Form 9a

Bi-Weekly Reflective Journal Entry

In addition to the bi- weekly reflection based on this form, please reflect on one question per journal entry from the next page.
One journal entry every two weeks for a total of six during the semester.

Student Name: Michael Kesler

Weeks # 8, 9, & 10 Dates: 3/6/16 3/25/16

Internship Hours: Three Week Total: 115.65
Cumulative Total to Date: 399.65

Site
Supervisor: Chad Keefer
Agency: Vivint Smart Home Arena
Brief description of the past two weeks duties:
We had a number of events including Jazz games, concerts, and comedy shows over the past few weeks that
have kept us incredibly busy. Staffing and being the manager on duty with Chad and Steve have kept me
extremely busy the past several weeks
How are you experiencing a relevant and challenging use of your skills?
With this many events in a row, I was forced to utilize my skills to effectively communicate much faster and
efficiently as I have ever had to communicate in the past.
What did you learn from the experience?
The cancellation of the Angels & Bees game forced me to better understand and appreciate the tools we have to
communicate with our staff. To have less than 3 hours to call off 120+ employees by myself was an extremely
difficult task to accomplish. Without the tools we have, I would have been on the phone for hours.
What worked well? What would you change next time?
I think moving forward, utilizing our staffing software and working with all of our employees to be signed up
will help me have a greater effectiveness when communicating with my staff.
Please describe the supervision you are receiving.
Limited supervision is being received, mostly the results of the work Im doing.

PRT 4824 Journal Entry 4

The transition thus far into my internship experience has been extremely smooth. I think one of the biggest things
that has helped me over the years is the other internships that Ive done with other businesses within our organization. A
part of the help there has come with the small internship I did a few summers ago that helped me ask the right questions to
help me get into this position.
One experience in college that has helped a lot was participating in Student Life & Leadership at Salt Lake
Community College prior to transferring to the University of Utah. The work that we did putting on concerts, lectures, and
activities ties in well with the work that we are doing here of putting on concerts, Jazz games, and comedy shows.
Understanding all the moving parts that including advertising, accounting, and the event management side (where I work)
give me a better understanding of who and how I should talk with certain individuals within the organization when I need
something done.
Another area that I feel has helped me in my day-to-day job duties has been the diversity courses Ive taken
throughout my time in higher education. A lot of the staff that Ive inherited have been here for many years and with over
300 staff members that we are responsible over and bringing in new faces has proven tough. Many of our guest service
representatives are older and have been working here for many years. Many are retired and dont have a lot of energy
when on the clock. Our Event Security staff on the other hand is full of guys who work a job during the day and come to
the arena in the evenings. This proved difficult to work around and manage schedules to insure that we are being fair to
the staff while also covering our positions for events.
The work within some of our diversity courses can prepare you for these types of challenges and have a better
understanding of the differences in class, race, or age groups and can help you understand why people do what they do,
and what theyre looking for from you in the work place. We receive a lot of call offs from health related issues, family
problems, and work conflicts that make it difficult to insure that you are properly staffed for any given event. The toughest
problems tend to come when we have artists or performers that the older generation doesnt care to work around and we
get call offs from everyone. It proves hard to staff a sold out Justin Bieber concert when 40 people call off because they
dont want to listen to Justin Bieber.
The biggest thing from college that I think has made me a successful manager, is that I understand that Im going
to fail. Something I learned in college when I didnt do well on a test or failed a class is to step up, dust yourself off, and

move onward. Sometimes its easier said than done, however I genuinely feel that the hardships Ive gone through in
college help me overcome my failures in the workplace and help me come out a better manager.