As one of the newest employees at Switch, I think it is a safe bet to say I might be the greenest to the industry. In the whirlwind of my first week at Switch I was assigned the task of coordinating my first event, Switch’s Meet and Greet Open House. Although I have never been assigned such a task, I was up for the challenge as I love being the hostess with the mostess at my own personal parties. After a few meetings with my superiors I finalized my strategy of attack; INFORM, ASK, and FOLLOW UP.
One of my first tasks was to create an electronic invitation, so logically I dipped into the creative resources available at Switch and recruited the help of Ed and Andy along with their teams. The coordination of other details moved slowly at first but two weeks out from the event the pace began to quicken! The next big task thrown on my plate for the Meet and Greet was to have the Production Resource Guide updated, printed, and bound. This task was a bit of a struggle at first because the electronic files of the most recent version had gone astray. I was on the verge of pulling my hair out but with much persistence (thanks again Ed!) it was found!
The Meet and Greet was a success and within the blink of an eye it had come and gone. None of it would have been possible without the support and help from my fellow Switchers, so MANY thanks to everyone involved. So now I will celebrate the accomplishment of my first event with an ice cold beer!
At this point, I’ve only been interning here at Switch for a little over a week. I tend to believe that there typically isn’t much accomplished in a person’s first week due to what I’ll refer to as workflow learning curves and bureaucratic bottlenecks. These concepts usually aren’t conducive to productive environments and potentially waste time and money. Considering that I am trying to get the most out of my short time here, I have to consider myself lucky because Switch has proved to be just the opposite: organic in nature and full of people enthusiastically collaborating on projects regardless of its relation to them.
Before I was hired, Switch’s previous intern, Lisa Slama, had done some footwork in order to get the ball rolling for our open house/meet & greet that took place just the other day. With the help of Allison Tippett and various others around the office, I was able to pick up where Lisa had left off and move forward with minimal hiccups.
This was a great event with which to get my feet wet due to its laid back nature and its need for various departments’ resources. In the span of only four workdays, I was able to see how Switch functions, on a very small scale, from the point of project conception to project implementation. Of the things I was impressed with, I was probably most impressed by the lack of friction and the quick turn-around time regarding the production of our collateral materials and other visual aids. Some of the collateral materials and visual aids we use for this event were:
A visually appealing and informative e-vite to inform potential guests of the event.
A clean and simple welcoming sign for our guests.
A tastefully designed and crafted tabletop sign to inform guests of our attendance raffle. (See example below)
A vivid and visually alluring PowerPoint slideshow to showcase some of Switch’s Offerings.
An easy to understand, useful, and snazzy 2010 Production Guide to supplement the tour of our facilities.
Again, this was a very simple and straight forward event which only utilized a drop in the ocean of talent and capabilities here at Switch; however, it was nice to see how the production chain here functions, as well as, having the opportunity to develop working relationships with a variety of the great people here.
Overall, the event was a success, and Allison and I have received countless praises and words of appreciation, which is great to hear, but it really was a team effort. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Craig Jakubs, Lucy McCormic, Terry Lee, Christina Wilde, Gerri Lashley, Andy Dyer, Scott De Broux, Steve Smith, Kristin Christy, Tom Eisenhauer, Barbara Chestnut, Larry Bruner, Pat Ayres, Mike Strauss, Mark Acree, Stafford Warneke, Bob Poole, Julia Row, Rosie Ford, Chris Jobst, Daniel Korte, and various other people who played supporting and direct roles whom I did not mention. There were truly too many people to name them all.
Switch has a great company culture, and I’m really glad to have this opportunity. (No, I was not paid to say that.)
Do you like Hank Sr. or Dylan or the Stones or your basic roots rock music? If you enjoy tunes in the fresh air while being surrounded by amazing sculpture, photography, lithographs, painting, textile and tons of other art…we have a date for you.
June 4-6, on the campus of Eden Seminary will be the “Art & Air” Webster Groves Outdoor Art Fair. Lots of food, fun, art and music…specifically on June 5 from 5:00-7:00 will be a performance by DANG – the duo that features Dave Glauber and Gregg Eilers with special guest Doug Flory. Enjoy a frosty beverage, some fine art and some twangin’ tunes…plus, it’s free!
In conjunction w/ the City of STL, Switch created the campaign for OPEN STREETS 2010: A concept of having 5 miles of traffic-free city streets open for people to walk, run, cycle, dance or whatever you fancy.
Switch created the flyers, leaflets and the poster below!
With almost 1800 facebook fans and 1750 petition signatures, there is definitely some strong support for this effort. We’ve even secured 3 radio interviews and 2 television interviews for our CEO, Mike O’.
Mike will be on Fox 2 with John Pertzborn tomorrow morning, but here’s a snippet on the evening segement to hold you over ’til then!
Switch president, John Nickel, got the opportunity to knock another item off his bucket list by takin a ride on the Zamboni at the Blues game Monday night.
He bought the ride during a fundraising auction sponsored by one of our clients the Basketball Hall of Fame. Judging by the smile on his face, the purchase was definitely worth it.
Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but the FedEx Electric Vehicle Tour is on the road. This project went from a basic “get us a driver and a trailer and transport our new electric vehicle across the country” to that plus media/customer/employee events, video production and still photography, logistical support, interactive displays, large format printing, music licensing and a nifty internet microsite that enables folks to track the tour, tweet about it, post to facebook, watch video, listen to a custom rendition of the classic Route 66 song and learn all about the FedEx Electric Truck Tour, as well as, their green efforts and vision for the future.
The tour started in Chicago at Soldier Field this morning. It comes to St. Louis tonight (watch Channel 5’s early news show tomorrow morning for coverage) for an employee event early tomorrow morning. Then it’s off across the country along Route 66 to L.A. where the vehicle and our documentary video (Switcher, Adam Hecker is shooting and editing along the way) will be shown at the Fortune: Brainstorm Green conference.
Pinnacle Entertainment’s new, upscale River City Casino opened with a big “WIN” complements of Switch’s giant slot machine. The opening ceremonies, produced by Synergy Productions featured an 8’ tall giant slot machine created by Switch.
With Regional VP and River City GM Todd George hosting, Ozzie Smith was called up to pull the ceremonial slot’s big handle. As hundreds of excited St. Louisans looked on, Todd announced each bar lining up “chink, open, chink, open, chink, open…. Ding ding ding ding” and with a loud cheer, patrons were invited inside to see the brand new 90,000 sq ft gambling and entertainment destination.
The technology and approach powering the River City slot had been used before on previous digital touch screen promos for Switch clients allowing Pinnacle to benefit with a quick turn, cost-effective piece.
Have you seen it yet?! Not only does it feature tons of exciting things to do in good ol’ St Louis, but on the cover is a great shot of Chuck Berry and Nelly together on-stage during the 2009 MLB All-Star Commissioner’s Gala.
Switch produced the St Louis themed event last summer…read all about it here if you’d like to refresh your memory or see more pictures.
Otherwise, you can check out the cover and the rest of the Official Guide here.
