Today was my first day at SAS. I arrived with a group of 10 other CA students in the Global Education Center building on the SAS campus. We got a quick tour through the new building and even learned a fun fact. Building A on the SAS campus is the tallest building in Cary. The fire department didn’t have a ladder tall enough to reach the new nine-story building so Mr. Goodnight graciously bought the department a new truck with a ladder that could reach the top of the building. After learning a little bit about the building, we were taken to a room for an orientation on SAS. We spent the first half of the day watching videos and slide shows that informed us all about how SAS functions. It informed us of the basics and began to delve into some of the complexities of the company. I spent the second half of the day with Elena Huang as we began shadowing our host, Pauline Ashcraft. We met her coworkers and some members of her team and we got a quick introduction to the RSQ department. We can’t wait to keep learning about it!
Me outside of Building A just before starting my day at SAS
Today was the first day with my work experience program and myself, as well as the other students working at SAS, started our day off by meeting with two Human Resources representatives who had coordinated our work experience at SAS. After meeting them downstairs in the lobby, we went upstairs in building A to a conference room to listen to a general introduction about SAS and what it does throughout the world. We learned a lot in the presentation about the Data for Good programs which use SAS analytics and software to solve modern day problems in the real world. We also learned about how SAS was founded, some perks of being an employee there, and about the tradition of M&Ms being served every Wednesday. After our introduction meeting, we went and had lunch in the building A cafeteria, The Terrace. There was a wide selection of food ranging from sushi to pasta to salads, however, most of us decided to still get pizza. I am sure we will all venture out and try other foods as the two weeks pass. As we ate lunch, we met with some of the HR interns and other employees working there who talked to us about life at SAS and their journeys that led them to SAS. We learned about how the majority of interns and workers actually come from North Carolina State University because the company is widely publicized at the university. After lunch, we watched a few more videos about SAS and then split up to meet with the people that we were shadowing. I shadowed someone who works in Marketing and Communications in building U. She started off our meeting by introducing herself and a little bit of what she does at SAS before bringing us around the floor to meet a lot of the people that she worked with. We met lots of designers, copy editors, writers, and more who all worked in that particular marketing branch of the company. After the introductions, we looked at some information packets that had been recently produced as well as started to look at a packet that they were in the process of producing. We were able to offer up suggestions as to how to make the packets better and give information about what would resonate the most with specific audiences. After this, we were able to ask lots of questions about marketing in general and specific ones about what they do in the company. Overall it was a great day, and I am excited tomorrow to meet more people that are involved in the marketing process.
Working at SAS today gave me a general overview about the environment and community of the workplace. We started with a presentation about SAS to introduce us to the company, noting its relevance in the world and its work “behind the scenes” in almost all of the Fortune 500 companies. We watched videos on the different uses of SAS programs and the outlook of the company from the employees’ point of view. We then went to one of their many lunchrooms which had an assortment of foods (sushi, sandwiches, pizza, and global dishes) and discussed the presentation with our peers and the person that gave the presentation.
After, we broke out into our individual interest-based fields; for me, it was marketing. I shadowed someone called Ms. Sundheim who was very thorough in showing me the community and we walked around meeting people in the marketing field and talked to us about what each of them did. I found that to be a great introduction to that specific branch of SAS since I was able to get a good understanding of the environment. We finally finished in her office, where she showed us some previous projects her team had worked on and asked us for some advice and help in thinking about ideas for her next project.
In these past eight days I feel like I have learned so much. Whether it be from my daily “Numbers Talk” with Kim where we go over how sales are doing and what we theoretically need to make to be in a good place (guys please buy Blinds Boys tickets), or Maria’s stories about her time with the symphony and over the cubical wall conversations, or watching everyone work the shows, I feel like I am really coming away from this with some amazing experiences. From the ins and outs of Excel and prospect searching to my days at Summerfest interacting with the community, even to all the paper shredding, I feel like I have clearer perspective on what it is I maybe want to pursue one day.
The North Carolina Symphony is not simply a conductor and musicians (although important, yes) but a group of knowledgable, creative, hard working individuals that work behind the scenes all day to make sure the orchestra is able to put on shows that everyone can be proud of. So to 3700 Glenwood Ave., thank you so, so much for this experience.
