Now that my internships are wrapping up and it is the final week before I return to school, I thought it would be nice to reflect on how this opportunity has shaped my thought process and mindset about college and my future career. I will be answering the question posted below in-depth.
For my internship at IOA, I did not know anything about the insurance business going into the month-long work period. While I did not work with insurance or learn much about risk management, health benefits and other topics that are covered under that umbrella, I learned that there are opportunities for other types of fields and interests at unrelated companies. Because most of my work for IOA surrounded event planning and sports marketing, I could be of use to the company with little knowledge of insurance. This has taught me that I should keep an open mindset for the future, for my skills or passions might apply to a company that does not work with those fields very often. Conversely, my internship at Sports 1 Marketing provided me with a chance to work at a company that was solely focused on the work and projects that I was doing. I had wanted to get a taste of what the sports industry looked like before searching for internship possibilities, so when the opportunity arose for me to intern at S1M, I gladly took the offer. Whether I was working on public relations, sponsorships, marketing or social media, I always had others around me that were working on the same kinds of projects. Unlike IOA, this was helpful because it enabled me to ask for help from multiple people when I needed it. On the contrary, this put an extra sense of pressure on me when I was working because I knew that the entire company was working together to achieve one goal, and I had to make sure that I was doing my part to ensure Sports 1 Marketing's success. Despite the fact that I had a positive experience at both of my internship locations, I still feel as if I have not found the area or career field that I would want to pursue down the road. I really like conducting research, which I was able to learn through my internship at IOA, so I will definitely want to consider that moving forward. I thought it was interesting to work at a smaller company like Sports 1 Marketing and for a larger corporation like IOA, even if its satellite office was on the smaller side. For my senior internship, I want to explore a field that I would consider to be outside of my primary interests in order to potentially surprise myself. I thought I would be doing this by interning at an insurance company, but I actually did much of the same type of work as I did at Sports 1 Marketing. Whether it is with a management or finance department at a healthcare company or looking into my other passions for politics and policy at a law firm or government office, I want to be able to experience a completely different field than I was involved in for my junior internship. Looking ahead to college, I am not feeling any stress about what major I want to pursue. I know that college is a great vehicle to explore new academic areas and classes, and I am hoping that I will be able to be exposed to new ideas and topics that I had not considered before. As of right now, I am considering a major in business or political science. I know that business is a pre-professional major while political science has more of a liberal arts focus, so there might even be a way that I can combine those two interests. Regardless of what I choose to pursue, I am excited about the possibilities that await me at the college level, and I know that my experiences as an intern have helped me to think about the future with more clarity.
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For this post, I will be showcasing the final draft of my photo essay along with an explanation and display of my internship projects for the Insurance Office of America and Sports 1 Marketing. Part 1: Photo Essay Final DraftPart 2: My Internship ProjectsBelow, I will detail both projects that I worked on for IOA and Sports 1 Marketing. IOA: Market Research Proposal For my project for the Insurance Office of America, I researched potential events for IOA to sponsor in 2018. From horse races to bike rides, I covered a variety of options over the course of my time with the company. I was initially brought on to help coordinate the IOA "Run the City" 5K with Spectrum Sports Management, but the race was cancelled due to low participation numbers. Because of this, my mentor decided that I could look into 2018 sporting events that IOA could potentially buy sponsorship packages for. My work concluded with me presenting my proposal as both my final product and my POL, and I recommended which direction the company should consider as far as which events they could sponsor. I think I was able to provide IOA with useful and relevant data on both existing events and opportunities for the future, and I managed to do so without any knowledge of their budget or goals for events. The purpose of my research was to just explore everything under the rainbow that IOA could sponsor in Southern California, and I think I was really successful with this. I started my project off by researching existing 5Ks and corporate races, and included information such as costs, dates and times, businesses within 30 miles of the event, course trails and maps, charity partners, etc. I then repeated this process for bike rides and races, triathlons, half marathons, marathons, biking venues and running venues. In addition, I researched running venues, biking venues, local charities, the Breeders Cup, and the fall horse racing season. Finally, I compiled all of my knowledge and research into my proposal, which I presented on my last day with IOA. For my list of products, I have included all of my research documents, as well as my POL slides. Enjoy!
