Connecting Readers with Finger Lakes Authors

Internship Diary Entry #2

Hi all, it’s me, the intern.

Welp, I’m almost to the “frontlines” as it were, and thank goodness for that. Events are great, love events, I can work at an event all day. Standing around, answering questions, delegating requests, and covering other people’s bathroom breaks is easy. I’ve worked in a restaurant before. But everything that goes into the preparation of the event so that it goes well? That’s hard for me.

For those who don’t know, there are four core tenets in modern event organization: preparation, coordination, permission, and social media. Fortunately, I only have to deal with two of those categories. Unfortunately, it’s still really stressful and uncertain to deal with. I don’t envy the actual FLARE members who have to do things like come up with the events from scratch or trying to make the connections with people in the first place, but the stuff I have to do really makes me nervous. 

I honestly spend too much time paralyzed with writing a blog post/ email/ post. I really wish I could just make the thing I have to, edit it quickly, and put it out. And this can be a bit of a problem because time is an important factor. And it’s not just the “deadline” of the event that makes timing important, but getting things done earlier so other things can be done by the festival.

Hopefully I’ll be able to finish my end of responsibilities so things go smoothly at the festival itself, making it the best in person FLARE event ever. The spontaneous responsibilities at the event itself? I’ve done dozens of times and I’m not that worried. The problems I go through right now? I barely have any real world experience and I’m sweating.

So, you know, hopefully I can get through these problems of ordering now to make less problems I have to organize later. I hope to see you at FLARE where things will go off without a hitch.

John Bond