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A Day in the Life Kerry Conboy

 

Kerry Conboy, MBA, is the Community Relations Coordinator at Webster
University in Sarasota. She is the local contact and face of Webster
University in our community. She is responsible for attending events and
networking to identify potential students for WU's graduate programs. In
addition, Kerry is the point person for all public relations and marketing
campaigns for the Sarasota Campus. Kerry is currently the Vice President
of Membership with the Central West Coast Chapter of the FPRA.

• Need some coffee so grabbing coffee before sending out e-mail blast about July 20th Info Session through constant contact to our prospective grad students at Webster University
•  Pull VHS tapes from ABC 7  tapes so they be converted to DVD's to get footage for new TV commercials on Verizon
• Prepare and print flyers and promo items for Community Foundation Fundraisers Forum
• Prepare flyers for Venice Young professionals networking event at 5pm
• Follow up with leads from Lakewood Ranch Alliance lunch

A Day in the Life of Candice McElyea

Wednesday July 13, 2011

5am

Alarm goes off! Ugh make myself get up and make coffee. Grab iPhone and check Google alerts and facebook while I drink coffee for 30 minutes. It’s amazing to me how many people are up this early posting on facebook. I also check my calendar. I never remember what I have going on in a given day and would be completely lost without my iPhone. This will be a busy day! Sigh…

5:30am-6am

Run! (On treadmill) I try to work out at least 3 times a week. I love running and spinning classes. It helps me clear my head and put things in perspective. I always run if I have a big presentation or seminar to do that day to get out extra nervous energy. It is my tradition and I have to do it now for good luck! No big presentations today though, just my normal 30 minute sweat session to start the day.

6:30am

My 3 year old is awake and screaming for me. Get him out of bed and onto the couch for cartoons and drink.

7am

My 5 year old moseys out of bed.Getting ready in the morning and getting out of the house is like mobilizing an army. My husband works nights a few days a week so when he is sleeping in the mornings I have to get myself and two little monkies ready and out the door by 8am. This morning I am also trying to coordinate a photo shoot with two of our builders and get everything finalized with the videographer and the new home models they are shooting at—one is at Homes By Towne and the other is at Arthur Rutenberg. I need to get the photographer’s last name to make sure they let him through the guard gate without any hassles at Country Club East. 

8:15am

(little late this morning) Grab a protein shake and head out the door to drop kids off at summer camp

8:45am

I arrive at work. I try to get here between 8:30-9am barring any morning events or meetings. My office is at the corporate headquarters for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc. in Lakewood Ranch. I am Director of Marketing & PR. This means I handle the public relations for residential and commercial realty, Main Street, the Premier Sports Campus (our newest subsidiary), the Golf & Country Club and sometimes I help with Sarasota Polo, SMR Farms, or any of our other subsidiaries. I also oversee and coordinate the marketing and advertising for LWR Communities—our residential realty new homes subsidiary, working with 19 new home builders here in Lakewood Ranch. My job is honestly insane. And awesome. I love it. It is different every single day because it covers so much and I work with a great team. There are four of us that make up the marketing department—an amazing group of smart, hard working women who I rely on every single day in many ways! We do everything as a team.
The first thing I usually do in the mornings, like I am doing today is to monitor any press coverage with Google alerts and my PR software program that tracks this for me. That is after saying good morning and chatting briefly with my amazing marketing coordinator and our director of sales. Their offices are right next to mine.

9:15am

Finding good news coverage of the press release I sent out yesterday about raising lot prices in Lakewood Ranch. We got great coverage in the Bradenton Herald and Sarasota Herald Tribune. We also made it Biz941, yahoo news, Florida Trend, and a bunch of other national web sites. I have some housekeeping stuff to take care of this morning, like getting check requests in for some ads we are placing and proofing copy. While we have a company who handles our social media pages, I also monitor our 5 main facebook pages and post the links to some of the articles that showed up.

9:22am

Take a call from our Director of Golf. He has a marketing packet he wants to send over about a golf coffee table book that he would like me to consider advertising in.  I get about 10 calls a day about organizations that want us to sponsor them or place an ad with them.   My pet peeve is when I tell the ad reps that I prefer to correspond via email ad they continue to call me and try to set up meetings. If I took all of these calls and set up meetings with all of these ad reps, I would have no time to do anything else. Just a side note but this is one thing that drives me crazy!!  I tell our golf director to send it over and I’ll check it out.

