Week of March 22-26: Work and School Woes

I can't wait for graduation for one main reason: I will not have to work and be in school at the same time. One of the hardest things about working a 9-6 position is that I have to go home and finish homework. It makes my days longer and more stressful. Now that my campaigns capstone class is picking up speed, I am spending longer hours working for that and it is taking a toll on my sleep. I find myself tired at work, well tired all the time.

However, I still managed to get a lot accomplished at work this week. I am continuing to make phone calls to ensure there will be attendance to fundraisers. I made calls for two separate events this week. This is helping with my professionalism on the phone as well as my patience with making it through a long call list. Working on this campaign made me realize that I do not like making calls from a list. It is one of my least favorite tasks as an intern. I also finalized the biography I was working on and got some great quotes from people to put in it, which I think gave a great twist on the traditional bio. We had some technical difficulties with our Web sites and internet this week which made work a little difficult and added some time required to different projects.

The event that I had been working on was this weekend, so I spent a lot of time finalizing attendance for that. I was not able to make the event, so I am curious to go in the office Tuesday and see how everything went.

Tuesday/Thursday: 9-6

Week of March 15-20: SPRING BREAK

What I am continuing to discover is the difference between vacation for a student and for someone who has a full time job. Even though I am an intern, working for class credit and not for pay, I still feel like it is difficult to go out of town for long periods of time and abandon my responsibilities. For the past three years of college, I have gone on spring break and forgotten about all school work. This year was different. Since getting this internship, I have felt as though I have to stay connected with people 24/7. I constantly check my email for notices from people at the office as well as volunteers for the campaign. The week before spring break, I went into the office on Friday afternoon for 3 hours to help set up new areas for volunteers to come in and help. As the campaign continues to pick up pace, there will be more need space.

Also, during the week of spring break I spent a total of five hours answering emails and polishing up the biography I was working on. This was a new experience for my spring break. I was not use to doing work on vacation. This is preparing me for what is to come after graduation, a lot less vacation time.

Spring Break: 8 hours

Week of March 8-12: More Event planning..

The one thing I have noticed about my internship is that the more days I spend there, the more I know what to do when I get to the office without needing direction. I have my own projects I am working on and it feels like more of a real job. I really like the new office I work in and the people that share the office with me. We have a really good time! I am still working on the event I started planning last week. I have been working out what public's to target for invites and spent a lot of time on social network sites trying to get people to confirm to the event. One thing I noticed is that a lot of people initially say they will go to an event, but it is the follow up that is important. I am trying to get contact information, phone or e-mail, for those who confirm on facebook in order to be more personal about their invite.
My PR writing class has really come in handy this week as I was asked to write a quick press release. I had to brush up real fast on the components of it and didn't feel as prepared as I would like. I haven't written a press release in a good year. However, it worked out well. I had to write a press release over the endorsement of the candidate by a NFL football player. It was really exciting to be able to be involved in that kind of media. I remember now why I hated writing press releases though, the restraints and wording of information makes it more difficult that you expect.
I am also drafting up emails to recruit interns for the summer. As the campaign progresses, we need more and more help and I am trying to find volunteers, etc.
The last thing I worked on this week is a biography for my candidate from different aspects. We are trying to get her involvement in different organizations, etc. posted and I was helping on that. A lot of writing this week and sometimes that is very taxing.

T:9-6
Thursday 9-6

Week of March 1-5: Event life.

This week I spent a lot of time working on actual events that would take place. First off, I am helping kick off a fundraising event that will take place in Oklahoma City at the end of March. I am targeting specific groups and determining the best way to get high attendance numbers. Since it is a fundraising event, it is a difficult venture to invite people to something and tactfully talk about contributions. This is something, however, that I am getting good at. I have been utilizing Facebook more than ever. I made a group and an invite for the event that will hopefully reach more people. I also have spent a lot of time contacting heads of organizations which is tedious work. All in all, being in PR campaigns currently is helping me through my internship. I am trying to apply what I am learning in both settings to the other. It was perfect planning on my part to be involved in both at the same time.
I also attended my first event this week as an intern. It was held at a very large house in OKC and was hosted by a doctor and his wife. It was also a campain fundraising event. The catering was great and luckily I got to eat some after the event was wrapping up. My main objective was to get people to sign in for the event and get contact information for our database for future reference. What I was not expecting was the amount that some people could afford to write on their checks. Maybe it is since I am in college and have no money, but to see the kind of money people drop on campaigns still shocks me today. For the kind of campaign I am working at it takes about $3 million, before the primary. Anyways, the event was very exciting and also gave me another opportunity to dress up and act professional. Learning how to speak to older business people is much different than what I am use to and I am glad I am getting that experience now.

Tuesday: 9-6
Thursday: 9-9pm

Week of Feb 22-26

For this week, I spent the majority of my Tuesday doing an office change. That is one big thing about working on a campaign, you have to be flexible with your time, location and abilities. SO on Tuesday I was a mover and fundraiser and a social networking buff. I am spending more time on the phone for my internship, getting supporters and contacting those from the past. It is sort of fun to be able to contact people all over the state, but also a little intimidating when not everyone is extremely nice. It is really amazing though to see the amount of money that civilians will put towards politicians. You think that campaign goals are really lofty, as far as the amount of money you need to raise, but it is surprisingly easy. I am also working on a special project were are doing here at the campaign. Trying to incorporate support blogs into our campaign Web site. It is a good way to get volunteers and supporters more interactive in the campaign and doing some of the same work that we do.

I am also helping on a fund raising initiative on campus as well as an opportunity for people to get registered to vote. We are hoping that by reaching out to students and helping them register there will be more of a voter turnout. I know that myself the registering part is what kept me from voting for a long time, therefore I thought it was a good idea to set something like that up on campus.

Hours: Tuesday/ Thursday 9-6