Some highlights:
-Beth and the Orchestra Library
-A tour of the concert halls (very nostalgic – I forgot how much I love Memorial Hall)
-Parking in the wrong parking lot at Koka Booth 1000 miles away from where I should have parked and having to drag a 3000lb cart to the front entrance
Sadly, today is my last day at Walk West. This morning I started off working on some AdCopy’s. When you google something, at the top of the search results ads come up that have two headers and some text explaining it underneath. I was tasked with creating the two headers and explanations for three different areas of the Walk West company. First, I was able to do some research to see what other companies — who were advertising similar things — had done. It took me some time to think through everything, but I eventually finished that task and was on to the next. I then began to work on helping for clients’ monthly reports. I went through multiple spreadsheets to check to see how many videos they had posted for the client. Today, I was able to meet with different people to talk about their jobs and many other things. I sat down with Kevin, the head of the design department, to talk. We did talk a little about what he does and where he went to college, but we also talked about a lot about random things. Kevin seems to be one of the funny guys in the office and loves giving advice (some of which you should take and some of which you shouldn’t). I was then able to sit down with the founder of Walk West — Brian Onorio. I had been coordinating the internship through Laurie Onorio, who just so happens to be his wife and on a much more important scale the head of governmental affairs. I got a little bit of background on his life and how his childhood led him to where he is today. We ended up talking a lot about social media and he wanted to hear more about my experiences with it. Today for lunch Suki, Luke, and I tried out the food trucks on campus today. Suki’s drive to meet me was about 10 minutes and so, 20 minutes later Suki and Luke arrived. We ate at Queso Monster and it was great! Once I got back into the office, I finished up some things for Candace. Most of the team was in a meeting when I got back, so I had a little bit of down time as well.
This week I learned many things. I learned that there is so much more to social media than meets the eye. I learned that things might not always go to plan, but you roll with it anyways. I learned that communications is not just social media — there’s governmental affairs, design, marketing, client services, and many other areas that you can be involved in. However, I didn’t just learn about business. I also learned that it takes a team to get work done. So here are a few of the things I’ve learned about the people that are the face of this company: Andrew loves Tootsie Rolls — he’s eaten almost 400 in a week and a half. Kevin can talk about literally anything and his goal in life is to be able to buy a cup of $5 coffee every day. Candace went to ECU for college and didn’t apply anywhere but ECU (she didn’t like the writing for applications, but who can blame her). Jen actually went to college for fashion design and is now in marketing. Ann Marie loves apple pie (and yes she can have as much as she wants — pregnancy pass as she calls it). Those are just a few of the people I’ve met during my time at Walk West. Each individual contributes something special to a company, and whether that’s being really good at designing or marketing or simply just being able to eat a lot Tootsie Rolls, it all matters.
Today was a slower day around the office. I worked some more on finding prospects and events to get into contact with, and made some phone calls to clients that won concert tickets. Around 11:30 I was tasked with going through and organizing the filing cabinets!!!! It was amazing to see all of the things that accumulated over the years, and I got to learn more about the accounts of sponsors and the importance of keeping almost all records on file (always keep W9 forms, I don’t know what they are used for, but Maria said they are really important so never throw yours away). On slower days it is harder to appreciate the work that I am doing, but it has truly given me a look into what a true office day is like and it has taught me that not every day is going to be super eventful but it is easy to appreciate a break from all the madness of concerts!
Please enjoy this picture of a painting I took at Meymandi Concert Hall yesterday.
