This was one of the coolest summers of my life. It wasn’t because of all the floating down the Willamette River my family and I did. And believe it or not, it also wasn’t because of the absurd, and frankly embarrassing amount of golf I played (which I’m only a little ashamed of). It was actually because I got to travel around Oregon, on a giant bus, touring manufacturing plants that drive Oregon’s economy. This project had never been done before in the state of Oregon, and I got the opportunity to help plan and run the inaugural roadshow. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. With so many moving parts, logistical challenges were inevitable. I had to quickly learn how to multitask.
When I joined Coastline, I had just finished my freshman year at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!). For a summer job, I wanted to learn more about Oregon politics and how public affairs shapes legislation. I found my perfect match with Coastline PR as a summer associate. I came into the role with the expectation that I would learn how the business community helps influence and shape policy. My main responsibilities would be assisting, as needed, to plan our Manufacturing Roadshow, while also learning teams work together to solve real world problems – not only with Coastline, but also with the Roadshow’s host, Oregon Business and Industry.
I thought for sure I would start off slowly…and boy was I wrong. But I loved it. Immediately, I was thrown into the work. I hit the ground running (make that sprinting) with just a little over a month to help organize more than two dozen tours of Oregon manufacturing facilities over the course of three weeks. I realized very quickly that with all the moving parts of this work, mistakes were inevitable. But that was one of the things I liked most about working here: I felt comfortable knowing that if something didn’t go as planned, we would adapt. One of the best things for me was watching our plan come to life and evolve in real time.
Coming into this job, I had no knowledge of what it really takes to plan a 2,000 mile bus tour. Every day of planning this tour was different. One day, I called dozens of hotels in Eastern Oregon to book blocks of rooms for our guests at the best possible price. I expect this new skill to serve me well when I need to buy a car. The next day I was asked to map out our entire itinerary and identify the length of drives between stops. Some days I found myself talking to a public affairs officer of a small town. I planned meals for the trip, including timing and any needed travel coordination. I created countless spreadsheets to track all our RSVPs and, I have to say, I became pretty good at Excel by the end of the summer. And after weeks of planning, I truly enjoyed traveling the state. Oregon is home to some amazing businesses.
The tour was a blast, and I learned about the relationship between public affairs and public policy. And I believe that we accomplished what we set out to do: communicate to policymakers and business leaders about the importance of Oregon’s manufacturing sector. I’m so grateful to have had this experience and to have met so many incredible people. I never knew what I might learn each day, and that was the great thing about this job.
I can’t wait to see where this takes me next.