9:30

Ok finally time to check emails and return some of them! I am always on email. I have an iPhone that I could not live without and since I am out of the office a lot, it is a great way to keep up with everything that’s going on.  Lots of phone calls interrupt my email checking. One from my boss’s assistant wondering about a groundbreaking that’s been rescheduled.  One from the photographer asking about directions. Oh—I forgot to send the email getting him through the gate. Another call from my Main Street property manager (awesome lady) wanting help finding someone to cook hot dogs at an event at the Greenbrook Adventure Park next weekend.!!!

9:45am

One other aspect of my job is that I am a sales trainer. I do sales training for our team of 8 Lakewood Ranch ambassadors and for all of the builder reps of our 19 new home builders. We recently had them all secretly video shopped and I am thinking I want to send out an email to all of them with a few sales tips for the weekend because we are sure to be super busy after all the great press coverage. Draft email. Send.

10am

Project for CEO—he wants a list of every place our press release showed up to send to our board.  Copy and paste links from tracking report of about 35 different places!

10:15am

Head out to Country Club East to the Arthur Rutenberg model to greet photographer and make the introduction—make sure he has everything he needs. He is from the Hub—the Sarasota incubator where creative people gather and do amazing things. We work with the guys at the Hub all the time and they needed a few model homes to shoot today—hence this video. I also do a video blog about Lakewood Ranch for www.thisweekinsarasota.com and I am thinking I will do a quick video about the video while he’s at the model.  It is a super easy thing I do to promote the ranch that I can shoot, edit and upload to YouTube right on my iPhone. I cover most of our events this way and anything cool that is going on around the Ranch. Have I told you how much I love my iPhone by the way??

11:15

Editing and uploading the video to YouTube while listening to a voicemail from the Education Foundation of Sarasota about finding a place for an all-day meeting in September. I am on the board. Make a quick call to The Lake Club to see if we can use the clubhouse. Yes! It is open. Booked it.  Here is the link to the blog by the way: http://www.thisweekinsarasota.com/content_content_detail.cfm?ContentID=453

11:30am

Head over to the Polo Grill for the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance Luncheon. I sit on the board of the Governmental Affairs Committee and we organized this luncheon that will have a panel speaking about the possible Incorporation of Lakewood Ranch. Networking and community affairs is a big part of my job. I have a very cool boss who understands the need to attend a lot of these events.

1:30pm

Head back to office to meet John Neal of Neal Signature Homes and a different camera crew. We do a lot of video. This one is for the Tour of Homes—our biggest marketing event coming up in November. Outside every builder’s model is a Microsoft Tag, a bar code that will show a short video on your phone if you scan in. Last year, Lakewood Ranch became the first community to be “Tagged,” and since John Neal is a new builder on the ranch, we want to get his video shot and edited before the Tour of Homes to put the sign up and include the Tag in our magazine that will come out for the event.

2pm

Talk with Monica Yadav who is shooting our corporate video as well as this video, say hi to John Neal, take a photo for this blog and back on email—following up with the Education Foundation about the site for the seminar. Uploading my video blog to the www.thisweekinsarasota.com  website and posting it on all of our facebook pages.  Sending out links of recent press coverage to all of our builders to share with their prospects. More email… I get about 100 a day. Is it 5pm yet???

2:30-3pm

Yell at my director of sales who will not call the dentist even though he is in excruciating pain and probably needs a root canal and is leaving for the weekend to go see U2 in Philadelphia. Typical male who will not call the doctor unless something is literally falling off. Sorry guys.  Sign invoices. Proof sponsorship document for a Labor Day soccer tournament we have coming up. Back on email.

3pm

Get distracted on facebook, take delivery on ads we had framed from our “color your life in Lakewood Ranch” campaign that we are hanging up in our marketing conference room. Text husband about dinner plans. Return some phone calls from yesterday. Sign more invoices. Back on email.

