The Celebration Banquet is all over.

This was the biggest event of the year for my agency and the biggest test of my internship is ultimately completed. I am so excited to say that I was part of this banquet. I had such an amazing night. Here are the details.

The day began at 9:30am where all the interns came to the venue to set up all the tables and chairs, band equipments, medals, art work, and registration tables for check-in. Check-in consisted of parents showing up with their child or children, giving their name to the registration volunteers, and the volunteers giving them a name tag with assigned seating. The banquet structure started by having a reception and a guitar solo, dinner buffet, Pledge of Allegiance by Brandon and Carla Piestewa (the children of the late Lori Piestewa), National Anthem played by the Mogollon Band, presentation of the art contest winners, presentation of the essay winners, benediction, and closing remarks by Ron Wolfley.

It was nice to see that parents were interacting with other parents throughout the night at the celebration banquet. There were approximately 560 guests at the banquet. I talked to several of the parents and asked them how they liked the set up of the banquet as well as the food. They told me that they were surprised at how organized the banquet was and how excellent the food was. The banquet had a great flow to it throughout the whole night.

Once the banquet was over, the interns (me included) recruited several of the parents to help out with clean up and putting back all the tables and chairs. On Monday, the executive director called me for a meeting to discuss the positives and negatives of the banquet night. We talked about all the positives and had a longer talk about the negatives in order to fix them for next years banquet.

The whole planning of the celebration banquet was a bit challenging, but I can now say that I was part of a banquet that housed 560 guests. I feel very confident in my ability to host another banquet again.

Finally had the chance to be a sports supervisor

In the past couple weeks, I have been really busy helping my agency plan and coordinate the basketball tournament that my agency is hosting through out the valley. The biggest facet I was in charge of was making sure each venue had the right equipment such as basketball banners, scorebooks, participant t-shirts, entry forms and waivers, tournament brackets for teams, first aid kit, ice chest, and score clock. Here are some of the duties I had to do when I was at the venue; I had to check in teams and make sure birth certificates were provided so I could verify the correct age, give out t-shirts to each player and coach, fill out the scorebook for upcoming games, meet up with the gym manager, and make sure the referees are on the courts. I worked very closely with the basketball commissioner on helping him set-up and place each team into a bracket. Overall, I felt very included in the basketball tournament that my agency hosted.

Track and Field Event at Mesa Community College

Last week, my agency held a Track and Field Event for all ages at Mesa Community College track and football field. The logistics of the event begin with me showing up at 7am to set-up all the registration equipment which consist of finding tables, setting up all Gatorade coolers, organizing the medals, organizing all the participants t-shirts, and setting up the finish line timer. The track and field event was in charge by the commissioner of the event. The rules and event commissioner are justifiably safety cautious about the proximity and position of the fans.

Help complete Summer Games Booklets

Last week, my supervisor gave me a very important assignment which no intern should be doing. The assignment was editing and making sure that all sponsors were listed in the new Native American and Summer Games booklet. The booklet needs to be edited and reviewed before the final draft goes to the printing company. Once the printing company has the final draft, the printing company will print so many copies and send the copies to the agency. My supervisor told me that I will be in charge of the next review and editing session of the next booklet to come out. I feel that the supervisor has a lot of trust in me to complete these types of tasks. Now back to editing booklets!

Essays to be Read

In the past few weeks, I was invited to participate in the process of putting Essays into a database and evaluating the essays. The agency where I am doing my internship is having an Essay Contest sponsored by Southwest College. It promotes creativity through writing as an effective method for authors of ALL ages (grades K – 12 and adults ages 18 and older) to express their dreams and ideas for a successful life and a better community. The themes the authors have to write about are as follows; 1. Get Up! Get Active! Get Involved! Get Healthy! 2. If you were the President of the United States explain how you would practice peace and encourage strong citizenship in your quest to be a proud American as a World Leader. 3. The power of education! 4. Sit on the sidelines or get in the game? Explain why it is important to “Get in the Game” and be active in the fight against obesity. 5. “Draw the Line” by saying NO to alcohol and drugs. 6. “Character Counts.” Clarify how practicing one or more of the six pillars of character (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship) makes you a better person.

That’s it for the week.

The Shift into my Internship

Once I completed my first two weeks of my Internship, I was very excited about what my agency has to offer me for the remainder of the semester.

I am working directly with the Vice President of Sports Operation, Gary. Gary has been developing my skills and helping me learn to coordinate the sporting events held on the weekends.

I remember the first day I started, I was handed a computer and was told to review the agency website and get familiar with the agency mission statement and vision statement. I was a little overwhelmed.

I, however am ready to gain the experience of my life!

Tourism Spending

List of Tourism Videos, I Reviewed.

1. Fiji Travel Information: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/fiji#
2. Vacation in Ireland: http://www.discoverireland.com/us/
3. Philippines Best Vacation: http://visitwowphilippines.blogspot.com/
4. Hawaii’s Official Tourism: http://www.gohawaii.com/stories/stories.html?video=18&cid=2009r3stories_kauaihome
5. Luna Lodge of Costa Rica: http://www.lunalodge.com/index-en.html
6. Sarasota and Her Island: http://www.sarasotafl.org/
7. Cincinnati USA: http://www.cincinnatiusa.com/vidplay/
8. Visit Colorado: http://www.colorado.com/Podcasts.aspx
9. Cowboys Stadium: http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/multimedia.cfm
10. Universal Studios: http://www.universalorlando.com/home/home.aspx#
11. Visit Milwaukee: http://www.visitmilwaukee.org/
12. Disneyland: http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage&bhcp=1
13. Enjoy England: http://www.enjoyengland.com/
14. FIFA World Cup: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/
15. Visit Australia: http://www.visitaustralia.com/videos.php

Top Five Videos:
1. Vacation in Ireland
2. Hawaii’s Official Tourism
3. Sarasota and Her Island
4. Visit Australia
5. Philippines Best Vacation

This class was remarkable and this blog was very enjoyable. It was amusing going online and view different kinds of videos that help improve tourism spending to the entity featured. In the past few years the tourism industry had to come up with new ideas on how to build a tourism video that is going to bring in revenue to the destination. Tourism destination are innovating their websites and adding more features to the video tours.

I looked around online and find 15 different types of videos that help exemplify what are the current trends and how it can persuade an tourists’ to visit the destination. Out of those 15 videos, I have chosen 5 videos that had good characteristics of tourism spending. Those 5 videos are, 1. Vacation in Ireland, 2. Hawaii’s Official Tourism, 3. Sarasota and Her Island, 4. Visit Australia, 5. Philippines Best Vacation. Of those top five videos I view, the best video I chose is Vacation in Ireland.
I love the how Ireland offers itself to you by saying, “Go Where Ireland Takes You.” Ireland looks like a breathtaking experience to visit. Ireland offers a variety of outdoor recreation activities to each tourist who visits Ireland. I really love how DiscoeverIreland.com has plenty of videos’ on their website to view, so can view other tourist or locals experience in Ireland. The video I watch had two guys going on an outdoor recreational activity in Ireland. By having video of customer testimonials is such a great piece for Return on Investment on tourism spending in Ireland. The Ireland videos’ on the website also really shows much of what you are going to expect when you visit Ireland. There is a variety of videos’ that show the culture in Ireland to music and dancing in Ireland. The videos’ are all in high quality and very clear to watch. DiscoverIreland.com will definitely attract future tourist interest to visit Ireland and help tourism spending in Ireland.