8/15 Last Day for Internship #1

Today is a bittersweet day. As I read over some of these post, I remember all of the great memories and lists full of information I have learned during these short 16 weeks of summer school. I am glad to have completed another course, however it is bittersweet to be leaving the studio for a week. I only had one hour left out of my 120, and I am spending it writing this post and planning for Internship #2 with FFDS (Fall 2011 semester... Aug 22nd through December). I have enjoyed learning more about what goes on "behind the scenes" of a sports industry business and I look forward to having more communication with suppliers, families, new students and the FFDS staff.

8/13 Open House

MONKEY JOE AND MRS.PAULA. Monkey Joe was a HUGE hit. He came and danced with all of our students to show his support for our studio. Also, he gave out coupons for our students and their families to use so they can go and exercise at his home full of jump and bounce houses. We had SEVERAL of our community companions show up and support our event and we had around 75 new students joing the FFDS family- I would say it was a HUGE success! I helped with registration, studio tours and event scheduling.

8/12 Open House Set-Up

Today was a long and tiring day that will hopefully be well worth it! Several students and their family members assisted the staff in cleaning and organizing the studio for tomorrow's Open House event. Also, I was able to assist the administrative director with setting up for the event and making sure our social network tools were broadcasting news about our event. I think I broke a "dancers sweat" today :). Tune in tomorrow for pictures from the Open House!

8/8- 8/11 Open House Marketing

SUCCESS! This week I was able to reconnect with our community companions and get each establishment to agree to donate something for our Open House. Several pizza places aggreed to donate pizzas, as well as sandwiches from several sub shops. My favorite agreement- Monkey Joes agreed to send Joe down in costume to dance with our students and our director! Open House is going to be amazing, and I was very pleased to be able to save the studio a lot of money by getting food and entertainment for free!

8/6 Tax Free Weekend

FFDS is located in the Windsor Square Shopping center in Matthews, along with Kohls. Kohls allowed FFDS to be a part of their huge tax free weekend sale, so I spent my saturday at Kohls handing out advertisements about our studio and answering questions from prospective members. A smile lite up my face three different times when current students ran up to me saying, "HEY Miss Brittany", and it finally sunk in that I am officially part of the FFDS family. Kohls is also one of our community companions and Kohls is located directly infront of our establishment. Kohls ended up being a great location for marketing, and hopefully we will see several Kohls shoppers at our Open House event next weekend!

8/1-8/4 Learning the Language Part 2

FFDS is proud to announce the hiring of a new gymnastics instructor, Sam. Sam has been teaching in the area for several years now and gladly accepted the invitation to join the FFDS family. It is a FFDS goal to enhance our gymnastics and hip hop program this year, and Sam is going to help us do so. In order for me to sell his services, I set in on some of his technique classes and spoke with the gymnastics students to see how they thought he did. All of the students felt challanged and enjoyed his methods of teaching. Sam seems to love our students and we are surely glad to have him on the staff. At the end of the week, I created and distributed information to all of the current FFDS members about the new addition and invited them to meet Sam at our upcoming Open House. I am already excited for internship part 2 which will start at the same time FFDS starts their Fall 2011 season, August 20th. [Photo of Sam to come].

7/25-7/28 Community Companions

I really enjoyed this week- going to meet the managers of the community establishments that are interested in being our Community Companions. A community companion is a company in Matthews that agrees to post our FFDS advertisements and in return we post theirs. Also, we offer a our services at a discount for them, and hope that they will do the same for us if we need. I was able to establish a relationship with several places in our own shopping center, such as Monkey joes and Cici's Pizza.

7/18-7/21 Misc.

This week was very busy for me and the studio. I helped on several different projects and learned several new things. My favorite experience would be talking to Lebos and placing orders for the new fall season. Lebos is a company in Matthews that supplies shoes and costumes for our studio. I was able to be in contact most of the week with their staff, in order to ensure we began the season with enough supplies. Also, I went with the director to Sams Club to purchase the studio supplies, like toilet paper and bottled waters, and then returned and created an excel list so that each month someone could get the supplies needed and wouldn't buy more of something that was not needed. I also maintained contact with everyone who called seeking information about classes and took payments as people stopped by to register or attend summer technique classes.

