Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce - Public Relations

Spring 2017

I had a phenomenal experience with the Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce. My supervisor was very kind and friendly. She is a Niagara University alumnus who got her undergraduate degree in Communications and her graduate degree in Business. She was able to provide a lot of recommendations for me, as I am going to get my MBA in the fall at NU. She started off my internship asking what I was interested in learning about and set an agenda based on that.

My main project was filming and editing segments for the Chamber’s TV show, Roam the Region. For this, I had to prepare interview questions in advance to send to the people we were interviewing. My supervisor proof read all of the questions before sending them and made any necessary adjustments. The day of the interview, my supervisor would drive us to the location we were filming at and we would set up the camera and microphone together for the interview. I got to meet a lot of community members through this which has come in handy when searching for jobs.

After filming, I would edit the interview segments in iMovie or Final Cut to condense them into a specific time slot, adding pictures to cover any jump cuts and to make the videos more exciting. This was a challenge, condensing some videos from 30 minutes to 45 seconds, but it was a challenge I had fun with. All of the videos were used in Roam the Region, typically as a form of advertising for local businesses. Some of the videos were also used at the Chamber Awards Gala as an introduction for each honoree. I spent about half of my internship hours editing videos at NU. This was helpful because it gave me a lot of experience in the video editing programs and allowed me to work flexible hours.

After all of the segments were edited, it was my job to write up a script for the episode that was featuring the videos. My supervisor would approve the script and would schedule a time for us to go to Niagara Fall High School to host the episode in the studio. It was my first experience anchoring a show and being on camera. I was nervous for this at first, but they high school teacher and students were OK with doing multiple takes if we messed up.

Filming the show was very rewarding because it helps local businesses advertise and some people even recognize you from the show. I only told my family about the TV show and what channel to find it on because I didn’t think other people would care to watch it. I was surprised when a few of my coworkers mentioned that they saw me on TV!

Another main project of mine was working on the Chamber Awards Gala. I indicated I was interested in event planning, so this project was perfect for me! This event recognizes citizens and businesses of the year and includes dinner and a silent auction. I helped solicit businesses to get silent auction items, spray painted centerpieces for the tables, arranged baskets for the silent auction, and checked people in at the event. This event helped to improve my organization, communication, and salesmanship skills.

My supervisor taught me how to use Publisher in order to create two ads that will be featured in the upcoming visitor guide.

The internship consisted of a couple unskilled labor tasks, like stamping post cards for a mass mailing and dropping off booklets around the community. I honestly enjoyed doing these small things because it was relaxing to do something that did not require thought and I enjoyed going outside. I only did these nonskilled tasks a couple times in the semester though, so this definitely is not just a paper-pushing internship.

The only drawbacks to this position is that I had to rent out the school’s video camera almost every week. It was a pain lugging back and forth to my car and to my internship. I wish they had a nice video camera at their office, but I know they have a strict budget to keep to. Also, during the night of the gala, I was assigned to work the front table during the award ceremony, which I felt bad about. I spent so much time putting the video together and I was really excited to see it.

I loved working with the women at the Chamber of Commerce and will certainly miss them in the future. They were all extremely nice, supportive, and funny. It would be a great place to work for, however, there are currently only three employees and I doubt they will be hiring anytime in the next several years.

Overall, I highly recommend this internship! You will never get bored working for the Chamber. They tackle a huge variety of tasks, so every day is something different! My supervisor is willing to adjust the schedule based on what you’re most interested in working on. As an added bonus, occasionally the Chamber will treat you to lunch! Also, one of the women frequently brings her little dog to the office. He was super nice and love to curl up at my feet.

Some advice for anyone considering this internship is to try and be available to work on Fridays, especially if you are interested in event planning. I only requested off from work for one Friday during the semester which was for the gala, but the Chamber does a lot of other festivals and ribbon cuttings which typically fall on Friday evenings. I wish I was able to go to these events because they sounded like a lot of fun, but I did not want to take off more time from work. The Chamber was very flexible with scheduling, allowing for me to come in for just a few hours on both Monday and Wednesday. I would also spend a few hours a week editing videos whenever I had free time. If I ever needed to take the day on short notice or leave early to study for an exam, my supervisor was completely fine with that.