Riot Act has utilized social media of all forms, besides being a presence on Facebook and Twitter, they have created deals on Groupon and Living Social (and other website based deals). It has been a huge success. Thousand upon thousands of these deals have sold and phones have been ringing of the hook.
This is a great way for Riot Act to get know. The goal is to get people here, and once they see a show, or drink at our bar, they won't need more incentive to return. Lure in with good marketing, but make sure the product is worth the price.
As an intern I have been helping funneling the plethora of phone calls that have been coming in recently. It is hard to remember "The Customer is Always Right"when answering the same question over and over again, but it is extremely important to not only be nice but inviting. Riot Act wants to be known for great customer service; friendly, patient, helpful. Part of this training is knowing the area. Know where to park, know directions to the club, know good places to eat before the show, and good bars to go to after the show. If Riot Act can become a one stop destination, it makes the night easier on our patrons and they can enjoy themselves.
Riot Act is serve with a smile, mixed in with helpful advice and endearing tips.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Coffee Time
Coffee time is bonding time. It's a small moment in the day to breathe, take second, and enjoy a warm beverage. Caffeine is the drug that surges through Riot Act day in and day out. With nights that can run as late as 5:00am and with an opening time of 10:00am everyday, coffee (or tea) is a much needed commodity in the office.
As an intern, I manage much more reasonable hours then the rest of the office, but I am a little java junkie myself. So my new goal is anytime I go to get coffee, offer to get coffee for those in my office.
It shows that I am taking a small initiative, and that I care. It is a simple act that can help me stand out or at least keep my managers awake through the end of the day.
It is always good to keep looking for minor things that can set interns ahead of the curve. Interns these days are smart, and are all groomed and bred from fancy colleges. This means, that work wise, they can all be on an even playing field - especially if the intern tasks are more mundane. To stand out (in a good way!), it might take some creative thinking. My way to stand out - caffeine.
Soon they will start associating the coffee rush with my presence, and never want to let me go. Just kidding, but they will definitely appreciate the thought.
As an intern, I manage much more reasonable hours then the rest of the office, but I am a little java junkie myself. So my new goal is anytime I go to get coffee, offer to get coffee for those in my office.
It shows that I am taking a small initiative, and that I care. It is a simple act that can help me stand out or at least keep my managers awake through the end of the day.
It is always good to keep looking for minor things that can set interns ahead of the curve. Interns these days are smart, and are all groomed and bred from fancy colleges. This means, that work wise, they can all be on an even playing field - especially if the intern tasks are more mundane. To stand out (in a good way!), it might take some creative thinking. My way to stand out - caffeine.
Soon they will start associating the coffee rush with my presence, and never want to let me go. Just kidding, but they will definitely appreciate the thought.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
It's Okay if This Isn't It
I love my internship. I love the people I work with. I love the responsibilities they give me, but 11 weeks in I realize that this probably isn't what I want to do after graduation.
And that's okay.
It's not PR I don't love, it's working for one company. It can get a little stale. I think I would happier at a PR agency with more clients and a higher demand of PR activity.
For Riot Act, every weekend we have a new comic. They are usually performing Thursday - Saturday, but at some point of a lot of the PR for each comic can become cut and paste. Each comic has there own style and certainly there own target audience, but generally it is fairly similar. This is not a bad thing, I just realized this is not my thing.
Doing PR for one company, or one specific non-profit means you get become specialized, and increase relationships with partners. It give you the opportunity to work long-term techniques and take risks if the audience is already stable.
On the other hand, PR agencies work with numerous clients at once, a person can become specialized in one area of PR - social media, grass root campaigns etc.
Even though my internship is not exactly what I want to do in the future, it has given me an incredible amount of experience - not to mention it's been a blast! That's the point of internships. I'm happy I was able to discover this while in school, while I only promised a five month commitment instead of a two-year one. This will help me narrow my job pool when I graduate, and for that, I couldn't be more grateful.
If At First You Don't Succeed
Last week Riot Act had one of it's first rentals. A group of young professionals had rented out the show room for lunch and paid for a comic to entertain them while they eat. It was on a weekday afternoon, which is normally not a profitable time for a comedy club, so this was a great way for a little extra profit.
Needless to say, it was a little rocky. We had over 200 young professionals, all very eager to explore Riot Act, but all very hungary. Unfortunately, without thinking of the congestion, we had set up our show room with one buffet line. This was the issue.
As the intern, I helped the everyone set up the room, and then greeted people as they entered. It was about 20 minutes into greeting that I noticed people were leaving especially fast. I met to talk to my manager to discover that the line to get food was winding all around the room. People were getting fed up with waiting and decided that they could get their food elsewhere.
At the time, there was very little we could do. We apologized to the young professionals and promised there would be enough food for them. We couldn't offer refunds, since they hadn't actually paid us. We just tried to be as friendly and receptive as possible and handed out Buy One Get One tickets for our comedy shows.
This showed me, that even big companies make mistakes. This was not an event that was thrown together last minute, but it was one small detail that was not thought through and it threw the whole even off. Next time we will obviously have two, or even three, buffet lines. Until then, we will just learn from our mistakes and hope we don't offend anyone enough for them not to give us a second chance.
Needless to say, it was a little rocky. We had over 200 young professionals, all very eager to explore Riot Act, but all very hungary. Unfortunately, without thinking of the congestion, we had set up our show room with one buffet line. This was the issue.
As the intern, I helped the everyone set up the room, and then greeted people as they entered. It was about 20 minutes into greeting that I noticed people were leaving especially fast. I met to talk to my manager to discover that the line to get food was winding all around the room. People were getting fed up with waiting and decided that they could get their food elsewhere.
At the time, there was very little we could do. We apologized to the young professionals and promised there would be enough food for them. We couldn't offer refunds, since they hadn't actually paid us. We just tried to be as friendly and receptive as possible and handed out Buy One Get One tickets for our comedy shows.
This showed me, that even big companies make mistakes. This was not an event that was thrown together last minute, but it was one small detail that was not thought through and it threw the whole even off. Next time we will obviously have two, or even three, buffet lines. Until then, we will just learn from our mistakes and hope we don't offend anyone enough for them not to give us a second chance.
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