I'm trained!

So today was my pseudo first day at the office. I say that because it was only a 2-hour (well... it carried over into 3) crash course on everything I'll be doing starting one week from today! When I got into the office Sara and Jennifer were there, and we said our hello's and good to see you again's and then I saw Katie. Katie was in my sorority at school so we've known each other for a while and she is HILARIOUS. I was excited to see a face I'm comfortable with and the laid-back nature of the office. Sara did an overall explanation of my position and a quick tour of the office (which is actually just the second floor of the Atlanta Fish Market, kinda cool right?). Then she sent me over to Katie's desk to "train" me.

Katie basically went through all of the things I'm supposed to do everyday and how to do them. A few of my responsibilities are the Clip Reports, Club Mailings, Monthly Newsletters, Press Releases, Donations, responding to personal and dish emails, BLRG Quotes, BLRG Awards, copying and delivering invoices, updating mailing lists, Ultimate Cards, posting events online, Status Cards for the Boca Raton restaurants, and of course every interns' favorite- running errands. Basically everything I need to know is in the packet Katie gave me or on the H-Drive or J-Drive of the computer. (Can't forget that!) Katie said the easiest way to stay organized is to come in every morning, check my personal email (which will now sound all professional and be jmolloy@buckheadrestaurants.com), the Atlanta dish, and the Boca dish then make a checklist of what needs to be done that day.

So I got a little nervous when Katie showed me an example of the "FineFare" which is the monthly e-newsletters that I'm in-charge of writing and formatting. They looked pretty fancy and like I'd need to use InDesign or some fancy program to put them together (Ahh nightmares from ADPR 3110! Thank goodness I'm taking that graphics class next semester...) But then she told me that they use a website called Sherpa (under the tab step 2.2 on my computer) and it makes it all suuuuper easy because the formatting and fonts and colors are all saved as a template, phew! Also she told me that everyday around 11 I need to call Corner Cafe and Buckhead Diner for the daily specials to put them on the social media sites. Tweet tweet.

The last big responsibility she told me about is the Donations portion of the company. I have to keep a spreadsheet with all of the info on who has requested what donation for what organization/event/cause. And then decide if it's valid or not, and then mail them a giftcard, set up a delivery, etc. These have to be done on the 15th of every month and Katie said that everyone gets a little stressed outttt that day so to watch it haha. Oh and I have to send "no-notes" to requests that are denied (ouch). Sooo I have to learn how to be polite but still saying no to some people. 

So after all that computer work, Katie and I went over to Bistro Niko to take some pictures of the new escargot for an article that Katie had been writing. This was exciting because I got to see the restaurant and meet more people. It was super swanky and everything smelled delicious! Naturally, I loved it. Then we were off to The Home Depot to get my set of keys, which excited me because I'm cheesy :). By the time we got back it was past 12:30 so my training day was over!

I'm super excited about starting this internship, I think it'll be super great and I love being in Buckhead. But I'm off to the beach tomorrow so time to focus on that! Seaside, here I come!

Here Goes Nothing...

I'm a student at the University of Georgia in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication majoring in Advertising and Spanish. I have a huge passion for advertising, and can't wait to actually get to do what I love for a living. I'm about to be a senior in the fall, so I figured it's about time to start getting some real-world working experience like a big girl. So, this summer I have an internship in the marketing department at Buckhead Life Restaurant Group (BLRG) in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm super excited about this opportunity because it'll be an incredible way to learn, network, and experience what actually goes on behind the scenes in the marketing department of a big business. Since I'll be learning so many new things and meeting all kinds of people, I figured I'd start up this little blog to keep track of my thoughts and experiences. I hope to post everday that I have to work, but we'll see if that actually works out. Tomorrow is my training day, and I couldn't be more excited! Here's a little linky-poo to spark your interest BLRG. Oh a few pictures of Bistro Niko, which from the research I've done (Ok, so I googled some pictures), has a very inspiring layout and design. Let's hope this inspiration kicks in when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning!