I did my Job shadow with Katie Wilharm, a Business Development Coordinator at the Mall of America
Katie Wilharm
Management office
60 E. Broadway
Bloomington, MN 55425
Phone: 952-883-8826
Email: kwilharm@mallofamerica.com
My personal goals and expectations for my job shadow experience
1. See how events are planned
2. Learn how event set up takes place
3. Learn what the job entails
4. Learn what the pay is
5. Learn what the hours are
6. See if this is a job I would like to do
Activities that will help me meet my goals/expectations
1. Go to a planning meeting
2. Ask lots of questions
3. Be on time
4. Have an open mind
5. Dress professionally
6. Take notes
Day One Journal: Monday November 7th, 2011
Today I did my job shadow at the mall of America with Katie Wilharm. I really enjoyed being able to shadow her and I wish I could go back more than 2 days. I had a lot of fun learning all about event planning and how everything gets pulled together. During the planning meeting there were 8 employees and the boss. It is a meeting they have every Monday and it is a time for the staff to check in with their boss and let her know how things are coming along, ask her any questions and ask other employees for help if they need it. They all had a calendar of the events coming up and just ran through them one by one. Also at the meeting since there was an event happening that night, they went over the event alert. The event alert is a packet that goes over all the details of the event and how things are going to happen. It told the staff where they are were going to be stationed, where security was going to be, when the Vikings players were arriving, what station they were going to be at, what activities would be going on, and it had pictures of the proper badges everyone at the event should have. After the meeting we then walked through the park and the boss went over where the pipe and drape was supposed to be to block of the part of the park not being used, Once we were done with that, Katie had me watch the event video that they send out to celebrities, authors, musicians, etc to get them to come do an event at the Mall. We then took a tour of the management offices, the loading dock, the back hallways, and the movie theater. Then I listened in on Katie’s weekly conference call she has with the company they get the movie films from. Once the call was over it was time to go set up for the Taste of the Vikings event. Katie was in charge of doing the pipe and drape with the 2 interns. We went to the storage room and got the supplies then walked through the park and set up the pipe and drape. When she was done setting up that, her boss needed help setting up the hand washing stations so Katie stepped up and set them up for her so she could get other stuff done. I really enjoyed job shadowing Katie and it gave a good idea of what all goes into event planning. I can’t wait to go back Thursday and see an actual event.
Day Two Journal: Thursday November 10th, 2011
Today I did the rest of my job shadow at the Mall of America with Katie Wilharm. She was in charge of Santa’s arrival because it was a happy feet 2 themed arrival. They were having extreme technical difficulties because the laptop with all of the videos and songs on it broke down and wasn’t working so the tech guy had to try to hook up a different computer and forward stuff from his phone to the computer. Also the CD player that was supposed to be playing the music was there, but it wasn’t hooked up. It was amazing to see that when they were having so much difficulty each person on the staff was willing to step up and help to pull the event together to make it a success. Once the event finally got going the elves, waddle squad, happy feet characters, live penguins, live reindeer, and Santa were all a hit. I really enjoyed being able to see the event from behind the scenes. The job of an event planner is the most exciting planning the event and seeing how it all came together after. During the event can actually be quite boring because you are just shuffling people through a line or monitoring the event. I am so glad I picked Katie to job shadow because I had a lot of fun and learned a lot of information.
Questions for Student:
1. Who & where did you job shadow?
- Katie Wilharm, a Business Development Coordinator at the Mall of America
2. Why did you choose this site?
- Event planning is field that interests me and I know Katie
3. What were the main responsibilities of your coordinator that you shadowed?
- Marketing and promoting events for the Theater at MOA
4. What were her expectations for her staff?
- She mainly works with a team of about 5 people, but her boss’s expectations for them are to get the event planned, work out details, ask for help if they need it, and be willing to help out others
5. How were her interactions with her staff?
- During the Santa event when they were having technical difficulties, each person was willing to step up and help to make the event a success
6. What did you observe/ do?
- a planning meeting, watched an event video, and took a tour of where the set up for an event was taking place, the management offices and the theater. I also listened in on a conference call and watched the set up for a large MOA event, The Taste of the Minnesota Vikings. On my second day I observed Santa’s arrival and the Happy Feet Two promotion event
7. What did you like most about the experience?
- being able to sit in on the planning meeting and see how they plan out every detail of an event and then also being able to see them execute their plan during the set up
8. What did you like least about the experience?
- all of the walking we did because my shoes gave me 3 blisters
9. What did you learn?
- how complicated the event planning process and set up is. Organization is a key aspect of the job
10. Have you gained a new perspective?
-I gained a new perspective on why the public doesn't know about when celebrities are coming to the Mall because they aren't allowed to announce it to the public until every detail is worked out. When I was at the actual event during my second job shadow day, it was cool to see how the staff was willing to do anything to make the event a success
12. What was your most memorable day like?
- My most memorable day was the first day I did my job shadow. It was really interesting being able to take a tour of the offices, and see all of the behind the scenes stuff.
Questions for the Job Shadow Coordinator:
1. What are the main responsibilities of your job?
- marketing and promoting events for the Theater at MOA
2. What kind of training do you have?
- majored in communications, but for the field she works in now there is no specific major that is required. Some of her co-workers majors range from business to marketing to accounting.
3. How did you get started in this field?
- she was an intern at Sun Country and her co-workers mom worked for Mall of America and told her that the mall had a great intern program in the events department. She then was an event intern at the mall for 1 year. When her internship was over in 2008, the Mall of America has just taken over the AMC Theater and the Business Development department was created, which is where she works now
4. How long have you been in this field?
- 4 years
5. What do you like best?
- getting to work with all of the different departments. She gets to work with event planners, security, maintenance, park advisers etc
6. What is the salary range?
- anywhere from 35-50,000 a year
7. What is your key to success?
- stay very organized, be pro-active, and follow up with clients
8. What advice would you give to students going into this field?
- It is a lot more physical than you would expect, be very organized, follow up on things right away
Vocabulary:
Pipe & Drape: curtains you set up to block off area of an event
F (#): Management elevators in different parts of mall
VIP Theater: theater for 21 and over with full service
D block seats: Seats that move with the action in the movie
Learning’s:
During my job shadow I learned a lot about how event planning works. You have to be a very organized and detail oriented person. Every details counts toward making the event a success. The events themselves can be kind of boring during the event, but the feeling afterward of knowing that it was you who planned and organized it and made all of those people happy it the best.