4pm

Set up a meeting with four business women I am working on a project with. Grab a cup of green tea to get me through the last hour of the day and answer all emails I did not get around to this morning. Most days I am out of the office by 5 or 5:30pm and home just a few minutes later as I live right down the street. That’s most nights—but sometimes there will be an event to go to or a meeting to attend. Not tonight

5:03pm

Out the door!  I am the epitome of our marketing strategy here—someone who lives, works and plays all here in Lakewood Ranch. I love it and I love promoting it. It is a super fun job I can’t believe they pay me for!!

A Day in the Life of Alina Klein

Texcellence Computer Donation Program: The Texcellence Program was established by the Education Foundation of Sarasota County in April of 2007 to ensure that every student in Sarasota County public schools has access to a working computer at home. Afterall, without access to basic technology, how would these kids gain the skills they needed to succeed in class and in the 21st century workplace?

Students who have limited or no access to a computer at home and who qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch are eligible to receive a free computer. Each family that receives a computer must go through a
Texcellence Training, where up to 90 families come to a school to receive at least three hours of training on computer skills, internet safety, and the proper use of educational software. Below is a typical day in preparing for one of these trainings:

 

8:30 a.m. - Report to office, check e-mails, answer phone calls, set list of priorities for the day

9:15 a.m. - Organize paperwork (sign-in sheets, waivers, family information sheets, trainer contracts, evaluations) and additional items (microphone, flash drives, extra projector, laptop) for training and place in car

11:00 a.m. - Check in with host school to ensure that everything is set for the evening (teachers are aware of their classrooms being used, a/c is set to stay on, custodians are on board). Send out an email to the five contracted trainers who will be working with the families in individual classrooms about any last minute details they need to know before the training.

12:00 p.m. - Call families who have not confirmed for the training to ensure they are aware of the evening's events.

1:00 p.m. - Lunch

2:00 p.m. - Arrive at host school to meet with volunteers and accept the delivery of refurbished computers.

2:30 p.m. - Work with computer refurbishers and volunteers to set up 4 classrooms worth of computers (up to 80 computers)

4:30 p.m. - Meet with trainers to prep for the evening and go over any final details before the training. Assign duties and tasks for the evening (e.g. setting up internet rooms, trainer stations,
sign-in area)

5:00 p.m. - Families start arriving. Work with trainers to start checking families in and be available for any questions or issues that arise.

5:30 p.m. - Begin program by making announcements to the families, introducing any special guests, and breaking the families up into their training classrooms.

5:30 - 8:00 p.m. - Float between classrooms to offer support to trainers and volunteers as needed. Enjoy the smiling faces, thankful families and the process of these families working together to master the skills being taught.  

8:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Break down the training rooms, gathering all materials and extra computers, and leaving classrooms as we found them! Then back to work the next day to begin the many steps of the planning process anew.

 

Texcellence Trainings occur bi-monthly and are the signature component of the Texcellence Program. Building up to the Texcellence Trainings, I work directly with liaisons at each of the 42 schools in the district to identify eligible students, create training curriculum, coordinate the refurbishment of computers, develop budgets and keep record of expenditures, contact families, and more. In its 4+ years of operation, the Texcellence Program has been able to distribute 4,500 computers to students in Sarasota County thanks to generous donors through the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.

 

 

Managing the Texcellence Program over the past four years has been extremely rewarding. Not only have I been able to be part of a program that is making a direct impact in our community, but I have also had the autonomy to explore different ways of doing things to ultimately maximize program efficiency. Personally and professionally, working with the Texcellence Program has helped me grow in innumerable ways. I have had to learn how to manage my time, relate to customers of different backgrounds, trust my decisions, work with part-time staff to make sure they share the vision of the program, and carry out a vision from inception to final results. I believe that any job can help you become the person you strive to be, and I feel fortunate that my experience with the Texcellence Program and the Education Foundation has been such a positive one.  

We always welcome volunteers so if you have an interest, contact me at

alina_klein@sarasota.k12.fl.us

 

Effective Communication through People Skills

Even in the best problem-solving environments, people will exhibit different behaviors. If communicating with others can be difficult in good situations, then it can be a nightmare in bad situations. Greg Hoffmann, President of Hoffmann Mediation, has mapped out different behaviors that people exhibit and the best ways to work with them. It’s a great method for overcoming the hurdles of miscommunication and working through difficult barriers.

