Week 4

We had a short week here at the Venom this week, as Monday was President's day. But once we returned it was a little more than 30 days till Venom season kicked off. It was then time to start putting together our program by calling partnerships to send in their logos. We are still waiting on some but it is really starting to come together as we begin to get logos in from more and more media outlets. I also got to take on the task of getting Stephanie on the news next week. She will be on ProNews 7 and Studio 4 on Monday and Tuesday respectively. I enjoy setting her up on news stations as well as communicating with media places in general the most because I feel like that is part of what I am going to school for. My favorite part though is writing press releases because I feel like that is uses the most of my skills that I acquired through school. And just today I sent in a link for our web editor to put a countdown that I created on our website. New update next week.

From Media Contracts to Gameday Partnerships

(This is what I used to help a customer decide where he wanted them)

Week three at my internship was a productive week despite being snowed in at home to work from home. I finished up my contracts with the media places around Amarillo on Monday and we should finish with advertising in at least 15 newspapers. As the week rode on though Wednesday I started working with different 4-Hs and FFAs for our "Ag Night" event we will be having on April, 20, 2013. I also was taught how to actually do transactions for guests that are buying tickets from us. On Thursday I did more work for the Ag night by making contracts with the Tri-State fair but I did a little work for our opening night which will celebrate different athletic organizations and championship teams around the Panhandle. Opening night is on March 23. On Friday I volunteered to do cliche intern stuff by offering to go and get us envelopes and labels. But they were for my next project that day, which was getting the envelopes put together that way when we get media passes and ticket vouchers we can just load them up and send them off. I also learned the season ticket pricing and how to explain seating to potential customers.

Internship With a Bite Week Two

Last Week was a very busy week with the Venom. I made three or four press releases, we had a very exciting press conference on Thursday. One of which I unfortunately couldn't attend because of class. But we are getting our championship rings put together and getting started, and our starting quarterback Nate Davis is in town. But perhaps what made last week the busiest week was trying to get contracts from local newspapers and media places. But not just local, it was with Newspapers as far as Shamrock, TX. But I got three newspapers signed up with us for this season, including WT's and AC's newspapers. I am hoping to continue this trend and get at least two more newspaper's contracts back this week if not today. After the contracts are all clear, then it is time for us to start putting together the nights that have promotions. I am likely going to be working on college night/agriculture night. I am getting more comfortable trying to talk to potential partners and am enjoying this internship more every week.

The First Month with the Amarillo Venom

When I first interviewed for the internship with the Amarillo Venom, Stephanie Tucker, their owner, basically told me there were no restrictions to what I could do with them. She could tell that although I was a Mass Comm major, I would be in semi-uncharted waters because my background is almost purely journalism, limited PR work (outside of the campaigns I had done for Jump n' Jive, Amarillo C.A.S.A., and Glidden paints, of course). But then she asked me, "What do you want to know learn about sports marketing?" Again, as a sports journalist my #1 dream is to cover the Denver Broncos; but I was not about to limit myself to purely journalism, I knew my journalistic ability would come in handy simply in writing press releases and game recaps after Venom seasons begins, but I also wanted to see how she handled different PR-type situations, contract talks, and sponsorship acquisitions. So she told me I would be their media coordinator, granted it would be in a limited role because I am still in school and working part time at Hastings and as well as doing work for WT's The Prairie News. But I was not about to let this opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a sport's team and their PR work slip away. 

The first week was all about writing press releases, I wrote about 5 press releases within the first couple weeks. They involved everything from the league meetings, to Amarillo Venom schedule, to a press release for the press conference. But once we slowed down on press releases, I did not hesitate to ask Stephanie for more work and she assigned me to help work on contracts with the media companies, and that is what I have been doing since my second week.

(One of the many press  releases I wrote was for Chic-Fil-A Family Night)

 Not only have I been working on contracts but I have also been working with the local news stations about getting word out about our pre-Super Bowl party pack and also been getting Stephanie on the morning shows to talk about it. In doing what I have been doing in the last two weeks with contracts, working with media outlets for advertising and getting Stephanie on news networks, what I have been doing for her and the Venom, my career trajectory finally feels real.

(Contract Headers)