Over the phone interviews not easy

Yesterday I came in to finish the diversity web text and the Upward Bound article.

Since I was mostly in need of quotes, I had to wait for a few people to get back with me. I think that is the most frustrating part of the job. I’m always connected – whether it be carrying my cell phone wherever I go, or checking my e-mail more times a day than I can count.

Since I had done the adviser interview Friday, I worked on that while I waited. That interview had gone very well and I had already written part of the article.

I was also able to finish the spreadsheet project given to me by Mark. I also took the time to organize the paperwork. Once I had them numerically in order, I was able to enter data more quickly because I didn’t have to flip back if I thought I had found a duplicate.

Since I had class Monday, I went home at 3 p.m. I then finally got a hold of the girl for the Upward Bound article. I interviewed her, took notes and then put it into the article. I was slightly annoyed while interviewing because there was a lot of noise in the background and that made it more difficult to understand her.

Lesson of the Day: Over the phone interviews can be a pain. Be patient and ask the person to repeat if you think it was pertinent information.

Blogging in Relaxing.

I think I like blogging on my lunch break…it’s relaxing.

Tuesday I came up with several different concepts for the Centralight ad, spinning off of one of my original concepts. At the end of the day, he came in and said he really liked my classified ad concept (I’ll post more if we use it). Unfortunately, there are no graphic designers available anytime soon to work on it. So more on that to come.

Dan brought me the page dummies for CMU Welcomes You and I started inserting the ads. That is what I spent the rest of the day doing. Some were very easy to do…and others were huge pains because the ads weren’t the right size.

This morning I finished up a CMUWY article with a quote about academic advising. I will be interviewing an adviser on Friday morning to finish up another article and am waiting on approval for my transfer student article. The Volunteer Center article is in between – I sent it for approval and it was returned with a few changes, but the woman said she might want to make more. Its a little frustrating.

Dan brought me two new projects – adding to an article about Upward Bound and writing the text for a landing page for a web page about diversity posters.

I have sent the landing page text to Sydnee to see what she thinks – whether I need more or less – because she has been with the project since the beginning.

I have not started on the Upward Bound article since I am waiting to hear back from a source.

This morning Dan and I talked about me working an extra day. It looks like I’ll probably come in on Fridays, since I have class Monday and Wednesday afternoons. But I won’t be in tomorrow since I had already made plans to go to Dow Gardens with a friend.

Check back later to read about the rest of my day.

Celebrate

This is a recent post on my other blog, A Step Ahead. As it relates to my internship, I will also post it here.

It is my lunch break at work still so I have decided to spend it writing…I often tend to forget that I get a lunch break. I enjoy my internship so much that I usually just munch on a sandwich while I work on a project. Today, I left my computer for lunch to celebrate. I went home and made an amazing chicken quesadilla. 

This morning I received the final edited draft for the web site copy that I wrote myself. It was assigned to me last Thursday. I was given a little detail about what was needed.”Keep it fresh,” I was told by Ryan, the marketing associate. Fresh? 

I spent the remainder of Thursday researching for the project. I generally only come in on Tuesday and Thursday but this was a project with an impending deadline. I came in on Friday, the day in which I spend my mornings watching the previous night’s Grey’s Anatomy and Lost on ABC.com, and worked on the web site copy. 

“Fresh,” I thought. “Keep it fresh, and write tight.” 

After I wrote my first draft, I counted how many times I used certain words. Since I was describing where each link on the web site lead, I had used the word ‘find’ nearly 20 times! ‘Learn’ was he runner-up, being used nine times. 

I went through and edited, thinking ‘how do I make this one sound different’ and ‘what word can I replace here.’ I replaced ‘find’ with different words in ten different instances. I used a thesaurus to help me use different words. 

I reread that copy so many times, editing and tightening up my writing as much as I could. Finally, when I could read through without changing things, I sent it to Dan for editing. At the end of the day, he brought in the edits. Other than some AP style mistakes, I had done good. 

I came into work on Monday (my usual day for sleeping in) and made the edits. I sent it to Ryan and he said it was great. Following my suggestion that we add a certain link, I wrote another short piece of copy and submitted it to Dan. He and Mark, the director of publications, were to edit it one final time.

This morning (Tuesday), Dan told me that he went through and edited it and gave it to Mark. Mark read through the first few and said it was fine and he wasn’t going to read any more of it. Dan basically said he was impressed. So am I…writing for a web site is harder than I thought it would be. 

