Challenge and Personal Growth: My Experience at the Clark Co Event Center
“It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.”
- Doe Zantamata
Even though my time at the Clark County Event Center has concluded, I’m eternally grateful that I had a chance to work with so many amazing leaders in this industry. My professional growth in this past two-in-a-half years is attributed to the opportunity and trust I was given in order to be successful. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my professional career. In this role, my leadership abilities flourished and my confidence increased tenfold.
So, very simply, to everyone who let me fly before I could run,
THANK YOU FOR TAKING A CHANCE ON ME.
Backstory
Everything in life happens for a reason. When I graduated from the University of Oregon in June of 2017, question marks started swirling. What happens next? How do I secure a job that will give me a chance use my Journalism and Communication degree? I secured more time to look for work while staying in Eugene the following summer. Since my lease was locked through September and I could still secure good money while working my student technician role in the UO IT Dept. (Summer 2013- Summer 2017), I thought this was a good opportunity to extend my stay a few months. However, when September hit, I made the decision to quit my job in Eugene and move back to Portland to pursue a career in Marketing. In this transition, my family offered a helping hand and I temporarily moved in with them while looking for work. To continue receiving a paycheck, I worked as a part-time worker at the Amazon fulfillment center from September through December. My shift began at 5:30am, including Saturdays. Then, everything changed on January 2nd, 2018. I moved into a Portland Apt. with one of my best friends, and my career was off and running.
The Opportunity - Year 1
After the hiring process concluded, I received an offer letter for the Marketing Assistant role at the Clark County Event Center. I accepted and began my new position the next day. I became the seventh asset in the Marketing department. My job initially was to create digital content year-round while establishing effective communication with our contractors (PR, Designer, Media Buyer, Videographer, etc.) I quickly established a strong relationship with the Marketing Director, which helped fuel our digital growth. Because it’s a small business, my job duties transformed into a lengthy scroll of various tasks. I was meeting in-person with all of our sponsors, creating hefty fulfillment presentations, reviewing sponsorship contracts, creating digital marketing campaigns for several of our year-round events, and expanding our digital footprint as far and wide as possible.
The Test
Our largest Event by far is the annual Clark County Fair, which brings in 240,000 attendees (‘18, 19’ average), 4 concerts, 5 motorsport events (tuff trucks 2x, monster trucks, demo derby), A carnival, a parade, agricultural exhibits, 4-H Events, contests, 64+ sponsors, hundreds of vendors and much more. This alone takes months to plan for. What is this like? Well, communication is key. We had to work with every department, from Operations to Finance, to achieve our marketing goals. First, the Marketing Dept. gets hit with deadlines from every direction approx. two months before and throughout Fair.
Examples:
Sponsorship Fulfillment: Need to get sponsors their concert/admission tickets, vouchers, special passes, parade entry forms, banners, Brewfest tickets, meet & greet passes, special events, or anything else they need to be happy. This piece is incredibly time-consuming.
Concert/Admission/Special Ticket Conversions: TV spots due, Radio scripts due, Social Media campaign running full force, all websites need to be ready for heavy traffic, analytics need to be set up correctly, tickets need to be properly designed, ticket giveaways need management, etc.
Newspaper Articles/Special Section: Designing/running Ads in multiple large papers (like The Columbian, for example). Media reaching out for stories/interviews leading up to and during Fair constantly.
Banners/Signs: Need to be complete weeks before the Event. That means schedules need to be finalized, new events need to have accurate info, sponsor banners need to have correct logos/info, etc. This is stressful because everyone will wait until the last minute to give us info and it falls on top of all other deadlines.
Contests/Parades: I was in charge of all contests (Hamburger, Hot Dog, Pie, Watermelon, Diaper Derby, Toddler Trot, Pretty Baby) and worked with our PR Manager to set up the first-ever Clark County Fair Parade. These events happen on-site, so I needed to have all social media posts pre-programmed and ready to go so I can focus on these tasks. More goes into setting up a contest than I initially thought. (stage, sign-up sheets, tarps, product, safety measures, trashcans, tables, etc.)
On-Site Digitial: I created a massive PowerPoint deck for our large Jumbotron Screens around the Fairgrounds. This involved collecting videos from sponsors, editing pictures, and getting the screens to work correctly each day.
Volunteer/Worker Management: Needed to provide leadership and specific direction to our intern and other part-time workers who helped the Marketing Department with various tasks throughout Fair.
Social Media: On top of everything, I needed to get quality content from various events on the grounds every day. I took pictures, shot video, did FB Live events, interviewed entertainment, called out certain events/programs, and did anything possible for extra engagement and sponsor fulfillment.
Administrative Tasks: I acted as the IT guy and helped everyone solve computer/software issues, printed misc. material, gave extra support to Operations when needed, and did anything that was asked of me.
The list goes on. These are just a few examples.
The Promotion - Year 2
After a successful first year, I was promoted to Digital Media Specialist. This changed my role and I became an in-house digital agency. The Marketing Assistant role I previously had was filled, allowing more of my time to be spent creating content and improving our digital footprint. We continuously adjusted to new leadership, as a new Fair Manager came on board shortly after my promotion. I continued to implement a data-driven approach and analyzed my successes and failures of the previous year. My scroll of responsibilities got longer, and I took as many leadership roles as I could within the organization. I was managing the Junior Advisory Board and had a seat on the Junior Livestock Auction Board as well. I was also invited to take charge of all digital media for the Clark County Fourth Committee as well, which proved to be an incredibly difficult challenge. This involved creating a brand new website, implementing a live voting system for Battle of the Bands, and provide fulfillment to over 16+ sponsors all the while preparing for our Fair. I also had an opportunity to travel to various conferences, including the IAFE conference in San Antonio, the Rocky Mountain Conference in Utah, and the Digital Summit here in Portland. These were incredibly beneficial, as I met like-minded people who had brilliant ideas in the entertainment industry. The second Fair experience was even more extreme, as I took on a lot of new projects and needed to step up in more extreme ways. I got my own apartment in St. Johns and I’ve been living here ever since.
The Pandemic
Just as quickly as my work at the Event Center started, it came to an abrupt end. When the Pandemic first hit the United States, we didn’t know what to expect. First, small events canceled. Then large events. Crisis-Management was in full effect. Shortly after, the Clark County Fair canceled. All revenue was lost. Nobody knows when the pandemic will settle down. This was a potent mixture for an Event Center. After hanging on as long as possible, I was finally laid off on May 14th. Now, I’m looking forward to my next challenge.
Roles I’m interested in:
Preferred: Full-Time, 401K % Match, Health Insurance
Program Director (Non-Profit)
Marketing Manager
Product Manager
Digital Marketing Specialist
Marketing Event Coordinator
AND/OR
Contract Work for small/medium size businesses looking to transition to digital services. I can help you incrementally gain engagement and conversions online through:
Website Design/Implementation
Paid/Organic Social Media Advertising
Content Creation & Creative Direction
Sponsor Proposal Generation
Data Implementation
Consultation & Insight
Newsletter Maintenence
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
& much more!
What my resume lacks in experience it gains in leadership ability. I lead with empathy and understand what’s necessary to make business endeavors successful. All I’m asking for is that chance. When my goals align with a company’s mission, nothing can stand in my way.
If you have any questions, please email me at Hayden.Schuster1@gmail.com.
Thank You.
Hayden Schuster
