What did I do in my internship?

The City of Jacksonville’s Division of Sports and Entertainment was where I chose to do my senior internship. They are the city’s leading event coordinators, and hold the largest scale events for our community. Within the team they have event specialists, marketing personnel, and sponsorship. During my experience, I spent a majority of my time with the event specialists, and a remainder with the marketing team. I learned about the logistics of how events operate, as well as the best way to market those events to the public. I worked closely with the event specialists on the 30th annual World of Nations Celebration, a local festival that celebrates culture, and diversity within our city. My part in the event was to assist with stage managing during the two-day festival, as well as coordinating the Parade of Flags. Following the festival, I was tasked to create a raffle plan for the World of Nations Celebration Gala, an event held a month after to celebrate the countries who participated and their accomplishments.

Raffle Plan

 

Most of the projects I assisted on were focused on upcoming events. From the beginning of my internship I was given my semester tasks by the Event Logistics/Operations manager. One of my tasks was to work closely with the event specialist who was in charge of the World of Nations Gala. As mentioned earlier, the Gala is a celebration the honors the countries who participated in the World of Nations Celebration. The night is filled with music, awards, and raffle prizes. From my first meeting with the event specialist, she tasked me to pioneer the raffle plan from the night. From meeting with sponsorship to see what gifts were available, to organizing the packages, creating labels for them, and even announcing the raffles at the event. I’ve provided an example of the labels I created for the raffles. As well as the raffle plan I presented to the team for the event below:

Raffle Plan 

Key Information: 

  • 150 Guest 

  • 16 Prize Packages (4 prizes in each, 64 prizes overall) 

  • Insomnia Cookies Favors (individually wrap) 

  • Raffle Ticket given at Check-In along with name tag (1 ticket per guest) 

  • 4 raffle call outs, of 4 packages at a time  

  • Prize cards presented in COJ Thank You Cards (unless it’s a gift bag)  

Schedule: 

6:30 – Guests arrive  

7:00pm- 1st raffle call-out (packages 1-4) 

7:30pm- 2nd raffle call-out (packages 5-8) 

8:00pm – 3rd raffle call-out (packages 9-12) 

8:30pm – 4th raffle call-out (packages 13-16)

World of Nations Celebration

 

During my short time on the team, I began to realize the teams work on events and projects simultaneously. For example, meetings regarding the July 4th celebration begin in March, and so on so forth. While I created the raffle plan for the gala, the festival we were celebrating didn’t occur yet. For the World of Nations Celebration I was tasked to assist an event specialist with stage managing the performances at the mainstage. The World of Nations Celebration is a two-day festival that celebrates culture, and embraces diversity. The celebration is full of food vendors from around the world, that not only sell food but create market place in their respective tents to sell cultural items, and give cultural performances. Many countries choose to also perform their cultural dances, and skits on the mainstage. At the mainstage we made sure the transitions between performances were smooth, provided the performers with water and trailers to change, and gave them direction before and after the performance. One the last day of the festival, I helped organize the Parade of Flags. An annual parade through the festival, where two representative from each country represent their flag. We had over thirty countries represented.

Photo taken by me, the day of the event.

Jacksonville Jazz Festival Press Release

For my time at my internship, I was involved in mostly event operations and planning tasks. For the few times where I didn’t have a task, I was given projects by our marketing team. Here is one of the press releases I drafted for a holiday special pitch for the upcoming Jacksonville Jazz Festival:

 

NOT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              Contact:   April Hartwich 

ahartwich@coj.net  

(904) 219-7844  

 

CITY OF JACKSONVILLE RELEASES LIMITED TIME OFFER ON THE JACKSONVILLE JAZZ FESTIVAL FOR VALENTINE’S DAY 

 

Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. XX, 2022 – The Jacksonville Jazz Festival has been the main musical event in the community for decades. Families, friends, and loved ones gather from all around the city to enjoy the celebration of music. The City of Jacksonville is offering a limit-time Valentine’s Day sale to purchase the premium experiences at a discounted rate. Although the festival is free to the public, upgraded premium experiences are available to experience the event in a whole new way. Allow the festival to be the main event for you and your loved one this Valentine’s Day. 

 

Beginning this Valentine's Day, February 14 at 9 a.m., VIP Experience packages and preferred seating will go on sale to the public, including the holiday offer on the VIP Full Festival Experience package for only $349.00 plus taxes and fees. VIP Full Festival Experience package prices will increase once this limited time offer sells out. VIP Single-Day Experience packages start at $149.00 plus taxes and fees and all-new preferred seating starts at $59.00 plus taxes and fees. 

 

The VIP Full Festival Experience package includes access to all VIP areas, up-front seating, exclusive cuisine and dedicated bars, a wristband loaded with $150 in food/beverage credit, air-conditioned bathrooms, admission to the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition presented by Keyboard Connection – The Piano Place and VIP merchandise. The VIP Single-Day Experience package includes access to all VIP areas, up-front seating, exclusive cuisine and dedicated bars, a wristband with $30 in food/beverage credit, air-conditioned bathrooms and VIP merchandise. Preferred seating includes a dedicated padded seat close to both stages, an exclusive bar and air-conditioned bathrooms for preferred seating guests only. For full details, please visit jacksonvillejazzfest.com. 

The festival will begin Thursday, May 26 with the annual Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. The winner will be featured on the mainstages later on in the festival. The festivities will continue Saturday, May 27- May 29 in the streets, and on stages at the Riverfront Plaza and Ford on Bay.  

  

For more information, please visit jacksonvillejazzfest.com. Stay tuned to Jacksonville Jazz Festival social media channels and website for further announcements and updates. 

  

### 

  

About the Jacksonville Jazz Festival 

The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is a free, multi-day music festival produced by the City of Jacksonville Division of Sports and Entertainment. The festival welcomes residents and visitors to enjoy live music performances, food, drinks and activations throughout the weekend in Downtown Jacksonville along the St. Johns River. The Jacksonville Jazz Festival includes two stages of great music, Piano Competition, Sacred Jazz Brunch, local food and drink experiences, Jazz Marketplace, Jazz Clinic and more. For updates and information, please visit jacksonvillejazzfest.com. 

  

About the City of Jacksonville Division of Sports and Entertainment 

The City of Jacksonville Division of Sports and Entertainment attracts, hosts and creates opportunities that drive economic impact, accelerate the Jacksonville brand and improve the quality of life and cultural engagement for visitors and residents. Jacksonville hosts hundreds of diverse events each year making Northeast Florida a premier destination with rich tradition and world-class hospitality. For more information, visit events.coj.net. 


Professional Software

 

Here are a few applications I grew accustom to throughout my time at my internship. The team mainly used OneDrive to store and organize information. I spent time there when referencing previous years raffle plans for the gala. The team also used Basecamp to assign, and manage tasks. Throughout the semester I was given tasks through the application, which helped me track what I needed to do next, or what I may have behind on. It was also used as reference point for information you may need for projects, at times a faster route than searching through OneDrive. The team used all of Microsoft Office including teams, for faster communication between colleagues. Lastly, I became quickly accustomed to Formstack. It is a software companies use to organize their forms, this incredibly useful for event planning with our many vendors.