeks, I have been left with piles of bid sheets, gift cards, and prizes. I had to call each winner to collect they payment over the phone, using the program Intuit. I also had to get their address. If the item was a gift card, I would simply mail it. However if it was a package, I had to hand-

Stopping to smell the roses (or take a picture) while on a delivery.

deliver the prize. This required me to navigate the city while carrying various baskets and prizes, which was not an easy thing to do. In addition, many people did not answer the first time I called them. I had to call many people several times, which required me to work on my people skills over the phone.

            I have finally delivered the majority of the silent auction items to the winners. As for the prizes that did not sell, I had to create a document with the unsold items for my boss to send out to her husband’s business. This required me to take pictures of the items on my phone and put them on a Word Document with the item description, value, and starting bid.

            In addition to wrapping things up from the Preview Party, I have been doing several other tasks. This includes updating contact sheets, calling clients, and putting upcoming events on various website calendars.

            Gloss PR has had other events since the Spring Festival. Last week, I worked an event sponsored by Kids in Center City Philadelphia, which is an organization devoted to enriching children’s experiences in Philadelphia. The organization hosts children’s events and provides information about schools, summer camps, birthday locations, and more.

            The event that I worked was at The Market & Shops at Comcast Center.

The awesome view of The Comcast Center.

           Children at the event were given the opportunity to meet Cailou, a television character from Sprout. There were also several stations with multiple kid-friendly activities such as cupcake decorating. My job was to work the bracelet-making station. I had to provide the children with the beads and string of their choice. In order to obtain some demographics and customer information, we had an auction for a gift card to The Market & Shops at Comcast Center. On their ticket, guests had to put their name and email address. After the auction, we collected the email addresses to put on our mailing list for future Kids in Center City events. My second job was to invite the parents to enter the drawing. Overall, the event went smoothly. There was a great turnout and the children were so excited to meet Cailou. It was amazing to help put a smile on the kids’ faces and it was nice to see the family-friendly side of public relations.

The bracelet-making station at the event.

            Gloss recently obtained a new client, and with that, I gained a new project. The client is Nest, which is a children’s enrichment center that provides services such as classes for kids and parents, birthday parties, and a family lounge. Nest decided to drop their latest public relations firm and sign on with Gloss.

            My boss assigned me to a huge project involving Nest. She explained how hospitals give out “birthing bags” to new mothers that contain information on parenting and often include promotional items for kid-related places. Nest wants to give out $100 gift cards in these bags in the three major hospitals in Philadelphia: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Hospital, and Pennsylvania Hospital. My job is to make it happen. My boss basically told me that if this doesn’t happen, it is on me. I am both excited and a little nervous to have this responsibility. In a way, it is my time to shine and prove that I am a competent intern. However, I am very scared of failing.

            I have gotten a few leads on the project. I started by looking up the communications staff of each hospital. I have spoken with a Communications Director of Jefferson on the phone and I am waiting for her to email me back about my inquiry.

The Nest logo

I got the name of a woman at HUP who is the correct person to talk to, but the number seems to be disconnected. I am going to call the hospital this week to correct the mistake. As for now, it is a waiting game to get some answers. I am determined to make this happen and prove myself and I think that with my drive and ability, I just might be able to do it.