Learning Time Management

By: Julia Knopf, IOC Intern

The semester has been moving right along and it is now the second week of November. I never knew how quickly time could fly by until I started this internship. In fact, I must say that time management is becoming a skill that I must become good at.

York College requires a Public Relations intern to complete 135 hours in order to receive academic credit for their internship. Divide that over the 13 weeks that a semester runs and you are at about 10 hours a week. According to the Bureau of Labor Statics, the average American adult watches 19.6 hours of television a week so 10 hours sure doesn’t seem like much. In fact, the interns here at Inside Out Creative actually average about 12.5 hours a week in the office. When you break it down though, that 12.5 hours may seem like enough time to get things done, but it really isn’t if you do not use it wisely.

Me, hard at work on this blog!

In the world of public relations, special event planning, and marketing, things are always changing. A company may be unheard of one day and be the headline the next day, whether it is positive or negative press. Also, everything that you do has a deadline when you are setting up events and deadlines get changed. Sometimes you might get lucky and a deadline might be moved back but more often than not deadlines are moved forward. Promotional material for companies and organizations must be also sent out in a timely manor. If this doesn’t happen it is possible that the target market maybe missed and captured by another organization.

Learning to manage my time and also to multitask has been a beneficial process. I know that the skills that I learn today with IOC will help me to be a better employee in the long term. I thought that I had learned these skills from school, but being an intern has showed me that life is different than school. You might get an assignment that is due a month from now at school but as an intern or employee, chances are you are going to have that assignment due today. It sure seems that time manage and multi-tasking are the keys to success.

Narrator 3.0

It has been many months since you have been privileged enough to enter into the minds of the interns here at Inside Out Creative, IOC for short, and many changes have taken place. To start I am your, Humble Narrator 3.0, as the last intern so kindly dubbed us.

And who am I you might ask? I am Julia Knopf, a last semester senior at York College (and my how the years have flown by). I come from the middle-of-nowhere, Georgetown, Delaware. I was raised by my very crazy, yet loving family; my mom an elementary school teacher of like a billion years, and my dad a car salesman/ sports announcer for all who are willing to listen. I chose York College because of the small friendly feeling it had when I first visited way back in November 2007. Once enrolled in school I found my major, Public Relations, or I really should say it found me. PR seemed the perfect fit for me a chatty overachiever. Later in my school career, when it came to applying for internships, it was a no-brainer. I had volunteered with the IOC crew back in February at the Taste of York. That event helped me see that IOC was the place for me.

Fast forward now to a few weeks into my last semester as a student and my first semester at IOC and I have been extremely busy here. In the beginning I must say I was scared. I remember the first day I walked in to IOC it was like the first day of school when you are a kid. I had picked out my cloths the night before, my nice new outfit for my first day. I walked in to the office and thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. I asked myself, what if I look like an idiot? What if I can’t remember anything I learned in school? And of course, what if they don’t like me?

Well guess what? It all turned out okay. I am now sitting here a few weeks into my internship and I honestly love it. I will not lie to you there are those boring days where I just can’t seem to concentrate on my task at hand, but over all its smooth sailing. This internship is not like others that my friends have. One friend of mine lets call him Bob. Well he got an internship at a prestigious marketing firm. And guess how he spent his semester; lets just say he got to know the coffee cart man very well. IOC is nothing like that. Even on my very first day I was writing a press release, researching information for an event, and learning about new social media tools.

Nothing really has changed since that first day, I am still doing a ton of things with IOC. Bike night just happened a few weekends ago. That was my first bike night, and first event with IOC. It turned out awesome. The parade, the crowds, and of course the food. It was a lot of fun, and also very neat to know that I was involved in someway in hosting the event.

Now that you have had a taste of who I am, I hope that you follow me farther on my journey here at IOC. I am sure it is going to be a road with lots of ups, a few downs, but most of all a lot of new experiences.

So Long, Farewell

This is my last week, and, likely, my final WordPress entry at Inside Out Creative. As the final fall semester of my college career nears its end, I am overwhelmed with a multitude of conflicting feelings. There’s excitement – the excitement that just around the corner waits this so-called “life” for which my educators always claimed to be preparing me.

