Extern Emma Kropke @ NBC Universal

      Spending a week at NBC Universal was a prospect that I was largely anticipating all summer long.  My experience that I had been anticipating came to fruition on July 28, 2014.  My week-long externship at NBC Universal began with an introductory meeting with Nick Johnson, SVP of Digital Media Sales, and other members of the NBC Sports team.

       I was eager to learn about the inner workings of the digital media division of NBC Sports.  I was to begin this learning process with Mike Marcus, the digital sports marketing director.  While shadowing Mr. Marcus, I was able to gain insight as to how the marketing team works and what their responsibility is at NBC Sports.  The marketers constitute ideas for ad campaigns and present these ideas on power point presentations.  On the second day of my externship, I met with Ali Leuthold and other members of the planning department.  Ms. Leuthold introduced me to the responsibilities of this division, which included their role as coordinators of activities between various departments.  The following days of my externship were spent meeting with the sales and operations department. 

       On Wednesday July 30, I met with Mike Hammer and Bill Keating from the sales department.  The members of the sales department work directly with their clients, as they are responsible for both receiving ad proposals as well as selling ad campaigns to the clients.  The final department I shadowed was the ad operations department.  Susie Meehan, the director of ad operations, explained to me her position as director of ad ops and explained to me how this department functions.  The ad operations department is in charge of the technicality of the company, ensuring the ads run smoothly.  On the final day of my externship I had a meeting with Nick Johnson, both one-on-one and as a group.  At this meeting, the externs and I gave Mr. Johnson feedback about our experience as externs at NBC Sports. 

       The externship I partook in at NBC Sports opened my eyes to the various job opportunities NBC Sports has to offer. It gave me an understanding of how the different departments at NBC Sports collaborate together to carry out the function of a digital media company.  The externship provided me the opportunity to experience what an employee of NBC Sports does on a daily basis.  For example, I sat in on various meetings, listened to several conference calls, and even helped Susie Meehan create a power point presentation regarding the upcoming 2016 Olympic games.  My week at NBC Universal provided to be an utterly invaluable experience.  Through the generosity of Nick Johnson and his team, I was introduced to the work of their digital media division.  I found this line of work to be of the utmost interest that has sparked a desire for me to possibly pursue a career in this field.