Ellie’s week at the FCCE HQ
Read all about Ellie’s week of work experience here at the FCCE HQ…
I have spent a week at First Choice Conference & Events enjoying a week of work experience, where I have learnt a lot about the industry and gained a new insight which otherwise, I would not have had! I contacted First Choice Conference & Events as I wanted to gain experience of working in an events company and wanted to learn more about the industry. I am in the process of completing a master’s degree in Events Management at The University of the West of England, but I wished to gain some more practical experience. Thankfully, Penny and Dan were able to offer me work experience which I readily accepted!
At the start of the week I was provided with a general induction to the company and an orientation on how to use the online system. This provided me with a good basis of what I would be doing during my week and gave me the basic understanding of how to put client booking enquiries into the system. On Monday, I was also given the opportunity to join in on the operations meeting, which helped to give me an insight into some of the events that each colleague is undertaking. It was eye-opening to see the vast array of events being dealt with, from smaller local meetings to international conferences spanning a couple of days. I was impressed with the number of events that each person was juggling, with many events being worked on simultaneously. I was also given the task of researching and creating a blog, to be featured on the First Choice Conference & Event’s website about private or shared Christmas parties. This enabled me to learn more about the differing events and why some would choose one over the other and it was also a good opportunity to look into the many venues and themed nights on offer for Christmas work do’s.
I was provided with a desk during my week, which meant I had access to a computer and had a phone to use throughout. I had training on the phone as I answered calls and took messages for colleagues when they were busy. While, I was nervous at first to answer the telephone after a few go’s I became much more confident after getting help from everyone in the operations team. I spent Tuesday with Cheryl, gaining sales and marketing experience. It was nice to learn about this side of the business, as well as the operations side as I was able to see the different elements that make up FCCE.
On Wednesday I was part of a conference call, a new experience for me as I have never worked in an office before. Whilst also gaining a fantastic insight into the industry, it was also a new experience for me to work in an office for the week as it was a new type of working environment for me. I participated in two supplier presentations during my week here, which gave me the opportunity to see outside companies present to FCCE which was extremely interesting to see in action as I have not experienced this very often.
I was able to experience the Christmas party day on Thursday. It felt a little strange to be wearing a woolly jumper adorned with reindeers in this sunny June weather, but we all got to enjoy mince pies and chocolates throughout the day! Whilst Christmas songs were playing in the office, I spent time with Kate looking at the accounting side of FCCE and helping out with incoming calls to the office. I was given an induction to the commission process and saw yet another side to the company. During the week I shadowed many people in the operations team which enabled me to see all the work that goes in behind the scenes of booking events and how much work is needed pre and post events.
From spending the week here, I’ve seen the vast number of events that are wanted both in the UK and internationally and has helped to show the huge quantity of events that are going on all the time. During this week, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and have been able to learn from everyone here at FCCE! The past week has been extremely helpful in gaining experience of working at a busy events company and I feel like I will be leaving with a new outlook on the industry.
Thank you again to Penny and Dan for giving me this opportunity!