I have spent 4 months working for a Romanian communication firm that organizes one of the biggest and most important international architecture conferences in Central and Eastern Europe in more than 12 European countries throughout 15 yearly editions. With more than 20 years of expertise, the company under the name of AbPlus Events is a significant player on the Romanian and international event market in the sphere of architecture.
My day to day tasks
My main priority was the communication with the speakers and the necessary preparations for the coming calendar of 2020 conferences. I have started with basic tasks such as researching new speakers, creating a thorough database of potential guests, researching new trends in architecture, whilst maintaining social media communication on Instagram and Facebook. Moving on, with the help of a colleague, I have invited all potential architects to the conference and centralized their responses, kept track of the communication, and finally, concluding the arrangements and sending the official contracts of collaboration. Besides the process of assuring speakers for the coming conference, I was assigned two conferences, one in Bucharest, and one in Athens. For each conference, I was delegated along with a team to the conference and there we had to ensure proper development of the event and assist to the needs of both the participants and the speakers. Prior to the conference, we had to draw the outline of the communication plan for each conference, as well as the organization plan of the event. After the end of each conference, my individual responsibility was to create surveys for participants and analyze, compare and find patterns in data. In the background of the main activities, I also had on the moment tasks such as official translations, creation of newsletters, website design, content creation
Highlights
- I had the opportunity to meet people from the professional communication domain.
- Experience first hand how it is to work in the communication field.
- I have improved significant skills such as academic writing, content marketing, social media management and developed my sense of responsibility.
- Got to travel to two conferences, one abroad and experience how a conference is organized.
- Made new friends, exchanged ideas and shared knowledge with them.
Recommendations
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Be open to new experiences! Don’t refuse tasks or activities because you fear you will not succeed. You are there to learn and sometimes, only through failure, you can reach new highs.
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Always ask questions! Sometimes you will be given a new task, and your supervisor does not have time to walk you through it. Don’t be embarrassed, and ask your colleagues how to accomplish the task. As the old saying goes, “No question is a wrong question”. Take initiative, but also know when to step back!
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Don’t be afraid to make mistakes! There will be times when you will make mistakes, but don’t get discouraged. The best is yet to come!
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Take in everything! Enjoy every aspect of your internship – from the knowledge you gain to the free time spent with your colleagues. Be enthusiastic and professional!
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Set personal goals! What do you wish to learn from this experience? How do you want to use the knowledge gained here?
All in all, I have loved working as a communication assistant and if given an opportunity in the future, I will accept a job like this again with no hesitation.
I hope you will have a great experience too and remember if you ever feel like you can’t do it anymore,
“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers” Scott Peck
Strive to be the best,
Ioana