Extra Point Pass!

        Days are already starting to run together.  Literally, 1 minute ago, I established that today was Tuesday and not Monday.  It was "Trivia Tuesday" this morning on the Meineke facebook page...and we realized a glitch in our system when we posted a question on our page and realized after the first answer that there was no way we could get responses from our followers without the answers being posted publicly...OOPS!  We'll have to come up with a new strategy for that.  We also made some decisions on staff gear...who doesn't love free clothing? (insert comments from all past roommates and parents about the excessive amounts of clothing I have already here).  We also made some strides regarding decisions on the incentives for our Leatherheads once they exceed their sales goals.  We will be meeting with Will tomorrow to discuss these, and other Leatherhead outreach tomorrow so I'll look forward to that! 
        Tonight was exciting because we finally got to discuss with the public the promotional item we have been waiting to launch!  The Extra Point VIP Pass Program is designed to give unique benefits for pass holders. Local business partners determine benefits that are only available to pass holders. These benefits, which may change from week to week, will be sent to pass holders by direct email releases. It's valid through January 30, giving participants in the program more than an entire football season to get the use out of it!  We partnered with several great restaurants, bars, etc..., in Charlotte-which are listed on the website www.extrapointpass.com  - and they have given some really great promotions like free cover to bars, free appetizers at restaurants and more.  The passes are $10, so essentially if you use it twice you will have most likely already saved money.  In the end, the Extra Point Pass is not only designed to bring in revenue to Charlotte Collegiate Football.  We are hoping to bring awareness to the Charlotte community about the Meineke Car Care Bowl Game and the ACC Championship Game.  There is still a large portion of this community that is unaware that we have the ACC championship in Charlotte, and we are trying to generate lots of excitement for these awesome games!  We went to a  YSPN (Young Sports Professionals Network) event, which is a part of the Charlotte Sports Commission, to promote the pass.  In the process, we met some awesome folks (including a Clemson Grad...finally!) and in addition to it being a great opportunity for Charlotte Collegiate Football, it was also a fabulous chance to network with some key players in the Sport field in Charlotte.  Just another indicator that this internship will provide opportunities beyond work experience. 
        On a side not- Carrie and I are having an exciting night, folding loads of laundry and watching recorded episodes of the bachelor pad...jealous, anyone?

If you are in Charlotte, and like the idea of the pass then visit the website, follow us on twitter (@extrapointpass), and "like" us on facebook (Charlotte Extra Point VIP Pass).  Yes, that means we are now managing 3 seperate pages on both Twitter and Facebook...I guess if you are going to do something...do it big, right?

Meet the Boss

        The power switched off in the Conrads house last night.  Luckily I happened to wake up but it was a little bit of a late start this morning.  I was still at work in plenty of time but didn't realize that Will Webb, executive director of CCF was going to be at work when I got there-he's on vacation this week!  Anyways, when I got there Will asked us to meet him in his office to discuss the internship in his terms.  He emphasized that the opportunity for employment at the internship's end would not be guarenteed but would be possible, which is certainly an added incentive to do impressive work.  His guarentees were that we would have a lot of fun and would learn a lot, and I've already seen these fruits in just three days.  I was excited when Will mentioned that if we ever wanted to go to an ACC game, that we just ask and he will hopefully be able to secure credentials, or at least tickets for us!  Oh, the perks of sport related jobs. 
        Will offered up a ticketing project to for one of the interns to head up and I jumped at the opportunity because if I learned anything about breaking into the sport industry while I was looking for jobs, it was that understanding the ticketing side of the biz is extremely important.  He gave me a few tickets and said "alright, just keep track of the invoice and we'll regroup in a couple of days".  My thought was, 'so, are you going to send me the invoice, orrr...".  I quickly realized that it was up to me to create my own system.  Self-starting and creativity are going to be two important themes of the internship.  Most questions that I've asked result in the answer 'it's really up to you'.  This means two things...if things go really great, we as interns can take ownership.  But if something goes wrong, with which we are involved...it's all on us.  So far, the freedom encourages thinking outside the box for me.  I'm learning that there aren't many limits; if I think it's a good idea and present it to the right people, the answer is usually 'yes', and that thinking outside the box is a good thing! 
        On that note, Sarah and I came up with a plan for contests and giveaways on our twitter and facebook sites.  One thing that we are definitely doing with the Meineke social media sites is a weekly giveaway contest.  Twitter (MeinekeBowlGame) now features "Football Friday Giveaways" and Facebook (Meineke Care Care Bowl Game) will have "Tuesday Trivia".  On each site we'll have contests that will either be trivia based or some sort of incentive for you, as a social media user, to promote our brand to your friends and followers.  Prizes will be some really cool Meineke Bowl garb and even some ticket giveaways!  ACC champion sites will feature similar promotions, but may not be as frequent as the game is smaller scale in general.  If these things interest you, then you should make it a point to follow those pages (wink, wink). 
        I don't know that i've mentioned how much I enjoy the people I work with yet.  I definitely don't feel like an insider yet (yikes, excuse the bachelor pad reference...guilty), but everyone is really great.  The group is pretty laid back, there's a good bit of humor, a bit of sarcasm (anyone that knows me, knows that I thrive in sarcastic environments), and a lot of support.  Apparently there is no such thing as a stupid question, although we all know how that goes...and I'm sure I've said SOMETHING that has left people snickering.  I'm really excited about tomorrow and for those of you who are in charlotte, I will be working a promotional event at Alive After Five in the Epicenter if you're interested in coming out to that!