My Perspective as the GGCC Intern

A couple months ago, the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce (GGCC) started a blog entry entitled “My Perspective as the GGCC Intern” with our intern Emily Santini and here is the latest edition. The past couple months Emily has been extremely busy assisting me with event planning.

Emily Santini, Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber Intern

Event planning can be a fun and creative career path, it can also be extremely stressful at times. An event planner is someone who coordinates all aspects of professional meetings and events. They often choose meeting locations, arrange transportation, and coordinate other details.

Emily has been an intricate part of our staff assisting me with several events, including our Annual Celebration Dinner & Awards Ceremony. Over 235 attended this event and the evening events included: the installation of the Board of Directors, a silent auction, dinner, music, the presentation of the Annual “You Made a Difference Award”, announcement of the “Annual Small Business of the Year” and the “Young Professional of the Year” awards, and the awarding of scholarships funded by GGCC Businesses to Montgomery College students.

Many event planners work for large planning companies, where they are usually designated specific tasks, duties involved, including promoting, marketing, financing, and supervising events. The job can be hectic, though an experienced professional takes all of the precautions and preparatory steps necessary to make sure that things run smoothly.

Emily has proven over the last couple months that there are no set requirements to becoming a professional event planner, because her hard-work and dedication were instrumental in the success of the annual dinner and other Chamber events.

Below is her perspective on the last few months, enjoy!

Emily Santini: My Perspective as the GGCC Intern

“For the past couple of months at the chamber we had been preparing for the celebration dinner and silent auction. Laura and I wrote many emails, letters, and made many phone calls to get donations for this event, so when I attended the dinner on December 4, it was amazing to see all of our hard work come together.

It ended up being a great event, and I’m so glad I was able to help out in putting it all together.

Janeen (Janeen Beckstrom, the GGCC Bookkeeper) and I did check in, so I was able to meet and greet everyone who came. It was so fun to see everyone all dressed up and have the opportunity to talk to people I probably would never have known if I didn’t have this internship.

After the dinner and after Laura had totaled the profit for the night, she told me how proud I should be of myself and how much she appreciated my hard work, which definitely made everything worth the effort!

Another event I attended recently was the Holiday Open House. Despite the fact that there were so many people in such a small space, it was really cool to talk to all these different people about their lives and their careers.

These opportunities I have to meet people with all different professions give me ideas for the future and what I could possibly be doing when I’m their age. I hope through these events I am able to make long-lasting connections with people who inspire me to do great things and follow my dreams and aspirations for the future.” –Emily Santini

About Emily: Emily Santini is the GGCC 2014-2015 intern. She is a senior at Northwest High School in Germantown and aspires to have a career in business. She is actively involved in her schools POMS team, Track & Field, as an ambassador and is an honor’s student.

Stay tuned for future “Emily Santini: My Perspective as the GGCC Intern”.

The GGCC is active in providing business-to-business networking opportunities throughout the year: a collective voice in local, regional, and state legislative affairs, professional development opportunities and other services that enhance the business environment.

The GGCC is located at 910 Clopper Road, Suite 205N, Gaithersburg, MD. To learn more about the GGCC visit us at www.ggchamber.org. Find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gaithersburg-Germantown-Chamber-of-Commerce/64339954570. And on Twitter at @GGCCNEWS.

About Laura Rowles

Laura authors the blog Your Success is Our Business on MyMCMedia. Laura is the Director of Events & Marketing for the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce - a member-based organization of businesses that have joined together for the purpose of promoting the civic, commercial and industrial progress in our communities. The area's economic well-being is a result of the caliber of work that is done by the Chamber. The Chamber has a major impact on business, income and future growth of the area. My position at the Chamber - Director of Events & Marketing - affords me the opportunity to plan quality events for our Members and market the Chamber is a variety of avenues. At the GGCC, we typically have around 30 events each year including: breakfasts, lunches, after-five's, ribbon cuttings and special events. The consensus is we have high quality events with good energy. In 2012, we had over 2,040 people visit our events. Most our events are free to Members so securing sponsorships for all events. Additionally, I am responsible for planning networking, overseeing the budget and marketing of all events in order to make them successful. Lastly, I coordinate all marketing and communication efforts of the GGCC including weekly email blasts, its quarterly newsletter, all social media platforms, media relations and community outreach.

View all posts by Laura Rowles