Hoffmann introduces the four different types of behaviors in a 4 Quadrant chart. On the x-axis there’s warm and hostile, and on the y-axis there’s dominant and submissive.

 

Each quadrant number is based on the behavior type. For example, someone exhibiting hostile and dominant communication is showing Q1 behavior and someone who’s responsive and submissive is Q3. After the chart was established, Hoffmann was able to discuss what each quadrant meant in terms of behavior.

            Someone who exhibits Q1 behavior is close-minded, doesn’t listen and force’s their ideas on others. They need power and the recognition. Unfortunately the typical response to this behavior is to be equally Q1 back. Two people refusing to listen to each other and forcing their own ideas isn’t ideal communication.

            Q2 behavior can be equally unhelpful. People that show this behavior are hard to read, they’re guarded and quietly simmering. When provoked, Q2 can eventually blow up into Q1. The best way to prevent this is to keep the situation calm and stable.

            Q3 exhibits people pleasing behavior. Someone showing this behavior is overly friendly, afraid to upset others and oftentimes a pushover. They need to be liked and for everyone to be happy. Hoffmann joked that lawyers love to work with people acting in Q3, because it’s easy to get what they want from them at their expense.

            Finally, there’s Q4 behavior, which is ideal for communication for all parties. People who show this behavior are dominant, but also inquiring. They listen to other’s needs but also discuss theirs. Oftentimes people respond to Q4 behavior with Q4 behavior. Communication is at its best when two parties are able to effectively state their needs and listen to the needs of others.

            Hoffmann offers strategies for dealing with less than ideal quadrants. For Q1 behavior, he recommends a pause. This gives time for both sides to collect their thoughts and decide the best way to communicate. For Q2 behavior, Hoffmann recommends summary statements and open-ended probes. This will draw them out of their shell on their terms. Once someone showing Q2 can state what they need, it’s easy to accommodate them.  For Q3, Hoffmann says to handle the situation slowly. It’s important to listen and understand what a people-pleaser actually needs. Rest assured, with Q4 behavior you can listen and speak confidently, and know that the other person will do the same for you.

            Hoffmann also reminds us that these are merely behaviors, not personality types. While we’d like to think that we’re always Q4, we’ve all had our Q1 and Q2 moments. Everyone exhibits Q1-Q4 behaviors at some point, and the best we can do is know to identify them and understand the best ways to work with them.

 

Amanda Dodge is graduating in May from FSU with a B.A. in Public Relations, she’s currently an intern at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.  

 

A Day in the Life of Danae Deshazer

Danae DeShazer is the Public Relations Manager at Florida Studio Theatre in downtown Sarasota. Just like any PR professional, she wears ten gazillion different hats and no two days look alike. Here is a chronicle of a "typical" day in her work schedule, Wednesday July 6.

Today looks to be a rather simple day. Tonight, we have our FIRST preview of our next summer show Our Son's Wedding, so preparation for that is in the works!

This morning, I brought in five newspapers that had been sitting inside my front door from the Holiday weekend (Happy Fourth!). The theatre has a subscription to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for the marketing department (press archives, advertising, etc.), but every time it got delivered, it was a struggle finding it! Someone from the box office would pick it up and start reading it, or a stage manager would toss it in the mail room. It just became easier for them to get delivered to my house instead - so I knew exactly where the paper was, and I could be in complete control of our archives. However, sometimes I forget to bring them into work with me… oops!

I get to work around 9am, and boot up my computer. The administrative offices at Florida Studio Theatre look like that of an old-school newsroom. Industrial red ceilings with pipes and structure showing, beautiful spanish marble, and L-shaped wooden desks lined up in rows. The open "newsroom" is surrounded by windowed offices (including our expansive literary office, a few personal offices, the business office, and a small conference room). Our artistic director, Richard Hopkins, says the dynamic of our offices infuses communication and collaboration together to allow us all to work most effectively.