7/11-7/14 Teach Marketing

I would generally argue that marketing is not always something you can teach in a short meeting, however, with the FFDS family- you can. I met with the director and administrative director to discuss how I had been succesful with marketing for other company events in my past. Then, I taught them some of my skills and the admin director and I set out to market to the community. Our number one goal was to connect with our community and set up community companions. However, we also wanted to make a mental note of who might potentially assist us with our Open House event in August. Amy, the admin director, complimented me on my marketing skills and picked up the trade very quickly! It was great to have her along to answer the picky studio questions like, "What time do your three year olds have ballet class" and I was there to suggest things like, "We can advertise your company on our community companion wall in the studio to over 300 students and their families". To help us market, I created fliers that we handed out and posted where allowed. [The fliers are too large to be added to this post, please contact our studio if you wish to receive more information].

7/5-7/7 Learning the Language

My goal this week was to learn the FFDS language. Basically, I wanted to see what actually happens in each dance class and pick up on some of the dance terminology. Why? I am going to be in contact with a lot of new and returning parents when the fall seaons begins. To do so adequately, I need to be able to speak their language and really understand their concerns in order to eliminate conflict and confusion, etc. This week I set in on several technique classes and even learned a few dance steps. I asked about the clothing and shoes, to learn more about why they wear certains things and what the things are called. Also, I met more of the students and tried to learn their names and something about them. I feel it is important to have a relationship with the students because the studio strives to offer an education through dance, and I am now one of their educators. A relationship offers me a chance to remind these children that they are appreciated and a chance to learn from them. [I took several photos during the week, but I wish not to share them because I do not have permission to do so from everyone in the photographs].

6/27-6/30 Marketing for Summer Technique Classes

Summer technique classes for all age groups are held to increase interest in FFDS and to keep our compeition students in shape during the off-season. Technique classes focus on a certain style of dance and are usually taught by instructors not party of the FFDS staff. This summer we have the chance to have Mr. Jackson, a well known hip hop choreographer, come to FFDS and teach hip hop technique classes. Everyone is excited! I am marketing, this week, for the technique classes by emailing our current students and updating our new and OFFICIAL facebook page with updates about who is going to be teaching each class, etc. Social networking is becoming a great communication tool for FFDS! Did you notice that our tweets post directly to my blog?

6/20-6/23 NATIONALS

FFDS is in Mrytle Beach for NATIONALS. I am in Matthews at the studio updating the facebook site and emailing everyone on our contact list with updates as we receive news about how the students are doing. [The Lion King Performance won for its division, see the students with their award in the photo].

6/17 & 6/18 RECITAL

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! Let the show begin! I am so proud to be a part of such a great show here in my hometown. I picked up a few more responsibilities, and loved them all. I was able to hold communication with the Ovens Auditorium stage crew and tell them things like when to drop curtains, and which curtains to drop. Also, I put my muscles to work and volunteered to help the "Prop Dads" move the props on and off the stage when needed. This was an amazing opportunity to learn more about the dances and meet more of the FFDS family. The show was amazing, and some of the dances can be viewed on youtube if you wish to research them. [The photo is the FFDS owner and director, Mrs. Paula, and two of our competition dancers, Robert and Heather].

6/15-6/16 Recital Setup & Dress Rehersals

Recital setup takes a lot of commitment and time, but it is worth it! I loved getting to see what it really takes to put on such a huge event, because any furture sports marketing career I have will require me to participate in "Game Day Affairs". Well it is surely Game Day at FFDS! Recital is a very exciting time. These past two days have been all about communicating within the FFDS family to ensure everyone knew where to be and when to be there. I had a huge role in making sure that the younger children behaved back staged, were dressed and ready and were on stage left 30 counts before their number began. Lets be glad I went to rehersal and had two days to practice before the actual show started! Also, I checked in on messages through the phone and email to ensure that while we were all out-of-the-office, questions were still be answerd! [Notice the tee shirts I had made that match the awesome tickets. The shirts were warn for the final number of the show, "the finale", and of course will be warn as another advertisement by each student or parent when they choose to do so. The photo is of me sporting my shirt with two of our students in costumes, during the rehersals].

