Very First Meet and Greet

Today, I had my very first "Meet and Greet." This is a common term around the Disney company for short meetings with professionals from around the company. They are totally up to you to set them up, but they are highly encouraged nonetheless. It's pretty much the main way to network while on your program, something you do not want to miss out on while you're here, especially if you plan on staying with Disney. 

Because I've never really done a Meet and Greet before, I made it easy on myself and started with my teacher, David Horvath, he teaches both my classes so I figured he'd be a great resource, plus I'd get to know my teacher better! He was a great resource indeed, he gave me a lot of advice for moving forward with my future Meet and Greets as I already have a few more set up, including: 

Dan Campbell - Disney's Animal Kingdom Entertainment

Emily Carreon - Global Content Development (Yellow Shoes)

David basically explained that each Meet and Greet should last about thirty minutes, to respect the other persons' time. You should come prepared with some questions and a basic vision of what you want to get out of the meeting. David also helped me by telling me that I HAD to go back and finish my degree and that it was okay doing so. It obviously feels super hard to leave when I have started making connections here and can see where my career could be headed, but he made me feel okay about returning for my degree.

I'm really looking forward to both of these and I even have a "Spotlight on Disney's Dream Weddings" coming up soon! Many departments do these "Spotlights" when the have a lot of people interested in Meet and Greets, so they invite many people at once.

In total I have already emailed twelve professionals on property to set up Meet and Greets and am waiting to hear back. I'm excited that I get this opportunity at all, and frankly I don't think there's such a thing as OVER networking.

Exploring Marketing: Week One

Bright and early this morning, at 8:30am I had my first class for Exploring Marketing. I have the same teacher that teaches my Disney Heritage Class, David Horvath, and he's still just as awesome as ever today. He did his typical introduction, which I had already heard before, so the new part of the class for me was the guest speaker, Randi, who works in the marketing department! It was awesome to hear from her because she literally went over every segment of Disney's marketing department and helped me narrow down where I could see myself based on what each department is responsible for.

Thanks to all her insight and her break down, I could definitely see myself in any of the following departments:

• Content Development/Broadcast Production-Digital content development: Responsible for digital shorts, YouTube/Facebook videos, DVC Virtual Events
• Digital Marketing
• Public Relations
• Special Event Management

My Disney Heritage class makes me very excited about working for the company, but my Disney Marketing class makes me excited to have a future in the company! After Randi's lesson, I was so excited to meet with Randi one on one, so I emailed her immediately after to set a meet and greet up.