First things first, I check the reports and sales from yesterday. Our show, COWGIRLS, is currently in an extended run, and single ticket sales were great yesterday! Yeehaw! Also, I got a few emails from audience members saying how much they loved the show. As the PR Manager, I have the luxury of receiving all 'general emails' for the company (i.e. send something to info@floridastudiotheatre.org and I will be the one who responds, or routes your message elsewhere)! I used to think this was cumbersome, but now I understand that my ear is to the ground on many issues or praises that the theatre receives.

At around 9:30am I get an email from John Scalzi at ABC-7 to confirm the interview we have tomorrow for the noon news. All is well - I'm bringing an actress from COWGIRLS on the show to talk about her experience and promote the final weeks of the run. He asks for video clips. Shoot! I spend the next 45 minutes picking clips, editing, adding effects/intros/credits, and then copying the files to a CD to run to the studio.

I finish the video clips just in time for a 10:30am meeting with Julie Milton, the Executive Editor of SCENE Magazine. She is prepping her September Arts & Culture issue, and we talk about editorial and advertising opportunities. She tells me about her plans for SCENE Magazine this year, and I tell her about the big things happening at FST in the upcoming season. It's an exciting conversation. Even though I've worked here for 2 years, I was sure I hadn't met Julie in person before. She said I looked familiar enough it was like we had met. I guess that's what happens in this town.

11:30am, what now? I create an email to our subscribers inviting them to the free Summer Reading Series beginning Monday. We are presenting 3 new plays on the next three Monday nights. One of the plays may be in our 2011-2012 season as a world premiere.  It will be exciting to see how the audience reacts to the play – and may delineate whether or not we produce it. Of course, I can never be sure, as our artistic department makes all of those decisions.

Wow, it's almost 12:30pm. I created and sent the email to our subscribers. I also created a new "show page" on our website for the series for more information. We're a little late in launching this campaign, but hopefully we get a very positive response (and fill the house for Monday night!).

Got a call from our ad rep at the Bradenton Herald. They are doing a special "readership series" promotion for Harry Potter where everyday for two weeks, families can look in the paper to find clues that will lead them to "finding the Golden Snitch" (how CUTE!). There is a special sponsorship ad available that will run with each promotion daily for two weeks straight in the Local Section for an incredible rate. Looks like we'll be buying an ad to support our Summer Camps that begin in late July! It's a go - I begin conversations with the marketing assistant, Audra, about design needs for the ad. Audra started at FST about a month ago and has taken over most of the advertising and graphic design of our materials - however, that used to all live in my world so I have my hand in all of it right now.

I have a few minutes before lunch at 1pm, so I'm going to go ahead and call my media contacts to get confirmation for our Opening Night this Friday. Even though we begin performances tonight of Our Son’s Wedding, the official “press opening” is this Friday. I’ve already spoken with a handful of my contacts about coming this weekend (or rescheduling for a different date), but a friendly reminder doesn’t hurt.

Oooh! My Google Alerts just brought me the sweetest treat. The cover story of the A&E section of the Longboat/Sarasota Observer was just put live online... can't WAIT for it to hit newsstands tomorrow! It’s a story by the lovely Loren Mayo (community editor) about the FST Improv Troupe and the Sarasota Improv Festival... makes this PR girl VERY proud.

Time for lunch until 2pm. Heading downtown for a quick bite and chit-chat with the office girls.

After lunch, I begin working on the information for the Sarasota Improv Festival. It's only 10 short days away, and there's still so much prep to happen for all the marketing materials, PR, and more. Audra and I will be working on getting that stuff together in the next few days, and I've finally received every group's bios and headshots. Phew!

Also, just got confirmation for a photo shoot for tomorrow evening at Island Park. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is shooting the FST Improv troupe in the children's fountains for the cover of TICKET (the July 15 issue). It's amazing what asking will do. "Do you guys have a cover story planned for July 15th?" "Nope, not yet... whatcha got?" "Let’s make it about the Sarasota Improv Festival." And we've been working on the story ever since! Interviews happened a few weeks ago, and we're finally shooting the cover image. Can't wait to see it on newsstands next week!

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune invoice came in for June advertising. It's always a bear to figure out the budgeting for that one (so many shows, so many ads!). I'm still working with Audra on getting her trained... so, we sit down for awhile and talk about how to compute it all. I kind of love crunching numbers... it just makes sense to me! Hard to believe coming from a theater girl.

