Portfolio - Event Management

As the Communications and Engagement intern with Grande Cheese Company, I was in charge of coordinating a team of interns to attend the Downtown Fond du Lac Farmer's Market three times during the summer. This involved communicating with the team of interns attending each market and developing a relationship with the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership, which plans and executes the Farmer's Market. At these events, the Grande team handed out free reusable grocery bags to market attendees and signing-up attendees who bring their bags back for a chance to win "free cheese for a year."

These events allowed me to develop my leadership skills by organizing the intern team for each event, along with my relationship-building skills when communicating with the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership. Managing the Farmer's Market intern team also involved ensuring that communication with the public was consistent with Grande's brand voice. The Farmer's Market provided Grande, and myself, a great way to connect with the Fond du Lac public and show our support for sustainability by handing out over 300 bags at each event.

This event held at Wildfire Coffeehouse featured our small business and 17 other local artists, authors, musicians, and businesses. By hosting this pop-up event we looked to bring to bring the Fox Valley community together to support local small businesses. This event had two social media campaigns: one to recruit the artists and businesses for the pop-up and another to promote the event. Communication with the vendors for this event was crucial in determining how to manage who was able to come and what resources we needed to provide them with. In addition to a social media campaign calling for vendors, I reached out to businesses asking if they would be a part of the event as well. The social media campaign promoting the event included graphics made for stories and posts on Facebook and Instagram for the Wildfire Coffeehouse pages and for the pages of the vendors joining us for the vent. It also included live postings from the event to the Wildfire Coffeehouse social channels. 

This event was extremely successful for Wildfire Coffeehouse, the small business vendors, and the community members attending. Driving an estimated 300 total customers to Wildfire Coffeehouse and a record sales day of over $1800. The high attendance of this event gave the local vendors exposure that they "would have never had without this pop-up". Not only was this a great opportunity for Wildfire Coffeehouse and the local vendors in terms of business, but it also allowed all parties to develop strong relationships with community members.

This free event was held during the 2022 holiday season as a way for Wildfire Coffeehouse to give thanks to the community that supports us all year. The flyers above were created for social media stories and posts to advertise the event. These flyers were also sent to local elementary schools to include in school and classroom newsletters so area families not following us on social media could attend the event as well.

The social media advertising for this event was made up of posts, stories, and a Facebook event that started roughly one month before the event. This event required an RSVP via Facebook event or Google Form. From the RSVP forms, 87 people were expected to attend, which strongly surpassed the goal of 45 expected attendees. This event had a day-of attendance of 64, again surpassing the goal of 45. The most beneficial outcome from this event was the positive relationships built with members of our community who have become supporters of the business since the event. 

This event was held in conjunction with local artist CoCo Linked, who does permanent jewelry pop-ups at small businesses like coffeehouses and restaurants. The artist reached out to Wildfire Coffeehouse with an interest in having a pop-up at our location. An organic social media campaign was created to advertise this event. This campaign included a Facebook event page, two posts on Instagram and Facebook, and multiple story posts on both channels. 

This event was a success for both parties, with 134 customers for Wildfire Coffeehouse resulting in over $1300 in sales and 39 customers for CoCo Linked. 100% of customers for CoCo Linked responded in a survey that they heard about the event from Wildfire Coffeehouse, either from Wildfire's social media or a friend sharing a Wildfire Coffeehouse event post. This event brought together the audiences of two small businesses and created meaningful relationships for all parties. CoCo Linked will return to Wildfire Coffeehouse in 2024 for another pop-up event as a result of these successes.