Volunteer experience at coolTECH presented by the Tampa Bay Technology Form

Ronya Al Salem U17421843

June 10, 2011

My Volunteering experience at CoolTECH

All about CoolTECH

On June 10th, The Tampa Bay Technology Form, partnership with MOSI to host their

fourth annual coolTECH showcase of superior innovations and new technologies. TBTF is a

non-profit based organization which exists to grow and promote technology in Tampa bay.

TBTF objective is to increase awareness of new innovative technology so they put together an

event called coolTECH. The event attracted many businesses, entrepreneurs, student groups,

educational institutions, innovators and more as the event was open to the public. 50 exhibitors

showcased their technologies, where more than 550 people who attended the event got to see

how those exhibitors brought new innovative ideas to change and impact the way we live, work

and enjoy our lives. The types of technologies that were showcased ranged from consumer

gadgets, green technology, assistive technology, life sciences, biotech, mobile applications and

devices, and more. The event hosted a very successful entrepreneur, Craig Newmark, founder of

craigslist.org, where the guests had the privilege of hearing him give a speech of

encouragements, and advise. Lori Taylor and Kimberly Wander are the two members that took

control over the event.

My Volunteer Experience

My overall experience volunteering at coolTECH was great, despite the complications

and lack of instructions; it was a wondering learning experience. My volunteering experience

started at 12:00pm where I meet my three other classmates at the entrance booth of the event

located at MOSI. When I first arrived we meet a lady who was an intern and briefly told us what

Ronya Al Salem Volunteer at CoolTECH by the Tampa Bay Technology FormFriday June 10, 2010

to do. She gave me and another one of my peers the role of taking charge of the entering

participants; we had to look up their reservations, if they were pre-registered, find their name

tags and make sure to answer any questions they had. Our other two peers were in charge of

handling the register, dealing with the money aspect and creating new name tags. The exhibition

was open to the public at 1:30pm; however, some members were involved in a special lunch in,

and got the privilege of hearing Mr. Craig Newmark give a speech. These member purchases a

special package and arrived early, so our day started as early as 12:30pm.

While we were managing the front booth, we ran into many complications. The credit

card machine was not working and we had a line of ten people gathered up and they were

quickly lining up out the door. The volunteer’s tried to contact Mrs.Wander, and the other intern,

but they were nowhere to found. I however, walked over to the food court and asked the lady

who was in charge of the cashier to possibly help. She directed me to another lady who knew

how to handle the credit card machine; unfortunately she came over and helped us, but failed to

figure out how to work it herself. Finally, the lady who we stumbled upon found Mrs. Wander 30

minutes later and the stressful situation was situated. Throughout the volunteering experience, I

however got along great with all the staff and volunteers and felt that we all work efficiently to

solve any problems that occurred with professionalism.

The only suggestion I would make for improvement would be to give prior instructions to

the volunteer’s to better manage the entrance booth. I believe the lack of instructions lead us

towards minor complications and stress. We also found it very difficult to contact anyone in

charge that could help us in a crisis situation. However, I believe the complications taught me a

better understanding of Public Relations and events. Like the book states, an event takes lots of

strategic management, and time. It takes effective planning, and involves a lot of work. I saw that

implemented in coolTECH as it was fortunately a success. I would also consider coolTECH to

be considered as a trade show, as the booths demonstrated great visibility, provided face to face

contact with consumers, and attracted media. This event was a vital tool in Public Relations for

TBTF and I can say I learned more through this experience then I predicated I would. Even

though they were complications, I believe the complications taught me just how hard managing

an event is, and my role is nothing compared to what Mrs. Wander and her other member’s must

be going through. This experience really gave me a new found appreciation of event planning

and the hard work that is involved.

A Job Well Done.

Despite the complications we ran into, and the miscommunications. The Tampa Bay

Technology Form presented an outstanding first-class event for the vendors, attendees,

employees, and other key publics of the organization. Mrs. Wander and her staff did an

excellent, time efficient job on creating an event where vendors can showcase their new

technology. They also included a raffle to establish consumer engagement. They had the

attendees get a stamp from each booth, and when they received all the stamps on their blue

paper, they were allowed to be part of a raffle to win a free playbook tablet. Overall the event

was very professional, organized and effective. Craig Newmarks presence attracted many people

to attend the event. Amy Norman the president and CEO of TBTF also did a great job along with

Kimberly Wander. They brought in vendors such as Verizon, Chevy, medical simulators,

biotechnology, robotics, consumer gadgets, electronic cars and more to be showcased to

hundreds of interested participant’s that showed up. A diverse range of member’s that worked at

Merrill Lynch, DeVry University, ITT technical institute, and more attend the event to see the

wonderful innovations.

Promoting the Event and Media

TBTF used effective strategic ways to promote their event. First of all they used a very

effective place to host their event, the Museum Of Science and Industry. They promoted their

event using Twitter through the MOSI account and their own TBTF account where they would

tweet about what’s going on in relation to the event. They also uploaded videos on YouTube,

where you can watch were Fox 13 Good Day talked about the event live with Charley Belcher.

The event also attracted Bay news 9, St. Pete Times Article, Tampa Tribune Article, and Tampa

Bay Business Journal Article. TBTF also used Facebook through their account, and MOSI

account to promote their event. Blogs were also established to promote coolTECH, and were

talked about on Facebook, posting URL’s to read the most recent blog about how to get involved

with coolTECH. Furthermore, TBTF also had their main website were consumers can learn more

and purchase tickets. Flicker was also used, afterwards where they posted pictures of the event.

Evaluation

The main purpose of the event was for the TBTF to reach out to the community,

specifically to high tech companies, tech entrepreneurs, and tech professional’s. TBTF designed

the event to really showcase what Tampa has to offer relating to technology, innovations and

their mission is to help companies tell their story. Well organized and planed with strategic

management and organization TBTF established a successful event, which generated great media

attention. However, in public relations, it’s not about how much media attention you attract but if

you have reach your attended objectives and TBTF indeed benefited from this event by

establishing their main objective, which was to help companies tell their story and showcase

what Tampa has to offer. I feel very fortunate to have been able to volunteer at coolTECH

Observational pictures I took throughout the event.

Examples of some of the types of media that were usedTwitter:

Facebook: Fox 13 LIVE :