Seizing the Spirit of Adventure

I figure I better go ahead and write before I get sucked into all of the craziness of this week. What is this week, you ask? This week is only one of the most important weeks of the summer--NFL Production Week. Now, I can’t tell you exactly what NFL Production Week is, because I missed the most recent staff meeting about it (and because it doesn’t have its own wikipedia page), but I can tell you that a bunch of important NFL folks are in town this week to discuss and finalize a bunch of important plans. Something like that. There will be a lot of meetings involved, people in and out of the office, conference calls, press events, everyone stressing out and running around like chickens with their heads cut off.... I’m sure you get the idea. 

Tomorrow is a big press event going on at the Cotton Bowl, and I am actually not sure if the reason for the event is public knowledge just yet, but just in case it’s not I’m going to wait until my next blog to tell you what I get to do tomorrow. I’m very excited about being a part of this though!

Also as a part of NFL Production Week, I will get to sit in on a meeting Thursday morning. I don’t know much about the meeting, just that it is one of many meetings going on this week, but I am excited that I have the opportunity to tag alongside a couple of staff members and be involved with this part of the event planning process. 

Current projects: 

Today I cleaned up and finished a feature article that I was asked to write for the volunteer newsletter. I will attach a link on here to a digital version of the newsletter once it is put online. 

I have been asked by the Operations Coordinator to revamp the general Host Committee Speaker’s Bureau power point presentation. Apparently the current presentation was put together by an outside designer who put the content on power point slides from PDF format, so the power point is currently unable to be edited. My job is to design a few different power point templates and backgrounds, and eventually create an entire new power point presentation for the committee. It is a pretty tedious project and will take awhile, but this kind of thing is right up my alley so I believe I will thoroughly enjoy working on this.

Social Media: I have not begun working with the Host Committee’s social media involvement just yet, however I have spoken up and let them know that I have some good ideas in regards to getting more involved via social media. Right now, they have accounts on both Facebook and Twitter, but the posts are irregular and not interactive enough, in my opinion. I want to make the social media sites more interactive and a bigger part of the effort to get the region prepared and excited for what is to come. After this crazy week is over with, I will most likely get to hop on that train and get involved with that. 

That should put you up to speed as far as my internship goes. 

On a different note I feel the need to mention the best thing that has happened to me since sliced bread: Free refill cups at RaceTrac. Yes, I bought a cup at RaceTrac for $6.99 and for the remainder of the summer I can walk into any RaceTrac and fill up my cup with any fountain or frozen drink and walk out without reaching in my pockets. It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever. I thought 75 cent slurpees at QT was a good deal, but I would spend more than $6.99 on slurpees in a 2-3 week time span. Sad, yet true. I like slurpees a lot, and because I made a very wise investment, I will be getting them free all summer long. I know Dave Ramsey would be proud.

City Love

This whole internship thing has really given me a taste of not only the professional life, but also the big city life. 

The mornings go something like this: 

In order to be at my desk by 8:45 a.m., I usually have to wake up around 5:30 a.m. After the taking the shower, drying the hair, fixing the hair, picking out an outfit and getting dressed, I am usually ready to be out of the door by 7:30 a.m. Morning rush hour is not much fun and challenging because it usually requires a certain level of awareness to safely navigate through 15 mph traffic for 30 miles on the interstate. Sometimes I need the blaring music to keep me awake because the lack of excitement in morning traffic fails to do so. Lately, though, I have utilized a few free audiobook downloads that I have found on www.christianaudio.com and will be listening to a few books during my commutes. Right now I am almost finished listening to World Vision President, Richard Stearns’s, book “The Hole In Our Gospel” and it has been a phenomenal book.

I arrive at work and utilize the cool little Keurig coffee maker in the break room, which I contribute to my growing addiction to coffee. A 5:30 a.m. alarm definitely allows for 2 or 3 or 4 cups of coffee when I get to work. Not that it gives me any sort of energy boost, but I know it has the potential to and I love the taste of the Butter Toffee coffee that we have here. 

One thing I really love about this internship, besides the Butter Toffee coffee, is the genuine interest the staff of the Host Committee has for the interns. We’re not just here to take up some slack and run errands at their every command, we are here to be mentored, to be given opportunities, to learn more about the job and the industry in which we are in pursuit of. It is great that they recognize this and want to do all they can to give us a productive and educational internship experience that is relevant to our career goals. Now that I understand that this internship is not just for me to gain experience, but it is for me to also be mentored by other young professionals, I want to utilize these few short months I have with these people. I want to soak in as much as I can. I want to volunteer for as many assignments and projects as I can. Even the phone calls. 

I happen to run a lot of errands--part of the intern job description I suppose. I have driven all over the metroplex making drop offs and pick ups and purchases. I think the most memorable would be the time that I avoided the toll road. Big mistake on my part. Dumb solution on my GPS’s part. Okay, so it’s my fault that I chose to avoid the toll road, but I didn’t realize then that my detour would put me 40 miles out of the way from the original route. Not only that, but my lovely GPS and its detour dropped me off at the parking lot of Prestonwood Baptist Church, a good 15 minutes away from the place that should have been at the finish line. Oh, and did I mention that this was at 8 in the morning? Back to my lesson learned this week: Never avoid the toll roads. It’s not worth it! Especially if the bill is going to Texarkana--then I’ll never see it anyways. (I love you Daddy!) 

