Soccer season has arrived, and I'm an official Atlanta United fan. This was a great first experience, and I can't wait to experience more. The atmosphere of soccer games is different from the Atlanta Falcons, but they are both unique in their ways. With the Falcons, I was apart of Bird Gang, which was a lot more interactive with the fans, but on the live events side of things, we are more hands-on with the production of the game. Today I assisted with break down and set up of the home depot backyard, which included setting up tents, DJ booths, and placing signs up for directions. I then when and assisted one of the game-day managers with errands that needed to be run on the inside and making sure all chairs and tables were set-ups where they needed to be. I was also assigned to the tunnel crew, which made sure this large inflatable tunnel is set up on the field for the players to come out of. During the game, I had the pleasure of doing surprise snd delight and took a lucky fan name Vince cupcakes for celebrating his birthday with us. Those are always a fun experience. Lastly, I assisted with field breakdown, which involves a variety of different tasks. Overall, it was a long day, but I love seeing how the production of a game happens. The team also won, so that was a Bonus.
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We always hear about one opportunity opening the door for another opportunity, but we never realize how real it is until it happens to us. Bird Gang was a seasonal opportunity for the Atlanta falcons; therefore, after the season, our job is over. I made arrangments to make Bird gang my internship, which allowed me to come in and shadow after the season ended. Bird gang is a group under the AMB live events department, which we worked closely with. They extended an offer to some bird gang members to be apart of the live events game-day staff, which they work all events that come through the Mercedes Benz stadium. This was another opportunity for me to gain valuable experience and get to my ultimate goals within the sports industry. Interviews were held on February 13th in a group setting of about 8-10 people per group. The panel included executives from the live events department, and they asked a series of questions. One of my favorite questions to answer when interviewing in a sports management related field is "why do you think this opportunity is the best fit for you" I get excited to answer this question because I have such a passion for sports. I believe this question allows me to display that passion. Overall the interview went very well, and 5 of the eight people in my group were chosen, including me! I am so excited to continue working with this group of people, and I can't wait to season what this experience brings me throughout my time with the live events department.
I presented my ideas for Bird Gang 2020 to my supervisors today, and I don't think it could have gone any better. I am honestly excited to do anything they ask me to do because that puts me one step closer to being in their position one day. I loved doing this task, and presenting it made it that much more worth it. They loved my ideas, and the feedback I was able to give them throughout the presentation. I hit on topics like scheduling, activities, ideas for training new Bird Gang members, how we could make next year better, leadership, giveaway ideas, and a few more topics. They loved the idea I had for the interview process. It's going to be like a speed dating set up because last year, it was a big group interview, and I don't feel like the judges got to make a reasonable assumption on the candidates that way. They also loved the idea of making pre-season games training days for bird gang members to learn the ins and out of the stadium along with hands-on activities that we will be doing throughout the season. The last idea I think they loved the most was a game called "guess the player" for fans to win prizes when we are doing giveaways outside during tailgating. This is a fun way to interact with fans and to see how much of a Falcons fan they are. I believe next yr. will be an excellent season for Bird Gang with some revisions from this year and added experience. I cant wait to see how it evolves and how I will grow as a leader being a 2nd year veteran with bird gang if I decide to do it again next year, which i probably will.
After recapping the season for my supervisors, they gave me another task, which is to develop a tentative schedule for Bird Gang 2020. This was an excellent opportunity to display my skill level of planning and executing a plan eventually. So, I took full advantage of this opportunity. Within the plan, I developed new ideas for the interviewing process, a tentative schedule to attend Summer training Camp, team bonding opportunities, and a method for onboarding of the new bird gang members. I was pleased with my presentation. It took a few days to develop because I wanted to put my best foot forward. Within the presentation, I was also asked to come up with new ways we could interact with fans, and what would be some cool giveaways for fan engagements. I will be having a meeting with Bryan and Conner to discuss my presentation, and I'm excited to see what they think and what we brainstorm to make sure the bird gang experience is enhanced. Overall, I think I was the best person to develop this schedule because I was on the front lines of the bird gang and knew exactly what happens and what needed changes. With my hands-on experience, I could also voice my opinion on how we could do things differently.
Side note: The live events team eats lunch in one of the Press Boxes which I think is one of the coolest part of my mentorship hours. Im a huge falcons fan so to see the ins and outs of our home stadium is a huge perk for me. Today, I was informed that I would be a leader within a bird gang for the upcoming season and was allowed to recap the season. I didn't get the chance to start on the PowerPoint today, but its an assignment I look forward to working on. Bird Gang was an excellent experience for me, and I am pleased to share my knowledge and the experience of other bird gang members with our supervisors. The 2019 season was the inaugural season for bird gang. Therefore many kinks need to be ironed out for the upcoming season. This season was a learning experience for everybody, and we must use this experience for the future of Bird Gang.