There are opportunities to seize and career paths to forge, which peppers the “life” stew with a modicum of anxiety. But I will not fret. I’ve gained so much knowledge from my education, and indeed, my internship, that the only missing ingredient will be experience. This will come in time, and as it does, I will welcome its gradual arrival.

To my sparse but valued audience, I offer my heartfelt thanks for your time and interest in reading my internship blog.

Light Up Night

Coming up this Friday December 4 is Light Up Night in downtown York. For my internship, I had the privilege of making a brochure for this event, so I wanted to share the details with you. Beginning at 5:00 pm, York County Food Bank and Shipley Energy Green Team will begin accepting food donations at South George Street and West Market Street.

Following this, the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center will host dance performance previews by the Greater York Center for Dance Education and the William Penn Pep Band with Carol Sing Along. After a welcome message from the Shipley Green Team and Mayor Brenner, guests will proceed to the lighting of the tree and the arrival of Santa Claus! Mayor Brenner will then read a Christmas story in the Strand lobby, after which kids can talk to Santa Claus and enjoy cookies and beverages.

Join us at 7:00 in the Capitol Theatre for the Mighty Wurlitzer sing-along and the showing of two Christmas classics on the Capitol’s Big Screen, “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and “The Year Without a Santa Claus.”

New Year’s Revolution

Welcome back, readers! I wanted to talk about New Year’s Eve with you. The New Year’s Revolution event is on my mind because I was preparing some materials for it today. Back when it was known as First Night York, back when yours truly wore a Marvin the Martian beanie between November and March, New Year’s Eve was a magical evening. My family had never been the type to host grandiose social events – but New Year’s stood out as an annual beacon of pomp and circumstance.

The electric lights of downtown York lit up every snowflake with a wintry “welcome” and my family’s style of celebration felt right in tune with the people who organized the event. Sometimes we would stay until midnight, saving our loudest horn-blows and woo-hoo’s for 11:59:59. Sometimes we would enjoy the entertainment and depart early to ring in the new year through our electric window overlooking Times Square. Now I’m twenty-one years old, and more than a few years have passed since I’ve had any interest in spending New Year’s Eve out on the town.

This year, however, I’m on the inside looking out. That is to say, I’m involved in the planning – thinking about that night months ahead of schedule – and I couldn’t be more excited. In the very near future, I will be posting the scheduled entertainment to this page, York City Events’ Myspace & Facebook pages. Then you can make your own itinerary and share in my giddy excitement. Thanks for stopping by!

Fast Forward Life

The harder we try to slow down, it seems, the faster life passes us by. My internship has been going well, with most of my time spent on the social networking pages of our beloved City of York. Today, I posted a blog about some of my favorite dinner destinations in the downtown area on our new social network, Downtown Tastes.
I also posted a performance schedule for the 2010 Box Lunch at Cherry Lane on the city’s Myspace page, which I will recreate here as soon as time permits. Yours truly will be performing on May 27. If you like the way I write, come here me sing. Thanks for stopping by, and have a happy (and spooky) Halloween!

Make the Parking Meters Sweeter

Good morning, valued reader! Today I thought we’d stroll down Market Street and around the corner to East Philadelphia where the parking meters have been adorned with painted personalities. In case you haven’t noticed a trend developing already in my posts, I have a deep appreciation for the unconventional works of art “sprucing up” our otherwise lackluster cityscape. What a perfect place to splash some paint, too, for when and where else have parking meters EVER made us feel good?
This metropolitan beautification stands for more than, say, hanging a poster.

It worked in my neighborhood in North Philadelphia, and it works here too. These artistic expressions in unlikely places instill pride in neighbors and passersby alike. “This is a place worth living”, I thought walking past the North Philly murals every day. “This is a block worth taking care of”, people will hopefully think to themselves in York. It’s money and time well spent, too. I think people are definitely less likely to commit crimes or litter on a block where they feel at home.

In Turn, I Gain Experience

Friends of Inside Out Creative, to begin, I apologize for the several month hiatus in updates. Please allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Humble Narrator 2.0, or Andrew if it’s more to your liking. I comprise a modest quarter of our team of fall interns, and I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be the social networking presence of this company for the remainder of the semester.