S1M: Intern Portfolio For my final product for Sports 1 Marketing, I compiled all of the work that I had completed over the course of the month that I spent with the company into a 5-page portfolio. Because S1M hosts around 30 interns each summer, this portfolio is actually created by every single intern at the end of the summer. However, since my internship period was only four weeks long, my portfolio only consisted of my accomplishments within a third of the time of the other interns. The template for my portfolio was created by the COO of Sports 1 Marketing, and I used the basic structure to cater the document towards my experiences and knowledge. After the title page of my portfolio, the second page consists of biographical information such as my goals for my time as an intern, my skill set, my background, and the various projects that I would be working on. The third page provides readers with a description of the weekly SportsBusiness Journal assignment that interns were given in which I had to write up an analysis of an article that I read from a recent issue of SBJ. For the fourth and fifth pages, I included the process, objectives and outcomes from my two projects with Sports 1 Marketing. In a way, the portfolio served as a project for my projects because of the fact that I displayed all of the work that I had invested into my assignments in one 5-page document.. The first of my two projects that was to be highlighted in my intern portfolio was for the 2017 "All Stars of Giving" competition. For this project, I worked on social media activation for the competition using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to recruit voters. All "Champions" (or competitors) in the contest are significant figures in sports, and each person is supporting a charity with the proceeds that they would earn if they would win the competition ($10,000). I worked on behalf of Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon and World Series Champion Jim Leyritz, who both work for Sports 1 Marketing. The second of my two projects was focused on the SB Nation "Sports Blender" radio show that CEO Dave Meltzer and VP of Player Development Jim Leyritz speak on and produce each week. My objective for this project was to research and target potential sponsors for the show, and I used the show's deck (document of information about an item or product) to better understand the goals of Sports 1 Marketing in generating content for the show. Below, you will find all of the final draft of my portfolio, along with work from my two projects, my SportsBusiness journals, my iPOL slides, and other relevant work.
For this post, I will be providing responses to a series of questions related to my experiences as an intern. I will be answering the first set of questions for my internship at IOA and the second set for my internship at Sports 1.
Part 1: Insurance Office of America
Part 2: Sports 1 Marketing
Below, you will find a series of photos that I have taken for my internships at IOA and S1M. I have divided this post into two sections for the purpose of this assignment, but my final photo essay will be a combination of both internships.
For this post, I will be writing about how I have been able to take charge and be a self-advocate in the workplace.
For this post, I will be discussing the projects that I will be working on for Sports 1 Marketing and the Insurance Office of America.
Sports 1 Marketing
Insurance Office of America
This post will be divided into two parts: the mentor interview section and the internship reflection section. You can start by reading the responses I received from my interview with my mentor at the Insurance Office of America, Mr. John Tenuto. Then, you can view my reflection on my time at Sports 1 Marketing thus far. I thought it would be a good idea to discuss both of my internships simultaneously.
Part 1) Mentor Interview (Insurance Office of America) Questions about your mentor (John Tenuto)
Questions about the organization
Questions about this career
A good final question
Part 2) Internship Reflection (Sports 1 Marketing) For the internship journal, write about what strikes you. Here are prompts to get you going (you don't need to respond to all of them at once!):
This post will go into detail about my first impressions of my internships at Sports 1 Marketing, along with some similarities and differences between the two environments.
Insurance Office of America: Compared to my experience at S1M on Monday, I was struck by how small the office was for IOA. Because the company is headquartered in Florida and only has remote offices in California, the facility that I am working in has just six employees.
Insurance Office of America: I am surprised by how relaxed and laid-back everyone is at IOA. Maybe it was just a false stereotype going into my internship, but I thought that the insurance business was more formal and "cutthroat" than I have found it to be.
Insurance Office of America: Despite the fact that my work is for an insurance company, my project actually surrounds sports marketing and communications, which are both fields that I am interested in. Additionally, my project seems to share some similarities with the projects that I have done at HTHNC in terms of research, presentation and collaboration.
Insurance Office of America: I am most excited to see the proof and culmination of all of my hard work in front of the office staff in the form of a proposal. I will have planned out an itinerary and list of potential sponsorship opportunities by the end of my internship, and I will be able to advise IOA to move in a certain direction as far as marketing goes.