6/6-6/10 Recital Marketing In The Community

This week I distributed all of the advertisements for the recital. I left tickets at local restaurants, stores, and kid friendly establishments hoping that parents would pick one up and bring their kids to the show. I attached a photo of the ticket, which is not required for entry, but makes for a fun advertisement. The color scheme is purple, in honor of Mr. Michael the father of the family who owns FFDS. Mr. Michael just recently passed away with cancer, and the recital is dedicated to his work at FFDS and to the memories he leaves behind.

6/3 Recital Marketing

BIG EVENT NUMBER TWO- FFDS RECITAL... It is that time of the year for all of FFDS to show off their talents at Ovens Auditorium. It is my time to get the surrounding communities to attend the recital and be encouraged to dance at or support the dancers of FFDS! I spent the day creating fun advertisements that could be distributed throughout the community, hopefully getting people to Ovens on the 17th and 18th of June. Next week I will distribute the advertisements and be in communication with anyone who has questions about the event.

5/28 Day 1 In The Studio

Today I spent 5 hours in the studio as, Miss Brittany. It is a powerful feeling that people actually want to meet you and know more about you and why you are interning. I learned several new things related to how a company operates, but I mainly spent my time viewing classes, meeting the staff and learning what FFDS was all about. I can tell the internship is going to be a wonderful experience! Also, Sunset Slush earned FFDS over $500 at Outdoor Rehersal and we were only given 10% of their profits- looks like our dancers were a hit for others as well! Keep it up FFDS, I am proud to be your intern!

5/22 Outdoor Rehersal

One word: Amazing! The FFDS students have so much talent! I spent the day on stage right helping returning students and new students complete registration forms. It was a great experience for me to learn what to say to new students and their families, and meet some of the pre-existing students and their families! Communication is one of my favorite things and I got to do a lot of it! Also, I got to personally thank Sunset Slush for participating and talked with their manager about being a part of more FFDS events! Their slushies were wonderful and nice & cold! Upon arrival at the event, I hung posters showing students where to be in order to get on the stage when their dance number was next in the line-up and then helped the staff set-up the sounds system for the performances. Many community members stopped by to see the show and everything seemed to go perfectly! [The photo is of some of our students, the elite group, on stage about to begin their dance].

5/18 Outdoor Rehersal Marketing

Outdoor Rehersal is a huge event for FFDS. On the day of the event, May 22nd, FFDS has a chance to practice their recital routines to see if there are any problems with the song arrangement and the routines theirselves. Also, friends and family as well as the Matthews community are all able to watch the performances and see the talented students of FFDS. The event is hosted at Stump Town Park in the heart of Matthews, allowing the dancers to be seen by everyone who passes down trade street that particular day. The event is from Noon-6, therefore FFDS was in desperate need of refreshment. As the marketing intern, I connected with a family run business called Sunset Slush and scheduled for their Italian Ice Trailers to be present in order for their business to be exposed and for our students to stay as cooled off as possible in the heat of May. Sunset Slush even agreed to offer 10% of their daily profit to FFDS and agreed to provide free italian ice for all of FFDS's employees.

The Interview.

As determined as I am to start networking and establishing my name within the sports industry, it is still nerve wracking to stand on my own two feet and start the journey. Just a few weeks ago, I approached a home town dance studio where I once took beginner dance lessons to see if the company needed a summer intern. I entered the studio ready to show marketing samples, resume qualifications and an eager and hard-working personality. Quickly, I was pleased to conclude that the company was highly interested in what I had to offer and seemed to be willing to allow me to run with my own ideas as long as my actions were for the betterment of their business. All on a rainy and cold April afternoon, my offer for providing free labor was accepted and a new spark of self-motivation was ignited. Overall, excited is an understatement for the emotion I am filling and the anxiousness associated with wanting to get started right away! The best news is, I am approved to complete a year long internship with Fancy Feet Dance Studios as their Sports Marketing Intern, May 2011-May 2012. I invite you to follow me on my journey...