An Online Portfolio 

As mentioned in the previous tab, prior to this project I had no experience with live music/event promotion and marketing. I have now gained a deeper understanding of what it takes to market and promote a show or event, many shows and events for that matter. There are many stipulations that come along with the task - it's more than simply just posting a status, advocating your friends and aquantances to come and spend their money and time attending a show or event. Promoting on social media is tricky, it takes practice and isn't something you simply learn from a book or lecture. It's something you learn from experience. Alongside managing this promotional team, I am also promoting each and every event they have been promoting as well. I've learned that engaging and captivating your audience is the most efficient way to get anyone interested in whatever event or show it is that's being promoted. I feel I have established my own voice, or online persona, that can efficiently get others "hyped" on the events to come. 

 

I have also worked on my skill of networking. I have always been good at talking to anyone, finding common grounds to relate to one another on. Working with the Wild Buffalo has allowed me to improve my professional networking ability, through being constantly in direct communication with the head individuals at the Wild Buffalo, as well as presenting myself in a formal and professional manner to the volunteers whom which I am managing and leading. Thus, in this sense I have greatly improved and worked on my human skills as a whole.        

 

Through working on this project I have most definitely improved my ability to “encourage the heart” as well as “enable others to act”. Undertaking this project allowed me to work increasing my awareness of other’s work and accomplishments. I haven’t merely recognized people’s contributions and internalized it; rather I have publically recognized each volunteer’s contributions through praising them. I have increased the amount of praise and recognition I give towards volunteers personally as well as addressing it to the group as a whole. I’ve accomplished this through planning and holding multiple meetings at the Wild Buffalo, with the majority of the volunteers in attendance. This has allowed me to bring everyone together, giving them recognition and praise face to face, celebrating our accomplishments with drinks and pizza as a whole. The owners and my supervisors also take part in these meetings. They are able to show their own praise and recognition to these volunteers as well. Through doing this I learned that diversifying the forms of recognition and praise people receive, in terms of coming from different people, will increase the atmosphere of appreciation, through building a spirit of community and cohesion.

 

I have also improved my ability to enable others to act. I have become much more comfortable in allowing and supporting others to construct and carry out decisions without my direct guidance. I have mainly accomplished this through holding the bi-weekly promotional meetings. In these meetings we have had discussions with volunteers bringing up new ideas on innovative ways to help with promotion. I have increased the amount of platforms in which volunteers are able to openly state their opinions and ideas without any direct guidance or backlash. Having the online discussion group, in which everyone posts and talks with one another, is another forum in which they are able to verbally express their ideas. With this said, this project has allowed me to work on letting go - giving people tasks; having the faith and confidence that they will accomplish them to the best of their ability.  

 

I have also acquired the skill(s) of motivating, monitoring, and leading a team. I am the at the head of this team, essentialy the main face and point of contact for the V.E.P team. I've been able to get to know each volunteer, some more than others. I have been able to discover how to individually motivate them, and prompt them to promote. In this case I have worked on broadening my different startegies of motivating, as well as working on a standard approach to motivate as well. I have never led a group group, solely, of this size before. Thus I have also ran into some issues among leading and motivating this team. These issues have mainly been revolved around individual members not promoting as much as they should be, as well as members not being satisifed with the manner in which certain things have been carried out or set up. Thus I have also improved and gained more experience in my problem solving skills. I have gained more experience in defining the signifiant problems, at the root of cause, as well as generating plans or solutions for these problems.

 

As mentioned I plan on at some point in my life working the business fields of live music and entertainment. Thus, having this project simply listed on my resume, and having this experience I can bring up as a talking point in future interviews and meetings will be essential, and very beneficial to my future success as well as happiness.      

 

Since working with the Wild Buffalo I feel I have established relationships, gaining contacts that will help me greatly in the future - advising me, writing a letters of reccomendation, or assisting me with future employment. Over the past weeks I have established great relationships with my supervisor Craig Jewell, Lee Huffman, Joey Crahan, as well as Trevor Weidenbacher. Craig has been introduced previously in the tab describing the Wild Buffalo, the remaining managers and owners are listed below.