TED events are known globally, so much that TEDx events are organized every year in hundreds of countries to support TED’s motto “ideas worth spreading”. As my internship, I always dreamed of working for TED conferences and thankfully this wish came true.
Working side by side with the event manager of TEDxPadova means working in different sectors, such as PR, external and internal communication, social media communication, editing/updating and creating new content for the website and much more. More specifically I work in the communication department of the firm and assist the event manager in organizing the event which will take place in May.
Even though I am continuously learning and I am very interested in what I am doing, this internship is very challenging. The reason is due to the fact that it is a full-time job which sometimes signifies working in the evening or in the weekend (for example when we organize other small events which always take place on Saturday). Even though this might seem like a downside of the internship, it is actually very helpful for my educational path, as it is helping me to improve my time management skills, but also for my career path, as in order to work in the event management field a great amount of organizational, creative, adaptability and media skills. Hence, this internship is giving me the opportunity to understand whether I fit for this world, or vice versa!
Furthermore, this internship is also signifying a great opportunity to improve and learn new skills. For example, until now, I have been able to exercise on a daily basis my Photoshop, InDesign, Video Editing and WordPress skills. Indeed, this internship really requires me to use at my fullest my creativity…for the first time in my life, it does not seem enough! Anyways, this aspect is driving me to broaden and train my creativity skills.
Until now, this internship has already opened up my eyes. In other words, I am realizing the great amount of work that takes place before an event takes place. More specifically, for an event like TEDx, which takes around 700-1000 guests, at least 5 to 6 months of time from around 30 people needs to be dedicated in order to have a nice final result.
What am I liking about this internship the most? The fact that it is a very interactive job. To give you an example, a couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting with the Art Director which is following the next event of TEDxPadova. During this meeting, this company proposed to our firm a Concept Art to be used as the theme of the event. Like anything that involves Art really fascinates me, this was really interesting!
Overall, for now, I would describe this internship as “sleep taking” but at the same time” heart taking”. I hope to continue learning and increase my interest in this world.