Grace Hoins

Responsibilities

In my internship as the special events assistant coordinator, I was responsible for a lot of various tasks! I was in charge of managing and creating all content for our social media pages. I also responding to wedding, rehearsal dinner, and engagement party inquires over multiple platforms - mainly e-mail, the Knot, and WeddingWire. I also managed the Knot and WeddingWire by updating our building's photos and information. I scheduled many venue tours for potential clients with myself and my boss, Jessica Erickson. I sat in on multiple wedding tours and catering tastings as well. I also created preferred vendor lists for our venue - so that we could partner with them for events like styled shoots, wedding expos, and to refer them to clients. I drafted up contracts for brides/grooms who chose to book with us as well. In the duration of my internship, I also planned a styled shoot and wedding expo, virtually solo!

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during my internship would be either the planning and execution of the styled shoot or the wedding exposition! Having to coordinate communication between multiple different vendors, creating production schedules, registration, mood boards, event evaluation tools, handling budgets, and more - these events strengthened my experience in the industry exponentially. In collaboration with many vendors, we were able to create beautiful photos and content to use as marketing materials for our social media and more!

Learning experience

Some of the greatest lessons that I learned were to: work independently, trust my instincts, and to prioritize my mental health and well being! I am normally someone who needs instruction and validation in what I am doing - otherwise, I fear that I am failing and not doing my job as well as I could be! By planning events by myself, I had to rely on my own instincts and trust my knowledge and abilities would produce wonderful events. There are always going to be some hiccups along the way, but in the end, I surprised myself in what I created and planned! Taking a decent credit load and working another job, in addition to my internship, I often felt burnt out. My boss and my co-workers did a great job of advocating for me - and showing me that life is not always about work. There often are not enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks that need to be done. It took me a while to realize that humbly, and allow myself to take breaks! When I made that realization and took that step, I was able to enjoy my job much more.

What advice would you give?

My advice for those in the Event Management program would be to get involved and seek opportunities - but more importantly, take time to rest! As I have learned throughout my courses and my internship experience, the event management field can be daunting! Long nights and full weekends lie ahead for most entering into the field. This is why rest is so important! Prioritizing one's mental health should be a necessity, not a luxury.