Dan had Sarah, another writer, take a look at it. Then I sent it to Ryan so he could get it to IT.

I can’t wait to see the website. I’m sure I’ll post it so I can point it out and say, “I wrote that!” Yeah, its just web site copy but it is exciting because it will be used on CMU’s website. 

Lunch is over. Back to work.

Don’t settle for the first concept…

Today I went into work in the morning to finish up editing the website copy so I could talk to Ryan about it. I suggested to him that we add the library to the list of links because the library so I ended up having to write a short summary for Park Library and Clarke Historical Library.

I also completed one concept for the Centralight ad and created a second. I sent both to Dan for him to review. One ad focuses on the how being a Gold member saves you money, and the other focuses on how good it makes you feel to support your alma mater.

I sent Dan the website copy for him and Mark to do final edits before it goes to IT.

I also read up a little bit more on the man that I will be writing a story about for the Friends of Libraries luncheon.

Since I had finished up my end of the project, I headed home at 11:30 a.m. I don’t usually work Mondays and I have an BIO 101 exam today, so there was no sense sitting around with nothing to do.

Lesson of the Day: Don’t settle for the first concept. Always generate as many as ideas as possible before developing the good ones. If I hadn’t brainstormed so much, I would have settled on my first concept. It seemed OK at the time but it was much better when I had many ideas and sorted the strong from the weak.

Never save your best quote for last…

Yesterday I worked on CMUWY articles. I’m still getting in approvals and making changes. For some reason, my spreadsheet tracking everything related to the publication was deleted. I save every approval and email related to CMUWY in a file, so it wasn’t too big of a deal to go back through and make another speadsheet to track the approvals and anything else I am still waiting on.

Since there is a tabloid-style paper for orientation, Dan told me to go out and track one down. I went around campus and couldn’t find any. I called student publications and they said I could go pick one up from their office. My feet were killing me, so I returned to my office. While I was out, I picked up an orientation guide. It gave me a few more ideas on what I could do with CMUWY.

By Thursday, I should have the page dummies in and be able to start working on the actual publication. They put a new computer in my office with InDesign CS3. Since I had to drop that one class, I plan on stopping by the library today to get a book on InDesign.

I was asked to cover a story for Reference Point on a Saturday in June. I had to check my schedule, but it looks like I can do it. I don’t know much other than what the invitation says right now. Basically, it is a library luncheon with a speaker.

Lessons of the Day: Dan gave me two writing tips today: (1) Never save your best quote for last, and (2) Write tight – so tight that it will be hard for your editor to cut anything.

You Just Need Ambition…

Yesterday, I mostly worked on CMU Welcomes You. With any new information I had, I finished up a few articles and sent them to be approved. With any approvals I received, I changed any information that needed to be changed. This morning I received several more approvals. I think that the publication materials are coming along pretty well.

I also typed up some copy for an ad going into the PBS booklet. It was fairly simple to do. The only thing I missed was to italicize the title of the exhibit at Clarke Historical Library.

I’m excited about this upcoming Friday because I will be going to a project management workshop. I won’t be paid for the time I will be there, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m sure it will be well worth it. I think I will learn a lot.

I do have some bad news. Originally, I was going to be taking a second class this summer that teaches you how to use Adobe InDesign. After purchasing a car this past weekend (and spending more than I had planned), I had to drop the class. The class fills up quickly every semester, so I will have to wait and see when I can take it next.

I do plan on teaching myself more about Adobe InDesign. There are several books about InDesign at the library that I plan to check out soon. Dan has already taught me the basics, so I know I can learn a lot by myself.

Lesson of the Day: You don’t have to take a class if you want to learn. You just need ambition and a good library book.

InDesign, Writing, & Editing

Yesterday was a great day. In the morning, Dan gave me a short tutorial on how to use Adobe InDesign. I had been using Microsoft Publisher for most things before. In high school, I did the layout for the newspaper with Publisher for two years. I caught on very quickly to InDesign. I practiced setting up pages with text and photos whenever I had free time during the day. Now that I have a basic understanding of the program, JRN 302 should be a breeze (in JRN 302 you learn to use InDesign).

I completed my article about Pridgeon and submitted it to Dan. He read it over and said it was good and pointed out a few changes that I could make. He told me that he wasn’t going to tell me exactly what to put because he “didn’t want to take away my voice.” He said the article would be perfect if we were going to be printing it that day, but since it is for a publication he said we can perfect it even more. I thought this was great because I am able to learn to correct my own mistakes and perfect my own words. I know that I am a fairly good writer, but I want to become even better. I can already see that this internship is going to help me do that.