Also, today I got to sit in on a meeting about an upcoming draft party hosted at the stadium. A draft party is a one-night event hosted by the Atlanta Falcons on the first night of the draft to welcome the newest member of the Atlanta Falcons. Just like any other event at the stadium, it takes planning to make sure the event runs smoothly, and everyone knows their roles. I believe this was the first discussion about the draft party. Therefore many ideas were thrown out. One thing I gathered from the meeting was they would implement many things from last year's draft party into this year's because of the success of the previous year. Today is my first day back in the stadium since wrapping up the 2019-2020 football season with the Falcons. Under the department that my mentor works for, they are the live events team for the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, and the Mercedes Benz Stadium. This means any event that comes through the live stadium events is apart of the overall presentation ranging. This past weekend the stadium hosted the Battle of the bands. Live events are responsible for all of the bands and making sure they were they need to be and what time they should be there. Each live event team member was assigned a specific band and was the liaison between the band and the stadium for the time being. Also, during this day, I went on a tour through the administrative side of the stadium. Which was pretty cool, I got to see like-minded individuals at work and seemingly enjoying what they were doing. Overall, a great experience and it just makes me more anxious to tap into a full-time position.
Since the 2019-2020 football season ended for the Atlanta Falcons, so did my time with Bird Gang, but I will continue to shadow my mentor throughout 2020. This was the inaugural season for bird gang. So they asked us to come in for some feedback on the season and our thoughts on the overall position. I enjoyed Bird Gang, we had a few ups and downs, but we made it through the season. Some changes I highlighted in my interview was the organization, and more props to interact better with the fans. Bryan gave some great news that we were ranked 9th in fan experience for the year, and bird gang played a tremendous role in that accomplishment. He also said we had high praise from team officials, fans, and the owner of the Atlanta Falcons Arthur Blank. Overall, I received high praise as an employee and was recommended to apply for their live events part-time staff in pursuit of my career goals. I can't thank Bird Gang enough for giving me this opportunity, and I looked forward to shadowing Bryan on a typical day outside of the gameday experience.
Atlanta Falcons Vs. Jacksonville Jaguars for the final home game of the 2019 season! oh, what a bittersweet day. I have created such a bond with my colleagues and will truly miss being with them on Sundays'. This was the experience of a lifetime throughout all the ups and downs, late and early days it was all worth it. This opportunity just gave me a small taste of what it's like to work in the sports world and I can't wait to get a full dose. I know to be careful what I ask for but I have truly found my passion. This game was pretty much the same as any other game day but we had a lot more freedom. We know the ropes now so we just did what needed to be done as a team. This game was cold, rainy, and early but as a team, we had a blast. We did a wing tasting contest during the tailgate, we also sang Christmas carols and hung out with celebrity DJ Big Tigger. As I stated before nothing was particularly different about game-day operations today besides have fun and make the best of our last time together. It wasn't the best season for the organization but I'm sure bird gang help enhance the fan experience and I can't wait to come back next yr.
Thank You Roddy WhiteWe're almost to the finish line, the season is coming to the end. in the second to last home game for the Falcons, it was quite a thriller. One of the most decorated falcons' receivers Roddy White was inducted into the ring of honor for the organization. The ring of honor is the hall of fame for the Atlanta Falcons and instead of getting a yellow jacket they get red jackets. Therefore for such a special occasion, it takes a lot of preparation. one main task we had during the game was rolling the stage out to the field during halftime and of course, rolling it back in. Other than doing that task, there wasn't much different from any other game day experience as Bird Gang. I did get to do surprise and delight which is when we take a cupcake to season ticket holders for their birthday. it's a joyous moment to see the look on the fan's face! We won the game and now we're on to our final game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Stay tuned for the last post of 2019.
Nothing like Prime Time TV and the Atlanta Falcons got to be apart of the action on Thursday night against their most hated rival, The New Orleans Saints. This week was much different from the past few games. Starting with call time, we arrived at the stadium around 1:30 pm instead of 6:00 am for a 1:00 kickoff. So I'm just going to walk thought the Entire day we arrive at the stadium, have a team meeting, report to the field to rehearse the Greatest show performance, and the rolling out of the American Flag for the singing of the National Anthem. We haven't done the pre-game show for about four weeks now, so we were all excited to be apart of that chaos once again. After the rehearsal, we reported to our regular tailgating duties where we participated in cookoffs, corn hole, and taunting of the saints' fans, of course. Today we also had excellent giveaways like hand towels, gloves, pop sockets, and sunglasses. The fans LOVE giveaways. After Tailgating, we participated in the bird walk, which is a parade that starts on one side of the stadium and we recruit fans to walk into the stadium with us chanting ATL chants, lead by the Atlanta Drumline. This was the highlight of the night seeing the fans so excited to see us coming. Oh, and I was the leader of the chants with the MegaPhone making sure everyone was on one accord! Alright, after that madness, we head down to the field for pre-game show and the national anthem, which was pretty chaotic but worth it in the end. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Once we finished there, we went to our sections to do the T-shirt toss, which is when we toss t-shirts in the stands. That's pretty much the highlight of the night the rest of the time we interact with fans, fill seats, and keep the crowd as enthusiastic as we can. The didn't get the win, but the experience of primetime TV was a win for me. #RiseUp
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Elisea JonesI will blog about my daily activities with The Atlanta Falcons throughout the 2019 football season Archives
March 2020
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