10 Things I Learned During My Virtual Summer Internship with Madison Square Garden
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By: Justin McGranahan
Originally published on emilybezak.com
Internships are one of the best ways to dip your toes into various departments and projects without marrying any specific career path. This summer, I worked as a student associate on the marketing strategy team at Madison Square Garden Entertainment, and I did it all virtually.
When the pandemic struck in March and lockdown procedures began, New York City was one of the hotspots. I had been planning to move there three months later, in June, to complete my internship in person. Or, so I hoped. As restrictions tightened and uncertainty grew, I lost most hope that my student associate program would happen at all this year. Luckily, I was contacted by the fantastic campus relations team at MSG that assured me that the program, while remote, would absolutely be starting in June as planned. I was so excited to hear that it was still on and was up to the challenge of being one of MSG’s first virtual interns.
So here’s what I learned:
1. Flexibility is key.
In marketing, nothing is ever set in stone. As politics, breaking news, and ahem — global pandemics fluctuate, so does everything that you do. Messaging that may have been perfect one day might not fly the next.
One of the main projects that I assisted with was marketing efforts for Madison Square Garden’s latest project: MSG Sphere in Las Vegas.
First of all, have you ever tried marketing for something that doesn’t exist yet? It’s not the easiest thing in the world! Part of my position included tracking COVID-related changes in Las Vegas that would impact our marketing efforts. One day we’d have a fancy idea for upcoming events, and the next day Vegas would close down completely until further notice.
2. There’s no such thing as a crazy idea.
As I said before, with everything changing so quickly, we were constantly looking for…
