Athletic Auction 2009: Bringing out my inner saleswoman

This semester in my PR admin class, I got the chance to plan my first BIG event, the GCSU Athletic Auction.  In past years this event has raised upwards $30,000 + every year.  Last year they made $40,000 benefiting the Athletic department.  Those are some big figures to stand up to!  It was a little intimidating at first, but with good planning and a great team we pulled it off flawlessly!  From the beginning, I thought that planning such an important event was a little daunting, but it all turned out okay.  According to our teacher, Dr. Ginger Carter Miller, this year went by smoother than ever! 

I learned a lot through the planning of this event.  Our class did a really good job dividing up the tasks evenly and efficiently.  We were able to get everything done ahead of time without all of the last minute stress.  It was amazing how easy it felt the day before when all we had to do was decorate and organize the actual venue.  I also learned how smoothly everything can run when everyone does their part.  When everyone is working on a task, the difficult set-up seemed to go by faster and easier.  

As for the actual Athletic Auction, the gym filled up fast!  More tickets were sold this year than the ten previous years of the auction.  I think we did an awesome job getting the word out.  Like I mentioned in my Tipping Point post, inviting important people in the community really helped.  It brought more people in the community to the auction because of their networking and social status.  Many people also came to the event because they were already involved in the school such as faculty and staff.  They came to get great auction items and to support the university they are already a part of. 

Now during the Athletic Auction, Bailey Abercrombie and I were selected to sell raffle tickets for a weekend get-away.  With the amount of people at the auction willing to chance spending tons of money on auction items, I thought this task would be easy!  The crowd proved me wrong.  I'm usually pretty good at selling, but with a crowd like that it was difficult.  We were selling a weekend get-away to Lake Hartwell to a group of people that already live on a lake!  Most of the people at the auction live in the Milledgeville area which is near two lakes meaning there was little reason to buy a $5.00 raffle ticket for a chance to go to another lake.  In the end, we ended up selling all 53 chances! (One deck of cards plus a joker.)  It was difficult, but it was fun trying to convince people why they needed such an amazing getaway! 

I had fun planning and working at the Athletic Auction.  I had more fun than I thought it would be.  Honestly, I thought I would be stressed out instead, but the auction ran smoothly.  I had a great experience learning to plan such an important event.  I hope that in my career after college, I get the chance to plan more events.  

Another learning opportunity on the way!

In one of my past blogs, I mentioned how important internships are on a resume and how the experience benefits you in the long run.  I still believe that everyone should get an internship before they step out into the real world or careers, especially in the business arena or Marketing, PR, and Advertising.  The career I have picked is so competitive as it is that I need all the experience I can get before I graduate to join the real world right out of college.  Well, I'm on my way with my first public relations and advertising internship!  I've worked for a company as an intern for the past two summers as a marketing intern, but my new internship will give me even more experience in the areas I don't have as much experience in.

The internship I got for this summer is with LocumTenens.com.  I'm really excited about it!  It's with a bigger company than I've worked with before.  I also get to pioneer a lot of their new ventures over the summer.  They are mostly an Internet marketing company, hence the name of the company, so I will be working with their new advertising campaign online.  I will also be able to work with their public relations director by helping her write press releases and plan events that LocumTenens.com will be attending.  I think I'm most looking forward to copy writing.  I'll be able to gain experience in a part of advertising that I have never done outside of school.  

I'm just really looking forward from learning more from a bigger company that has an entire department dedicated to marketing! I start May 11, so I'll update after I start! : )

America's Biggest Fear: PUBLIC SPEAKING

I've never understood how public speaking is higher on America's list of fears than death or, in today's world, the economy.  What's the big deal? Some people say to picture the audience naked or imagine that they are dressed as clowns, but the audience is still there along with your fear of speaking in front of them. 

Public speaking has never been one of my greatest fears.  I think there are far worse things in life to fear.  I'm not saying that I've never been scared to speak in front of a group of people, but that had nothing to do with the audience receiving my speech.  

It is all about being prepared.  If you know your audience and your have prepared a speech, then I am completely comfortable speaking in front of a group of people.  If you know your audience, then you can also figure out what they want to hear so you won't bore them to sleep instead of listening to what you have to saw.  

In Ed Barks article, "The Truth About Public Speaking: Somebody is watching you",  Barks talks about the other little things that you need to be prepared for in any speech.  

"Uh"s and "Um"s don't cut it, ever.  You have to sound confident to receive credibility from your audience, and "Uhing" and "Uming" doesn't exactly make you sound confident. 

When Barks attends a speech he also pays attention to how the speaker engages an audience.  Part of being prepared for a speech is coming up with ideas to make what you're saying more interesting.  It won't matter how important the words are that are coming out of your mouth if the entire audience has fallen asleep because of a monotone voice or lack of visuals.  

If you want more advice about public speaking so you don't get stuck in fear, go see Ed Barks article at aboutpublicrelations.net.