I have a quick meeting with our Literary Manager, Amanda Cayo, around 2:45pm to talk about a new cabaret show that is under development. I must gather enough information about the show so I can write a marketing blurb on it for our upcoming Winter Subscription Renewal mailing that drops on Friday. As soon as I can whip up a blurb, I can send it to print. Audra is pulling the numbers of the list now, so all should be golden.

I can't believe it's already 4pm. I've been working on writing marketing blurbs, I sent an automated phone call, and called some more of my press contacts. I also set up a radio interview for next week at Sarasota's local station WSLR. Our playbills arrived for Our Son's Wedding - thank goodness! We have our first audience tonight, and luckily, we made our deadline.

It's now shortly after 6pm and I've been in a Design Daze for the past couple hours! I have been putting together the Sarasota Improv Festival playbill for next weekend's fest. I'm ready to go home and take a little break from my computer screen! Then, I'm back at the theatre tonight for the first preview of Our Son’s Wedding. There are a few “faces of the theatre” that are scheduled to give the pre-show curtain speech… the PR Manager happens to be one of them.

I arrive at the theatre around 7:30pm. The Gompertz is buzzing with excitement. Several couples and anxious theatre attendees are having delightful conversation on the Gompertz patio – enjoying the somewhat decent weather (at least it’s not raining).

I check in with the stage manager inside – I’ve never given a curtain speech in the Gompertz (only in the Keating and the Cabaret) so we talk logistics of when he’ll give me the “cue” and when to head up on stage.  I hang around in the foyer and chat with the director of Our Son’s Wedding, Janet Mitchko. She’s a lovely woman (and very talented, too!) so we have a nice conversation about theatre and the likes.

It’s about 7:59pm now, and I head to the top of the stairs. I finally get my cue! I head onto the stage for my last duty of the day… “Good evening ladies and gentleman! Welcome to Florida Studio Theatre…” Our patrons are never afraid to talk back to me – it’s much more of a conversation than a speech. When I ask the audience to turn off their cell phones, pagers, or anything else that beeps, buzzes or makes noise, a small old man asks, “Can I keep my pacemaker on?”

Never a dull moment here at the theatre!

(To contact Danae DeShazer, please give her a call at (941) 366-9017 x338 or shoot her an email at ddeshazer@floridastudiotheatre.org)

 

A Day in the Life of Ron Knight

My name is Ron Knight. I am the author of thirteen fiction novels for adults, the author of the AC Heroes for elementary students, the author of the Middle Room series for middle schoolers, and the author of NINE, for high schoolers. Most people probably think that authors write all day. Actually, writing is only 20% of what an author does. Here is a typical day.

10:00 a.m.
Notice the late start? Authors get to sleep in. I fire up the computer and get to work, starting with social media and emails. Here is the list I tackle:

• Upper Room Web Site (Spiritual uplifting read, to get my day started off right.)
• Go through author emails; respond to urgent messages only.   
• Answer questions at UP Authors blog.
• Go through emails at UP Authors.
• Look at comments on my author web site. Respond as needed.
• Respond to friend requests on Facebook.
• Check messages on Facebook.
• Check UP Authors fan page on Facebook.
• Check Middle Room fan page on Facebook.
• Check Author Ron Knight fan page Facebook.
• Check Twitter for important messages and Tweets.
• Check Linkedin and respond to connection requests.
• If day is going smooth, check my other social media sites: Smashwords, Technorati, and Scibd.
• Make posts using HooteSuite.

 

11:30 a.m.
Spend time on research. Write a blog for UP Authors or for my author web site. I make sure that all blogs are about other people, instead of writing about myself. (The opposite of what I am doing now.) Then, clean up all important To-Do’s.

12:30 p.m.
Lunch.

12:45 p.m.
Back to work. (Only fifteen-minute lunch to squeeze more time in my day.) Time to write! This is my favorite part of the day. I actually get to do my job.

4:45 p.m.
Reply to all emails and do a quick scan through social media sites. If needed, finish important To-Do’s.

5:15 p.m.
Exercise and think about what I accomplished today. It’s important for authors to exercise and clear the cobwebs. Being an author requires me to sit most of the day, so exercising is critical.

