Acknowledgements and Future Plans

It seems like just this past week that I stepped into the Wingteam LLC office for the first time nervous but ready to undergo a three month long internship. Fast foreward three months and here I currently stand. It has been one of the most beneficial and positive experiences that have been shared on both sides. I have added more tools to the toolbox and cannot wait to build something great! The extensive knowledge of Yvette Ponte and Dave Wiggs and their passion to ensure that Wingteam will continually develop, grow, and succeed is quite motivating. I cherish the work relationship that we have had and will definitely keep in close contact in the future to use as a reliable resource for knowledge and understanding. I would also like to thank my friend and co-worker Kimberly Hayden as it's been a great experience working alongside her as well. I feel that it is hard to find a business, relationship, friend etc. that is not only accountable, but shares the same common goal to simply succeed through dedication and hard work.
After graduation, I will be taking a couple trips over the summer and I'm almost tempted to say i'll be living a nomadic life with no fixed destination until November where I will be making the biggest move of my life. I will be moving to the North Island of New Zealand for at least one year for a graduate hospitality internship with a company called internoptions.
There I will be taking another internship with plans for employment with a particular resort in the north island after my one year internship placement has ceased. Thanks again Wingteam for your help and support and look foreward to seeing whats in store for the both of us!

Executing Managerial Decisions As a Rookie

When I took the internship offer with Wingteam I never would have imagined that I would have the ability to hire event staff for the variety of different events that we do around the nation. Some of these event staff are older than me and already have an established career in a relative field and simply looking for side work. For myself "the intern" this could pose as intimidating seeing that I have never hired anyone for anything in my entire life. My supervisor walked me through the blueprint as to what to look for when hiring staff members, what questions to like, and close them on their punctuality. As a rookie in the field, what was most beneficial for me was to reflect upon my past experience as a front desk agent with the Four Seasons and deliver that same type of personable approach but only this time it will carry more status and value. Working at the Four Seasons, service and hospitality were the number one priority with the customer always being satisfied. The position that I am in with Wingteam means that our company needs to be satisfied with me looking for staff with hospitality and service that are held in high regard. The roles were reversed so as I thought about this, it made the hiring process easier for me.
I feel that it is this skill that I have aquired of hiring over 50 staff members for different events around the nation that has given me the tools to separate myself from the competition. Over the past months I have become very comfortable in dialing into what our company needs from our staff members depending upon the event. I would say that regardless of experience in dealing with a managerial decision, it's important to self reflect upon past experiences and understanding your strong points in order to succeed.

Attention To Detail

As I reach the end of my internship and review the past events that I have worked with regards to my supervisors midterm evaluation feedback I now understand the strongpoints and other factors that I need to work on in order to be where I need to be and have a successful transition from the student/intern position where I currently stand into a professional in the field. I will use an example of an event where I had to hire four different people for a corporate team building event in Boston, MA. This particular organization (our client) is Impact4Good and they specialize in corporate team building events that help improve the quality of life for NPO's such as Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA. As I monitor my skills from the beginning of my internship till where I currently stand, I notice that my attention to detail has greatly improved, which has been a lagging skill that can always use improvement.
When I contacted our Boston staff two days prior to our event, our typical order of procedure includes an event sheet that portrays all the necessary information to make the event a success. "Start times, dress code, meeting place, etc." What was missing in the past event sheets that I decided to add to this one was a visual representation of where the location sits. I have included the same picture in this blog that I included in the event sheet to show exactly what I'm talking about. This simple initiative helped all our staff arrive on time and minimized questions to create for a fluid and successful event.

Working at the JW Mariott

One of the highlights I have had thus far is working at the JW Mariott Desert Ridge in Scottsdale, AZ. There were a variety of different independent destination management companies that helped put on a particular three day event for Loreal Matrix. Working among these various meeting professionals gave me insight to what it takes to put on this type of production. In addition, working this particular event allowed me to see how its important to be a multi faceted person when it comes to hospitality and serivce to different company cultures. For example, there was a particular event that I worked with Deloitte. This company structure and overall appearance was very different from Loreal Matrix, which specialize in latest hair trends and designs. Another eye opening experience that I had while working at the JW Mariott would be the continuous support of the hotel staff which almost acted as an extended Wingteam staff in terms of thier versatility.

Importance of Branding A Company

As the weeks continually pass, they seem to move faster and faster while I am mastering my internship with Wingteam Event Staffing Services. Let's stop for a moment... Let's think of any brand name that sticks with us. Perhaps it is the UPS commercial with a simple white background and brown marker to symbolize the company for easy recognition. Maybe it is Subway and their non stop message portraying the infamous 5 Dollar Footlong. Ok thanks Subway, we get it! The message is simple, proper branding of an organization creates name recognition and familiarization among the public, "specifically, target market." Over time, the successful marketing of a product or service while increasing clients to the product or service, correlates directly to economic numbers. Within the Wingteam organization, we have a simple branding logo portraying three women with clipboards and the tagline, "Smiley People With Clipboards." Our competition of event staffing may have more successful marketing and branding outlets due to name recognition and longevity of the organization.
This past paragraph has just been part of my reflection and observations over the past weeks as I analyze our brand of wingteam versus our competition.

A graphic design comparison between Wingteam LLC and a competitor:

Fusion Event Staffing

http://www.fusioneventstaffing.com/?gclid=CMbzjYrJ1aACFRJWagodrBkutg

Wingteam Event Staffing Services

http://mywingteam.com/

Practice Makes Perfect

Aside from academics, it has always been the love of sports that I have been familiar with my entire life. It was either football, basketball, or baseball depending on the season of the year. One of the most important, perhaps even cliche piece of advice that is interrelated between athletics, academics, and profession is the saying, "practice makes perfect." As my internship with Wingteam continues to blossom and take it's own shape, the same can be said with my skills and functions as a Sales and Marketing Intern. The more events I continue to control, the more hires and managerial situations I am placed in, the more fluid and avid my skills are. I am beginning to see the benefits of repetition play in the field of this particular profession. Now, throwing a football over and over would not necessarily sculpt my skills to hire event staff, but it is the same exact principle that should be understood. For example, over the weekend I had the opportunity to hire five event staff for an event taking place in Miami, FL. It was an assignment I was given the same day from my boss. From past experiences of making larger quantities of hires for different events, I was able to enable five qualified hires without any doubt, mistakes, or questions. It was after the five hires I made that it became evident my work skills have been improving. A positive sign and future outlook for my relationship with my co-workers, boss, and Wingteam itself.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is to document a college internship experience. Content published on this blog represents the author’s ideas, opinions, and experience. This does not necessarily represent the views of the internship organization.

Professionalism

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, part of my responsibility as a sales and marketing intern with Wingteam is to interview and hire staff for a variety of different events we have across the nation. I now have a heightened sense of professionalism and all of it's counterparts that come with the word. For example, professionalism is not just how you visually present yourself whether it is a unwrinkled suit and polished shoes or freshly pressed khakis and a button down. Professionalism exceeds this standard. It extends to your verbiage, what you say and how you say it. Professionalism will reveal your character and what you stand for. Even the way you shake a persons hand can reveal certain aspects of yourself. I receive many resumes for the variety of different events that we do and it when it comes to the initial phone call upon new hires, I am sculpting my skills to seek that certain type of professional. A couple of websites that I monitor are:

http://www.mpiweb.org/Home.aspx

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phoenix-AZ/Wingteam-Event-Staffing-Services/48575776755?ref=ts


Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is to document a college internship experience. Content published on this blog represents the author’s ideas, opinions, and experience. This does not necessarily represent the views of the internship organization.