Morgan

Oh, and in explanation of the random book reviews peppered throughout my blog, I am part of a program for Thomas Nelson called BookSneeze (www.booksneeze.com) and it is a blogging for books program. They send me a free book, I read it, and then I blog about it! It’s a wonderful situation, being the book enthusiast that I am. With that sad, expect a few book reviews every now and then!

Inspiration

Classic Wisdom for the Professional Life [Bryan Curtis] 

I read this book for a few different reasons: 

1) I love quotes. Who doesn't like a good collection of great poetic wisdom? 

and 

2) I am a young professional. Well, kind of. Does an unpaid internship count? 

Anyways, once I started reading it didn't take me long to get through all of the quotes from cover to cover. It is a great collection of quotes that will have you turning every page when you first pick it up, however, it will make a great book to keep on your desk at work or your computer desk at home. It is full of practical wisdom for not just professionals, but for anyone who has any capacity of a leadership position. The book is full of inspiration and motivation from seasoned and successful professionals. I highly recommend Classic Wisdom for the Professional Life to any quote lover, leadership figure, college student....anyone, really. It makes for a quick and pleasant read and will remain a great resource for professional inspiration. 

One of my favorite quotes from the first time through the book comes from Conrad Hilton: "Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."

At The Beginning

Reflecting on week one of my internship with the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee:

“Hello this is Morgan with the North Texas Super Bowl 45 Host Committee...” is how I have answered the telephone for the past week and how I will continue to answer the telephone for the remainder of the summer.

It seems surreal that I have started my journey to being a professional woman. Doing an internship like this one at this age really helps me to put my goals and dreams into perspective. Working in the sports industry, whether it be professional or not, is where I am feeling a pull toward. I could see myself working in community outreach--working with youth and charities on behalf of a sports team. I could also see myself mentoring young people while having a career in some aspect of collegiate athletics. 

It’s no secret that I am a dreamer... I think most people know that about me. I am also ambitious, I am passionate and I am a competitor. The combination of my most dominant qualities make me who I am--they make me a unique woman. The combination of these qualities also have the potential to make me a strong and powerful woman. 

With that said, when I made up my mind that I wanted to pursue a career in the sports industry, I was given the opportunity to apply for an internship for Super Bowl XLV. I remember being offered the internship back in November, but it wasn’t until I was handed my own XLV name badge at the Sting concert that I realized that this opportunity was for real. I hadn’t made it up in my head--I am really working for the Super Bowl, only the largest annual sports event in the United States. 

May 22: My first day on staff was actually not in the Host Committee offices, but at the Winspear Opera House in downtown Dallas at a Sting concert. I walked in, was handed a heavy duty name badge with my name, Morgan Rainer, next to the XLV logo, a walkie talkie and a clipboard with a play by play of the night (including my staff assignment). It was a great night full of fun and music (and standing). Surprisingly, Sting sang a few songs that I new the words to! I was able to meet a few of the staff and interns I would be working with for the summer. Oh, and I was also wearing a pair of brand new Ralph Lauren high heels--I obviously hadn’t anticipated being on my feet for 7 hours that evening. 

Lesson One: Learn to like flats--whether or not they are flattering on my 5 foot tall figure. My new flats are my new best friend.

The following week was one of becoming acquainted with the job: the people, the phones, the protocol, and the FAQs. 6 days in and I think I have picked it up pretty quickly. 

My years of experience answering the phone at the Northridge Tennis Pro Shop has really paid off. I have been answering many phone calls and making even more of them. I have had to call a list of a couple hundred volunteers who have incomplete registrations so after about the 2nd phone call I was beginning to feel like one of those telemarketers. Now let me tell you one thing: I think I am probably the most perky telemarketer sounding phone call maker there is. And to my surprise, I have received many positive responses and have even had a few friendly off-topic conversations with my volunteers on the other line. Really though, making hundreds of phone calls hasn’t been all that bad. I think I am just still giddy about those phone calls being on behalf of the “North Texas Super Bowl 45 Host Committee.” 

Pinch me?

While I have done other intern-y tasks such as sending out e-mails, looking up information to put into a spreadsheet and running errands, phone calls seem to consume the most of my mornings. Definitely the grunt work, but I honestly can’t be happier to be doing the grunt work! I’m loving it! 

Hopefully next week I will be put on some more intense and exciting assignments. Until then, I’m just going to do everything I am asked to do efficiently, accurately and cheerfully. 

Although I can’t wait for what the future holds, for now I’m just going to worry about what God has put right in front of me and give 100% in whatever I am asked to do. 

Stay tuned for more--I'm going to do my best to document my summer on here. :)