6:00 p.m.
Dinner and say hello to the family. Introduce myself if needed.

7:00 p.m.
Quick scan of social media, web site, and emails. Get some ideas for tomorrow’s blog.

7:30 p.m.
Read.

9:30 p.m.
My day is finished.

 

It’s important to note the main factors that make up an authors day:

1. Read
2. Write
3. Market
4. Research/Network

A Day in the Life of Evan Jones

When working in a non-profit office of just 3 people like I do, there is no such thing as a “typical day”. I just do whatever I can to help keep things running smoothly, which might include anything from reviewing final grant reports to impromptu printer repair. This is not a profession for those who want a strict job description, but it’s ideal for someone like me who is a Jack of All Trades and enjoys having a great variety of tasks. Here was my day yesterday:

8:00 am – Doesn’t always happen, but sometimes I wake up early so I can sneak a few casts at the baby Tarpon in the creek behind our house before my day “officially” begins.

9:00 am – I try to spend the first hour of each day getting caught up on email, voicemail and news. Usually have a few students with scholarship questions, some articles on new or pending legislation that will affect Foundations, some interested parties wondering if they qualify for a grant (never ceases to amaze me that they contact us through our website but don’t take the time to actually read it) and some existing grantees submitting various stages of paperwork. I also made a follow-up call to a group that was late submitting their final report.

10:00 am – We are in the midst of our annual audit, which requires significant input from me. Had to process a returned scholarship check from last year, create grant confirmation letters to be mailed by our auditor, and finally, had to work with auditor to establish an online portal to share documents, then train our Office Manager how to use it.

12:00 pm – lunch meeting with another local scholarship provider. I try to meet with each of them at least once per year to share experiences, ideas, and best practices. This is particularly important in the field of scholarships because of the high % of overlap in applicants and the constantly-evolving knowledge base.

1:30 pm – return to discover boss’ printer is down. Print spooler is corrupt. Re-install device driver, reset machine, and presto! Back to my “real job”

1:45 pm – Read and reviewed several final grant reports. Might sound easy, but this involves 1) reading the entire report to verify that all information is correct 2) verifying that all grant money was spent appropriately 3) reviewing with our President to get her written approval 4) updating our database to show the report was delivered and to make internal comments 5) contacting the grantee to verify that the report has been accepted, or to request additional information

3:00 pm – meeting with prospective grantee group. Although I have no role in the actual decision-making, I do help grantees to prepare and refine grant applications, and to better understand our priorities and processes. My goal is not simply to help them with our application, but to help make ALL of their future requests to any funding organization stronger and more concise.

4:00 pm – “Wow, is it four o’clock already?!”

4:05 pm – have received a couple of complaints about glitches in our new online grant application system. Not sure if the problem is with the system or with the user so I try to run some tests. End up reviewing the “rules” written into the conditional logic of the system line-by-line. Yes, it’s as mind-numbing as it sounds, but I finally identify the issue and am able to fix it.

4:40 pm – contact the users who experienced problems and notify them that I have resolved the issue.

4:50 pm – shut down various office machines and clean up my desk/computer in prep for the next day.

5:01 pm – rush home and jump in the kayak for a quick paddle, maybe a few more casts at those Tarpon. Remind myself how thankful I am that our organization does not have to fundraise, or I would still be at the office…

 

 

The William G. and Marie Selby Foundation focuses primarily on academic scholarships and grants for capital projects in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. Begun by low-key millionaires Bill and Marie Selby over five decades ago, the Foundation continues to enhance our area as a result of more than $94 million in grants and scholarships given to nearly 400 organizations and over a thousand students.

 

Day in the Life . . .Kickoff

We will be kicking off our Day in the Life blog series tomorrow.

Different members of our community will be sharing a Day in their life doing what they do for their organizations. Members of the CWCFPRA will be participating as well as members of our community.

This will be a great chance to show each other innovating technologies we are using, new projects we are developing and different approaches we are taking to help our companies grow.

We are asking for participants to help make this summer blogging  campaign as beneficial as possible. If you are interested in sharing what you are working on email melissa@brand1111.com.