cawep2016

New Week, New Mentor – Day 6, Reaghan

Today I started working with Alli Soule. Alli works on a different level of social networking than Courtney, whereas Courtney’s expertise is in social selling. I really appreciated Alli’s interest in what I do with social networking and how she can help me grow my platform. Alli is a trainer for SAS and teaches employees how to use social media to their advantage, and to the advantage of the SAS reputation. There are 6 people on her team, each with a specified job; one is in charge of posting on the SAS social media platforms, one is considered the “graphic designer” and creates picture tiles for the online sites, and so on.

Working with Alli has me on the 6th floor, close to Dr. Goodnight’s office. It’s quite intimidating, but also serves as extra encouragement to put my best foot forward. Coming out of the elevators, the “lobby area” for this floor are lined with Dr. Goodnight’s unique rock collection. I wish I could have gotten more pictures to show how extensive this display is, but I didn’t want t13388769_10204763805255318_183347546_oo disturb the conference rooms that they were next to.

Aside from continuing my project of analyzing the 1500 profiles belonging to social selling employees, Alli started me on a new project to help write the “what it is” (example for twitter shown) for the social media help center on “Slide Share,” which is a type of social media that is owned by LinkedIn which allows users to search and find a presentation on any subject. The Social Media Resource Portal gives a description and help to employees looking to use social media.

Today was a really exciting start to the week, and I’m looking forward to finishing my internship with Alli!

Employees or Family? – Day 4&5, Reaghan

On Thursday, I was able to experience the incredible manner in which SAS treats their employees. Courtney and I made our way over to the food truck rally, where there were many options for different food than the delicious choices that are normally offered in the SAS cafeterias. It was wonderful to be able to eat outside and people watch to see what else was going on, such as a dance class and a mapped run through the campus. I have come to realize how SAS treats their employees so well and suits them with a very positive environment, and in return the employees are happy to work there. A few weeks ago, SAS also celebrated 40 years with a spring festival that was a few hours of giving back to the employees. SAS is very compatible with their families, and I think that’s what creates such positive employees!

We were also able to eat at a different cafeteria from the normal building we go to on Friday, and it was really cool to see how different options of foots are offered at different buildings.

Thursday and Friday consisted of more meetings and videos to be pushed out for oncoming sales students to SAS, and Courtney getting prepared to leave for her trip.

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Links & Connections – Day 2, Reaghan

We started today at SAS’s other location, 940 Cary Parkway. Courtney led a “workshop” on social selling to new SAS marketing employees and helped them use LinkedIn and other social networks to their advantage. I was in charge of recording the video for the workshop, which she would later put online for a bigger audience across the world. The employees were newly hired to the marketing /selling teams at SAS, and are given hundreds of companies that they need to try to sell the SAS technology to. They all made comments about how amazed they are about being able to connect and find people on a new level through social media. One of the most interesting things that Courtney talked about was how to connect with people through social media on a personal level, rather than just through an online presence. Through LinkedIn, she was able to pull up connections that she shared with her potential “targets,” as she called them, which would make it easier to make a direct and personal contact. For example, one of the students in the class was working on closing a deal with Pinterest. Courtney was able to pull up an employee of Pinterest who had experience working with SAS and had worked at Target, another business that uses SAS technology. There are so many tools to use in social media that enhance the ability of sales employees, it was very cool to learn about it today!13351018_10204763778654653_23891976_o

First Day in the Social Selling Department – Reaghan

The first day of shadowing Courtney consisted of mostly meetings, but I was able to meet some interesting people including someone who was in the first graduating middle school class from Cary Academy. Courtney travels every other week of the month, so it was cool to see her planning with people all over the world for her upcoming travel plans. She filled me in about her current focus being on setting up public profiles on business-type accounts such as LinkedIn and how businesses and individuals connect with it. I was then set on a project of analyzing the 1,500+ employees involved in the social selling aspect of SAS, and considering how professional their profile looked. It was surprising to see how many people had a very sloppy profile but a very important title, and  Courtney reinforced how much those individuals might be missing out on because potential business investors will look for their information online and not find it.
The entire SAS environment is very welcoming and I’m looking forward to the week ahead!13383379_10204763765334320_1824270962_o

Just Because You’re a Murderer Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Have a Dog



Last Day!

At WRAL, I followed around the incredibly busy Amanda Lamb for a day. The first thing we did was drive to the hue courthouse in downtown Raleigh, because as a crime reporter, it’s Amanda’s responsibility to go through overnight search and arrest warrants to see if there’s a story or an update on a case that she could add into the news broadcast. The only thing she could find was a repeat pedophile from Scotland–she told me the only way they could make it a story was if he had a job where he worked around children.

The picture is the view from the third floor of the courthouse, where the heavy crime courtrooms are located. There were no trials going on at the time, so I didn’t get to see that action.

After that, it was pretty similar to my day at ABC-11, until Amanda got the go-ahead to report on a story she had pitched about dogs in Franklin Correctional Center, so we had to drive about half an hour to that prison. The story was centered around a program in the prison that matched new service dogs with inmates so they can train them in four-month cycles to be service dogs for disabled people around the area. That day was their graduation-of-sorts, and Amanda was excited because it was a unique opportunity for a feel-good story .

