An intern’s perspective, working in the Environments team at WRG
It’s a drizzly, grey Thursday afternoon as the plane touches down on the tarmac; a strangely comforting Mancunian welcome home. Being back causes me to pause and reflect, not only on the trip I’ve just returned from, but the whole professional journey I’ve embarked on since joining WRG on their Year ONE internship back in August.
The Environments department was my first port of call. Under the guidance of Mark Jackson (Global Head of Environments) and Simon Davenport (Head of Environments UK) and amongst perhaps the most welcoming and generally lovely human beings the North has to offer, I found my feet. I joined at a busy time for the team – the phrase ‘in at the deep end’ was bandied about regularly and waiting in my inbox on day one was a confirmation email for a trip to Paris in just a few weeks’ time.
Let’s go.
The exhibition we were attending in Paris was ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) – the biggest European congress of the year for us. Under the watchful eye of Project Coordinator Rick Jones and Senior Project Manager Clare Mills, I was there to lend a hand wherever I could, to help deliver our biggest booth at the congress, in fact, it was the biggest booth at ESMO full stop. Problem solving, perseverance, positivity, and the willingness to get stuck in are the main qualities that I think are essential for succeeding at congress. Although I have no metric against which to compare, the booth seemed to be a triumph.
On to the next!
Just before I left for Paris, I was given the opportunity to manage my own project in Nice for our parent company, Inizio. This was to be a small affair compared to ESMO, but nonetheless was a great opportunity for me and I jumped at the chance to take ownership. Booking flights, managing a budget, liaising with clients, suppliers and venues gave me the opportunity to learn some of what goes into a project first hand. The amount of trust given to me as an intern was exciting and I knew I had the team close at hand should I need support. The event went by with just a couple of minor speed bumps; mainly having to organise delivery back to the UK for several boxes of merchandise after 6pm on a weekday (not as easy as it sounds). This meant persuading a nearby hotel to print out shipping labels and arrange for a courier. This wasn’t a massive problem, but it gave me the chance to see how I dealt with (minor) adversity and reminded me that there’s always a solution!
No rest for the wicked.
After a successful project delivered in Nice, I flew straight to Berlin to help on a booth at another congress, EUSEM (The European Society of Emergency Medicine) - I hadn’t been involved in any of the pre-event work and was just there to help on site with the delivery of the booth. I’d not met the Project Manager, Hannah Caldwell, in person before as she was London-based; I’ve since learnt it’s fairly common to meet colleagues for the first time in another country! I was blown away by Hannah as a project manager; she was organised, detail-orientated, easy to get on with and most impressively, relaxed (at least on the surface). She made sure I was happy with what needed to be done and genuinely wanted my feedback and opinions throughout the build, show and post-event. The client was thrilled with our work at the congress and although credit of course goes to Hannah, it was nice to have played a small part in that success.
Get out there!
I thought it’s worth mentioning for any potential Year ONEs reading that although there are some long hours on site and you will work hard, there is also some amazing downtime where you can connect with your colleagues on a more personal level, whether it’s exploring Berlin’s light festival, or eating dinner in a Parisian brasserie near the Louvre.
I’ll soon be moving on to my second internship rotation with the Event Production team and so far, they have some very big shoes to fill.