Lunch & Learn at Blue Skai Media

I like to plan events. Making lists and checking off tasks is fun for me and there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your work culminate into something fun for everyone. However, the events I’ve hosted have been mostly for myself; parties and vacations and such. Being enlisted by my internship to help plan an event for young entrepreneurs seemed daunting, but has turned out to be pretty fun.

It is just myself and my four other interns put in charge of putting this together. I’ve never organized a professional event and to my knowledge, neither had any of they, so this was sure to be an adventure. The day it was given to us, we sat in a circle trying to decide what to do. I’m used to shy, awkward group projects at school so when they started firing off ideas I was surprised. There was no trepidation or shame, no one was afraid of their idea being “dumb” and no one wrote anyone else’s off as dumb, either. It was a nice experience and definitely beneficial to our project.

The event was a luncheon panel for young entrepreneurs who are looking for help on starting and growing their businesses and brands. We have guest speakers coming in to share their experiences and answer questions. It’s been a lot to try and put together, especially for first time event planners. We’ve had to contact potential speakers, round up a list of attendees, seek sponsors, produce signage and graphics, and so much more. It’s a lot, but with the help of my fellow interns we really got the ball rolling.

Working with a team can be either incredible or terrible. Mixing of personalities can make or break a project. I was lucky enough to be set up with some of the most creative, innovative, and flat out fun people I’ve ever met. Writing emails and creating graphics was a breeze, and no one was a flake. Everyone took responsibility and was accountable for their weight. Over lunches we would socialize, but always keep our heads in the game. We’d have fun, but never stop working.

Unfortunately, our event had to be postponed due to a scheduling conflict. I was disappointed, because we’d spent so much time working on it, but I realize that this will happen in the professional world. Not everything I work on will come to surface. That does not mean the work I did was any less valuable. And despite it not going as planned, I got experience and really wonderful relationships with my fellow interns out of it.