Unfortunately, after that my day ended a little early because I began to feel really sick on the drive back–but it was still a very informative day and I’m glad I could end the WEP on that note!

Liza Day 8: Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened :)

All good things must come to an end, but I sure am glad I got to spend my Discovery Term Internship at McKinney!

We started off our morning in a conference call with other Production members, Habib and Chau, who were in LA working. As our focus for today was HB2, we reviewed the possible cast list, script, and location options. I enjoyed observing how a story board/vision can come off paper and become a reality.

Later in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to research the cast and locations to create a presentation board for the team. This was posted on one of McKinney’s magnetic boards, which can be found all over the office to give the staff the opportunity to pin up their ideas and collaborate with one another.

By the time I finished doing this, it was time to head home. I said my goodbyes and thanked everyone for giving me the opportunity to experience their life at McKinney and introducing me to the current projects. As I was heading out, I had the chance to meet with Nick (editor Nick) and ask him questions about the programs he uses to cut and create movies. I’m planning on making a documentary this summer on my trip to Europe, so it was helpful to have a professional to discuss the best way to execute this. He even gave me his contact info and said he would be happy to help me in any way needed. 🙂

This was a great way to end the day, and hopefully I’ll be able to come back and spend more time at McKinney again!

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Day 8- necks, backs and needles oh my!

Today was my last day shadowing a physical therapist at Dunn Physical Therapy. Today i got to see a very wide variety of patients. I saw a patient that had a hurt neck and needed dry needling on his neck. Another patient I saw today had a hurt back and got dry needling done to relieve the stress on the muscles.

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Today I also learned how to make a hot pack. A hot pack is a thick pad that has been in hot water in order to heat it up. It is then covered in a blanket like thing. It is then covered in a towel and then another blanket. They use this for loosening muscles and for receiving the pain after an appointment.

Thank you so much Dunn Physical Therapy for everything you did for me! It was a fun and educational two weeks!

Day 7: Granite and Goodbyes

Last day interning! It was a pretty bittersweet feeling, considering we’d been working in the “real world” for the past two weeks! Today, we filed even more paperwork (is that even possible?) and then helped out Vandana with making sure account balances matched. Grace and I actually found a pretty big logistical error and we were happy to have caught something that otherwise might have flown under the radar and cost the company lots of money. After the morning paperwork, Sunny, Vandana, Grace, and I all went to lunch at a new Italian Eatery called Positalia, which was surprisingly yummy! On the car ride there, we learned more about the company, including the types of trucks used to transfer the granite, as well as learning that there are two more CRS locations in India and Brazil! In addition, here’s a link that explains how granite goes from the mountaintop to your countertop! http://crsgranite.com/your-slabs-journey/

After lunch, we finished filing and then it was time to go home! Overall, the two weeks of work experience were interesting and enlightening, and I definitely got a better understanding of possible career options related to finance.

– Khushi 

The insane amount of paperwork that Grace and I got through in only three days at CRS!

The scrumptious lunch that I ate at the newly-opened Italian Eatery!

Liza Day 7: A Whole New World

Today, I experienced a new perspective going from Production to the Creative Strategic Department! It was a whole new world.

To start off the morning, Regina and I were crunched on time so we didn’t scout for possible HB2 locations. Instead, I continued updating Smart Sheet and reading over the new script.

Around 1, I was called for lunch duty. I ran over to Only Burger and grabbed the team’s lunch for the day. Everyone has to do lunch duty at some point!

After snarfing down my delicious Veggie Burger, I got to sit in on a meeting conducted by 3 members of the Strategic Department at McKinney. This was SUCH a cool experience and I was so fascinated that my interests (psychology and media) exist right here at an advertising agency! Chris Walsh, the Director of Consumer and Business Insights, introduced me to the “model” McKinney has used for the past 13 years and how it needed to be updated. In addition, we watched a video called “Marketers Are From Mars and Consumers Are From New Jersey”, which nailed the psychology around consumer preferences. I encourage you to check it out, it’s hilarious!!

Later in the afternoon, I attended a team debrief “Tune In.” This is the meeting where they review McKinney’s current projects and track each department’s progress reports. This furthermore gave me an insight into how complex, yet integrated the world of advertising really is.

Regina and I stayed late to miss the traffic, so I continued working on the Olympic Project and HB2.

-Liza

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Day 8- What is a Non-profit?

Today was spent at the Autism Society of North Carolina’s main offices in Raleigh.


I was very surprised at how large the office actually was with around 40 employees working there. How the Autosm Society supports these employees is through their large network of donors and fundraising events. My first task was unwrapping Christmas presents!! These presents were donated last December, but never unpacked to send to families affected by autism. I got to take inventory and help assign the presents to certain families.
Next, I worked writing thank you cards to the many donors that donate to camp Royall. Not only individuals, but many well known businesses donate. Autism is becoming more and more common with 1 in 59 NC children being affected and donations to research are so important to help understand this rise in cases.


Next, I was able to help insert names and contact information into the large data base of donors. Even though my tasks today weren’t as fun as at Camp Royall they are so important to help places like Camp Royall function!

– Fiona