Once again, my morning at Walk West kicked off at 10AM. Today was going to be a pretty exciting day — I was going to attend an event today! Today I attended an event for one of their clients: Conservatives for Clean Energy. Although CCE is one of Walk West’s clients, they stay neutral on these political and governmental accounts. During the event, the people at Walk West would be taking pictures, writing, tweeting, and live streaming the event for CCE. I was tasked with Livestream QA. Although, when I was first assigned this task I had to slyly Google what QA stands for. QA is quality assurance. Basically, I would get to watch the livestream and make sure that everything ran smoothly for the people watching on the other end. So at around 11AM after looking
through a schedule of how things were supposed to run today, we all piled in a car and headed down to a club downtown. Although it took some time to find parking in Downtown Raleigh (per usual), we eventually made it inside the building and to the top floor. The venue was beautiful and through the glass walls you could see all around Raleigh. While someone was setting up all the video and camera equipment for the livestream, others were preparing to send out tweets during the presentation, take pictures for those, etc. Once everyone moved inside for the program and the livestream started, my job started. I watched the stream through Facebook with my headphones to check everything, while others listened for good quotes to tweet. The presentation and livestream went smoothly, although there were a few wonky comments on the stream (politics is quite bipolar these days, as you know). It was interesting to watch everyone else do their job and see how an event actually worked out. Walk West is not so much focused on the content of what is happening within the event, they are more about publicizing it. They do not plan the actual event, but help advertise and get the client’s message out. After the event finished, we were actually able to sneak some of the delicious food and sit down and talk about a plethora of topics. After
cramming our faces (not ashamed), we got back into the car and came back to the office. I spent some time looking back on the client’s Twitter and Facebook to see what was posted during the event. If you go look at the Twitter account @cce_nc, you can see some of the things that we put out.
The NC Symphony’s marketing department is always looking for new ways to reach out to potential new clients, so today I researched upcoming events in the Triangle Area that the company can go to and find people that have a yet-to-be-realized love for symphonies. Events like festivals and art expositions were my main researching points but it was interesting to see how much goes on in the area where everyone holds common interests. Whether it be music or art or superheroes or beer, there is always something that connects us.
I spent my morning taking a trip down to Meymandi Concert Hall to tour the facility as well as take a peek into today’s rehearsal for the Patron’s Appreciation Concert. The Symphony, every couple of years, invites all of their subscribers and season ticket holders, as well as donors, to a free concert held at the hall as a thank you for their support. I was able to sit in for a couple of scores and it was really amazing to experience the music in a proper setting.
Once again I came to LS3P and carried out a day completely unique from any other. I worked with Aaron whose role is to keep in contact with the contractors and construction companies to ensure the projects are carried out on schedule and according to plan. We started in the office, but then, I was fortunate enough to shadow him on site during a meeting and his walkthrough. The meeting ensures everyone stays on the same page throughout the project, and walking the site, Aaron checks different materials and the locations things are going in. These images are actually form the Holly Springs site that Aaron took to file as an update of the project. For the second half of the day, I shadowed people in marketing to learn their day-to-day. They are the people that go out and find jobs, put together presentations and qualifications, and then help with the pitch to try and land the job. This was really cool because here they are working in an architecture firm, but carrying out a completely different career. I’m getting so much hands on experience, and was invited to another meeting, this time with the marketing group preparing for their pitch to NC State to build new housing on campus. This was unique because LS3P is partnering up with another architectural firm to pitch this project, which occasionally happens for larger projects. Rather than being competitive, LS3P and this company are coming together to maximize their strengths. Can’t wait for tomorrow, but hard to believe it’s almost over already.
This morning when I came into the office around 10AM, I had a little time to peruse through the WEP posts from other people. It was intriguing to be able to see what everyone else was doing and what they were taking away from their own individual experiences. After that, I started doing some work for monthly reports for their clients. Each month they create a report that shows how many impressions, likes, clicks, etc. that each of their social media platforms (typically Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube) got. Through one of their applications, they can then compare and contrast their numbers from this month to previous months. This is a good way to reevaluate what strategies they’re using and if they need to change anything to improve. For a quick lunch break, I joined Suki and Luke at a cute coffee shop on campus. We got to catch up with each other and learn more about our different internships. After, I got back to the office for some more work. When I got back, most people were busy with individual tasks and did not have anything specific for me to work on. So, with regards to this I decided to do some research on Communications and Marketing programs at colleges. Being that (obviously) I am at a Digital Marketing agency, that also includes communications, I thought this would be a good time to delve further into it. After completing lots of research, I packed up and headed home for the day.