On my first day at the office, I was given the account information for Myspace, Facebook and Twitter, which I was told I’d be responsible for while interning here. Today, while rummaging for an elusive forgotten password, I stumbled upon a sheet for our WordPress… which I didn’t know existed! So, in the wake of several blogless months, I bring good news! You needn’t peer into our fishbowl office any longer for a glimpse of exciting IOC endeavors. Using this very blog and the awesome power of Facebook [Serve with sarcasm], I will be keeping you attuned to all things IOC, as well as my experiences interning here, so check back often!

My admittedly verbose inner writer has always been glad to withhold 1,000 words (or more!) at the opportunity to share a picture, so I will upload photos whenever time permits. The series today was merely to share my walk to IOC with you, my valued reader. Lovely mural, isn’t it? Whether on foot or zooming by in your car, it’s impossible to ignore the beauty these urban canvases bring to our area.

My mornings in this chic intern office (yes, we have our own office) have so far passed very quickly, so I wanted to try to bring you up to speed. The office was positively buzzing in the final days leading up to the recent Bike Night event, which went off without a hitch. I was excited to help with this event for several personal reasons. Chiefly, my grandmother was an assembly line spot welder for Harley Davidson for many years, and my late granddad, an avid rider.

If there is a cheesy “lesson from Grandma” emblazoned deep in my subconscious, it’s that you cannot judge a book by its cover. She would remind me of this before introducing one of her Harley friends. A short, bubbly woman, she stuck out at the plant like a self-described sore thumb. She alleged that beneath their leather and stud-laden getups, under their helmets and bandannas, “Harley guys are sweethearts… total teddy bears.” When they would bake her cakes or send her Christmas cards, the lesson resounded. My grandpa had a passion for motorcycles that I like to think was aflame in more hearts on Bike Night than any other night of the year, and I hope every Harley Head got his fix. I’m certain that my grandpa was there in spirit, drooling over “Fat Boys” and chromed out Softtails like the rest of you. Cheers!

- Andrew & the IOC team

The End

This particular intern is in the midst of his final day.

From networking in the most social possible manner to web logging like a blog machine design specifically to post awesome things to the internet, I have conquered all challenges set before me. And now, as I prepare to take my newly enlarged brain into the real world, I can look back over my internship and evaluate the scenery with the eyes of a master artist.

And to these eyes, the valley below seems well tended.

Yes, I leave with the perspective of a brilliant painter and the skills of a great gardener. I also rule at metaphorical flapdoodle.

And if you have been following along, you are likely a connoisseur of fine flapdoodle too.

Other Things That Interns Do

Upon sealing the deceased widget in its sepulcher, I embark on a new set of internly projects. I would be lying if I said that I do so with a heavy heart.

I don’t.

I am glad that the widget is cold and dead (no longer my concern), but I do feel like playing with widgets has increased the overall mass of my brain, and that is a good thing. The heavier the brain, the more cool stuff it produces. I like to think that–after four weeks of interning–my brain makes up the majority of my body weight.

Anyway, on to these new internly things that I oh-so-cleverly alluded to earlier.

Just the other day I was calling some dudes about being an entertainment venue for the New Year’s Revolution events, and the ones that I got a hold of were all cool and stuff, but I talked to an awful lot of robots (answering machines). When I was young, I romanticized the idea of talking to a robot. My fantasies tended to go something like this . . .

Me: Yo, mister robot.
Robot: What, human child?
Me: Do you shoot missiles?
Robot: ONLY AT HUMAN CHILDREN!!!
And then the robot would shoot missiles at me, but since (in my fantasy) I was a ninja knight who could fly and stuff, I would out maneuver the missile and slice the robot’s head off.

Moral of the story: do NOT trust robots.

I have also been given the task of editing the Yorkfest program. Being a master of the editorial arts, this project seems like it was poured from the heavens above into my chalice of internly projects. And from this chalice I shall drink deep.

If you managed to sift through all of the noise emanating from this blog, good for you.

If not, your weakness does a discredit to the human race and you should be ashamed.