Fresh Blog

Gaining valuable experience

So, some of you out there in Internetland might be wondering, “How did you become an intern, Evan?” Well, firstly, I would say, call me Mr. Stewart. We’re not yet on a first name basis and you’re making me uncomfortable. I would also find myself wondering how you got my email address to contact me directly, bypassing my secretary completely. Then, I would probably answer your question: It’s taken me just about four years in college, reading things, and then writing things about those things that I have read. I won’t go into the details.

“So with those qualifications,’” you might wonder, “what does an intern do for Bumbershoot?”

My extensive experience has lead me to blogging for you kind folks several times a week, trying to keep you up to date with the interesting stuff going on with the Festival and the staff here.

There are other interns, of course. They keep busy with notebooks and binders (and stealing the chair from my desk everyday for the past week). Oh, and also they contact sponsors, coordinate volunteers, track and document media coverage, and represent the Festival at summer events.

Speaking of summer events, I spent last weekend at the Pike Place Market Street Festival representing Bumbershoot at our Street Team table. Basically I was in charge of giving away awesome stuff and maintaining the illustrious prize wheel. Before then, I had no idea how much people love to spin things. (They went nuts for the wheel.) Anyway, we gave away TONS of Bumbershoot prizes like buttons and patches and CDs, and encouraged Festival fans to become true BumberFans—elevating your fan status and earning you the chance to buy advance tickets at a discount. (elevate your status here).

But this weekend adventure actually seemed to pale in comparison, when my supervisor Jen recently recruited interns for a very important field trip. Did we need to collect more prizes for future Street Team appearances? Did we need to pick up prize-wheel grease to help it spin faster? No. We had been enlisted to walk across the street and buy a pack of SweetTarts for Jen.

Upon our return, and subsequent sugar high, I had to bring myself back to the reality of work, writing, and plotting my next trip with the wheel! Keep an eye out for Bumbershoot on the street this summer (and your chance to win cool Bumbershoot prizes!) plus more blogs (including the next installment of Intern-view, where I delve into the minds of the marketing department) and offer up more awesome free mp3s.

Have a question about Bumbershoot that I could answer in this blog? Email me at estewart (at) onereel.org!

posted June 06 '08 at 04:03PM by Evan in intern, street team

Discussion — Add to it

Commenting is closed for this article.