So I went back through the Pridgeon feature. I re-worked the lead and discussed it with Dan. The lead seemed to be the hardest part for me. Dan told me to imagine I was telling the story to my brother…how would I start it? I wouldn’t start by just bluntly telling the important details. I would first intrigue my audience to get them into the story. I re-worked the rest of the article and sent it back to Dan.

Dan sent two stories about a coach and asked me to edit them into one for the Viewpoint. It wasn’t a difficult task, although the fact that I know nothing about sports was a little intimidating. Luckily, the “complicated sports stuff” didn’t need editing. I sent it back to him and he said it was fine and he just moved a few little things around.

At the end of the day, Dan said that I would get more stories to write soon and other things to work on. I also will be starting work on CMU Welcomes You soon.

Lesson of the Day: Write like you’re telling a story to someone to their face. Intrigue them and draw them in.

Second Day

Yesterday was my second day of my internship. In the morning, I refined my interview questions and did a little brainstorming for CMU Welcomes You. I also worked on what little bit of the article I could, using information from a press release.

I also used Facebook to find people that are minoring in event management. Using the directory, I called one girl that sounded like a good interview prospect and left a message.

I interviewed Paul around 1 p.m. I had over 20 questions prepared, but afterwards I felt like I still didn’t have enough. But, I started typing my information and I had plenty! I worked on writing the article for quite awhile and then I spent a lot of time proofreading it. I proofread it over and over until I could read through it without wanting to change something.

Later in the day, I finally spoke with the girl I had chosen to interview about event management. I had chosen her because, one, her Facebook account looked decent (I was surprised at how many students had no privacy settings and had undesirable things shown), and two, she was in Mt. Pleasant still. I was hoping to find someone in Mt. Pleasant because then the photographer could get a few shots of her if we needed them. While talking to her on the phone, I found out that she had decided not to sign the minor so she could graduate earlier.

So back on Facebook I went, looking for another event management student. I sent several emails to some and called the ones that had phone numbers available.

Finally, I found one that looked perfect. She called me this morning and she is a signed minor. So now, all I have to do is put her information and comment in my article and I am finished with that feature.

The feature is due Thursday, 9 a.m., but it will be in before that. Dan also said that next week he will give me a short tutorial in Adobe InDesign so I can play with it when I have time. I have experience with other design programs, so once I learn the tools of this program I should be good to go!

Lesson of the Day: Have a back-up plan. I thought one girl was perfect for the interview, so I didn’t line up others until near the end off the day when I found out she wasn’t a signed minor.

First Day As A PR Intern

Yesterday was my first day of my first internship. I am working for CMU Public Relations and Marketing as a publications intern.

The first thing I had to do was review the publications I would be working on and writing for. At 9 a.m., I sat in on a staff meeting. After the meeting, I returned to my desk and continued reviewing the publications I would be working on. My main project for the summer will be CMU Welcomes You, a publication sent to incoming students. There are also other publications that I may be writing for such as the Professional and Viewpoint.

My supervisor, Dan, asked me to write down five goals of what I wanted to get out of the internship. He then wrote five goals of what he wanted to help me get out of the internship. We switched papers and amazingly we had very similar goals.

After lunch, I received my first assignment, a feature story about Paul Pridgeon, next year’s SGA President. I cannot give much more information than that right now. Although I want to blog about my experiences as an intern, I need to be careful about how much information I release.

I prepared my interview questions and tracked down his phone number. I called and left a message on his phone and I emailed him.

I spent much of the day just becoming familiar with the publications and brainstorming ideas for CMU Welcomes You. I also started the feature story, using what information I already had from press releases.

Paul called me this morning and we sat up the interview for Thursday between noon and 1 p.m. It might cut into my lunch hour, but I was planning on taking a lunch with me anyway.

My plan for Thursday is to interview Paul and begin writing the article. It needs to be about 400 words and is due the next Thursday at 9 a.m.

In the morning, if I am not given any other assignments, I will need to track down another contact for the article. I had contacted a fellow PRSSA member, but she had dropped the minor I was writing about. I asked if she could suggest anyone else for the article, so hopefully she will have returned my email. My back-up plan is to use Facebook to find another student with that minor.

Lesson of the Day: Setting goals can help keep you on track, but knowing the goals of your supervisor will help you better understand what you should be doing and whether or not the internship will be compatible.