Insurance Office of America: I am worried about how logistics will work next week when my mentor, Ms. Tenuto, is travelling to Florida for an annual meeting. I know that I will be in good hands with another employee, but this takes away from the time that I will be able to work alongside my actual mentor. This post will provide a basic overview of my internship, my project, and my expectations for the one month that I will be outside of the classroom.
Project #1: Podcast Sponsorships - garner interest from prospective sponsors for "Sports Blender" - create a prospective list of clients and deliver material to sponsors to stimulate interest - execute other roles related to the podcast (e.g., content creation and research, writing, etc.) Project #2: Social Media - work on All Stars of Giving Campaign for Crescent Moon Foundation - social media management, content creation (drafting/posting on various outlets) - measure impressions and outcomes via analytics - utilize software such as Excel, PowerPoint, CRM, etc.
After completing my Career Day at E-Rehab, I left the office feeling unsatisfied about the fact that I could not meet with my internship mentor ahead of the May 15th start date. As a result, I scheduled a second opportunity to be a job shadow at Sports 1 and sort out my project. I initially came across Sports 1 Marketing last year when I spent my sophomore year Career Day there, and I had such a positive experience that I wanted to come back for my internship. For the one month period that I am off of school, I will be driving to Irvine on Mondays and Fridays, and spending Tuesdays and Thursdays at IOA in Carlsbad.
A typical work day at Sports 1 Marketing involves meeting with prospective clients to discuss marketing partnerships, interviewing guests and writing scripts for the Sports 1 SB Nation radio show, and travelling across the country for speaking engagements and events. The various departments within the organization dictate the distribution of daily tasks, but the collective mission of Sports 1 remains the same: Make a lot of money Help a lot of people Have a lot of fun! As far as the expectations for dress code and company culture, employees can dress in business casual attire on Mondays through Thursdays, and casual dress on Fridays (e.g., jeans, T-shirt, etc.) Because I will be interning with Sports 1 on Mondays and Fridays, I will be dressing in business casual on Mondays and casual attire on Fridays. I will try to be a little bit more professionally dressed than the employees on Fridays out of courtesy and formality. I gotta dress to impress! For my internship project with Sports 1 Marketing, I will be creating a portfolio displaying my work on several tasks that I will be given during my time with the organization. The first page will highlight a few case studies of my projects, and the second page of the portfolio will provide information about Sports 1. The third page will display my work surrounding the creation of a prospective list of clients and delivery of material to sponsors to stimulate interest for sponsorships for the nationally-syndicated radio show at SB Nation called "Sports Blender." The fourth page will display my work involving a social media campaign for a charity program in which I will be managing social media accounts, drafting and posting on various social media sites, and measuring impressions and analytics from social media outreach efforts. Through the two projects listed above, I will be gaining familiarity with software such as Excel, PowerPoint, CRM, etc. Through my internship at Sports 1, I will be able to use my leadership and communication skills to execute my roles and tasks. Marketing (particularly sports marketing) involves a lot of collaboration and outreach with clients and partners, and I think my experience with project-based learning will benefit me tremendously in this respect. There are certainly some disadvantages to a PBL-focused education in regards to raw content, information and test-taking skills, but the application that it has to the workplace is becoming more evident as I navigate the professional world. I could not be more excited about my upcoming internship with Sports 1 Marketing. After a successful Career Day last year with the organization and another one this year, I am really enthusiastic about the two major projects that I will be working on. I am also extremely grateful that I have been given the opportunity to create a portfolio of my knowledge and experience in the sports business industry to show prospective colleges and employers. My mentors have provided me with the resources to do important and meaningful work, and I am thankful that I can take advantage of this wonderful experience to kick start my future career in the field. Looking ahead to next summer, I hope that I can show that I am capable of interning with the organization down the road, and I would love to come back next year. Below, I have included a picture of my work space along with the notes that I took at CEO Dave Meltzer's training. |
Robby AcklesOn this page, you will find my reflections, thoughts, and project work surrounding my 11th grade internships at Sports 1 Marketing and the Insurance Office of America. 9900 Research Drive
Irvine, CA 92618 2121 Palomar Airport Road
Suite 200 Carlsbad, CA 92011 Archives |