This past week I went and spoke with a few different advisors and asked them if they would be willing to assist me in my thesis statement. I still need to have them fill out the paper work but I at least talked with them. I am still in the process of transferring all of my interview notes from my recorder to my computer so I can post them. I am getting rather close to being done though! I do have questions about how I finish up Cap Stone 1. Do I need to print out my final copy of everything and hand it in to either of you? Or do I simply post everything up here on the blog? I guess I have the same question about the Advisor signatures as well. Do I need to turn those in or just state that I have them?
Statement of Thesis and Project Summary:
Talent has no limits. My company's ("My company's" will later be replaced with the name of my company) purpose is to provide a superior event planning services that is a fun and friendly environment and turns event visions into realities. With the research and experience I have done and had, the best way to apply my strengths is to create a business plan for an event planning company. In this I will include: Marketing plan to have a successful business, vendors list of preferred clients, inventory of products available, budget plan for cost of marketing and cost of inventory, detailed research on how to avoid common event planning pitfalls, and how I feel starting my own event planning business utilizes my skills uses my two areas of emphasis in a correlating way.
Review of Literature:
For the past few months I have had incredible opportunities to work in the event planning industry. I not only have a job as a wedding consultant at a bridal gown shop, but I got an internship working for Noah's Event Center. At Noah's I run the online marketing for the company. This internship provides me with the tools to use my business and communication skills to the fullest. I not only need to plan out a marketing strategy that will get Noah's Event Center noticed by more people, but I am responsible for reaching out to people and starting up conversations about all things Noah's. After I had been interning for Noah's for a month my connections I made at my job before the bridal shop served me well. I got a job as a hostess at Sleepy Ridge Golf Course. At Sleepy Ridge I host all the events help there, I set up for the event, then I stay to make sure things flow, and then I clean up and my job is done. After my first day at this job I knew this is exactly what I want to do.
In a business class I took we watched a video clip of Marcus Buckingham, who is a motivational speaker, who spoke about finding your strengths and playing to them the best you can. There is a specific part of these tapes that is the biggest take away for me. It is in part two mostly of the six part videos we watched in class. Marcus talks about the Signs of Strength. The 3rd sign: when you are done with activity, you are uplifted, fulfilled, and “kinda magnificent.” For a while now I have decided that I want to be an event planner for my career. This has been a tough decision for me because I am so young and I so far ahead in school that I have needed to make a decision. I got this job and was extremely nervous to go to my first day and hate it. The event was a wedding reception and as the night came to an end I found myself energized on the inside. I was of course dead on the outside; I had been wearing heels and hosted a party for the last five hours. But on the inside I could not have been happier. In this case, I felt “kinda magnificent.” I haven’t ever felt like this with any job that I have ever done before.
The contact that I mentioned earlier, her name is Kirsten Mead, was the event planner for Sleepy Ridge events, I got a chance to meet with her and ask her all kinds of questions about event planning and what to expect and prepare for in my future as an event planner. As we got to talking she mentioned something to me that I never thought about. She said, "The only way to be successful is to plan for mistakes, but the only way to plan for those possible mistakes is to make them." Granted I have a lot of experience in this industry, I still don't know my way around the industry like I eventually will. I will make a few mistakes, and I will learn and prepare for those mistakes. Another source suggests to write down everything that needs to happen at the event and to write down what bad things could legitimately happen (Abhishek Agarwal). That way I can say I was prepared as much I could've been.
Some things just cannot be planned for. For instance this story, told by a Project Director in Georgia, shows how unanticipated things could go wrong (Event Solutions): "I was managing the national sales meeting for a luxury manufacturing company on a beachfront property. We had organized a team building program on the beach, and to get the group excited, I hired a plane to fly overhead with the company’s name on a banner. I was back at the hotel awaiting the arrival of the company’s president (after whose family the company is named) when my colleagues radioed me that they could hear the plane coming. I ran outside toward the beach and spotted the plane just as everyone else did — only to see that the banner was misspelled. The pilot had had to slide the letters into the clear banner, and he had transposed a few of them. I ran back to the hotel to call the plane company, and got them to radio the pilot to turn around. He had just disappeared from view when the president arrived."
Before I post the rest of this I want to make sure I am doing it correctly. I know the final day for this class is the 25th but I would feel more comfortable handing something in as a hard copy. But if you guys prefer it posted on here thats fine with me. Just let me know if I should post the rest of what I have written or if I can hand it in. Thanks :) HAPPY EASTER!
