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Hi, my name is Caitlyn
Johnston, and this summer I

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interned at Rafanelli Events.

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So, a little about myself.

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I am a psychology major
and an art history minor,

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from Jupiter, Florida.

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I'm a junior.

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And approaching the
summer, I originally

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intended wanting to go
into PR and marketing.

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I was really focused
on those fields

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when applying for
internship opportunities.

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And I landed a few
interviews, and I

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wasn't really connecting
with any of my interviewers

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and understanding, desiring
what my responsibilities would

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have been.

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So then I decided to approach
event planning, which

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a lot of people tend to
consider live marketing.

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And that really excited me
to be able to work on-site

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on the events, and also
behind the scenes as well.

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So through the
wonderful worldwide web,

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I started searching
event planning internship

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opportunities, and
eventually found Rafanelli.

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Went through the
interview process,

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landed it, and was
able to experience

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living in Boston for an
entire summer, which I highly

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recommend people doing, if
they're able to take advantage

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of living in the city,
which, coming from Florida,

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I had never done before,
which was definitely

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an eye-opening
experience for myself.

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So, Rafanelli Events is a
full-service, private event

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planning company that
provides its customer

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with a unique experience
that is designed

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to tailor to their every need.

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We had customers that would
come with a week's notice,

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and we'd have customers
that would come in

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with an eight to
10 month notice,

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and we were able to produce
events of their liking.

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We specialize in nonprofit,
private, corporate, and wedding

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events on both large
and small scale.

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We have main offices
in Boston and New York,

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with our head office in Boston,
which is where I was working.

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We also had satellite
offices in DC and Palm Beach.

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And while I was this summer,
we had several event producers

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and managers fly all the
way to Turkey for weddings,

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and down to the Bahamas
for wedding anniversaries,

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and upstate New York
for weddings as well.

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So we're really able to take
our services all over the world.

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So these are some
images that Rafanelli

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has produced in terms
of events themselves,

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just to give you an idea
of the elaborate nature

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of our services.

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And part of my responsibility
included vendor sourcing,

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setting up and preparing
design presentations,

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pricing specialty decor.

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And I would walk in
at 9:00 AM every day.

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I was there for two
and a half months.

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And I'd have a list of,
basically, tasks for the day,

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and then also for weeks
or for the months that I'd

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be carrying out.

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So one of the craziest
recommendations that I had was

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I had to source 12,000
oversized large jingle

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bells for a Christmas
party in December

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for a rather large client.

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One of the first things I was
required to do on my first day

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was sign a
nondisclosure agreement,

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so I wasn't allowed to talk
about any of my clients,

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or any of the
guests on the list,

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because we did have a
rather large clientele list.

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Most of them are pretty famous.

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So one of my favorite
aspects of my internship

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was working on-site
on the events,

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and really being able to
see the events come to life.

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Because when you're working on
an event day in and day out,

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and you're putting in all
this effort and research

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trying to track down the precise
napkins or the precise place

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cards for hours on
end, and then being

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able to see it come to
life two, three days ahead

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was really an
eye-opening experience.

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And you get on-site anywhere
between 6:00 and 8:00 AM

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three days before,
and we'd stay on-site,

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building and setting
it up, making

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sure everything was right,
managing the entertainment,

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the catering, making sure
everything was flowing

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the day of the event,
and just making

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sure all the guests were happy.

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So that was one of
my favorite parts.

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And then, obviously,
breakdown the next day.

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So, likes and dislikes.

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I definitely have
my ups and downs

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throughout this experience.

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I'd say living in a new
place, living in Boston,

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was definitely an
eye-opening experience,

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like I said earlier,
but I was alone in it,

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and I didn't really
know a lot of people.

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So it was definitely an
obstacle that I had to attack.

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I met an amazing
group of people.

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I was with four to
five other interns

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throughout my experience, and
I still stay in touch with them

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today.

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One of my favorite
parts was being

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able to sit in on the designs
presentations themselves,

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and that was something that I
was really excited about going

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into the internship,
was being able to see

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the ideas and the creative
aspect come to life.

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But, unfortunately,
one of the downsides

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was I wasn't able to
see the actual thought

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process that goes into creating
the design presentations.

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And that was something
that I was hoping for.

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So I'd sit in while
they presented

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the clients the potential
color options for whatever,

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the table may be or whatever
the centerpiece may be.

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But I wasn't able to
actually understand

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how they got to that
part, which was something

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that I was hoping for.

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And I realized about halfway
through this internship

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that event planning wasn't
going to be my future career,

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but I did enjoy my experience.

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So, sort of baffled by the
fact that I didn't really

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know what I wanted
to do with my life,

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and halfway through, I
realized that I've always

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had a passion for sports.

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And as a psychology major,
sort of combining the two,

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I got really excited
about the idea

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of a career in
sports psychology.

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And so I started researching the
field online for several days,

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understanding what
it entails in terms

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of graduate school, certain
certificate requirements,

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just getting a better
grasp on the field.

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And so through
contingence, one day I'm

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doing a general search I
came across Dr. Jack Lesyk,

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and he's at the Ohio Center
for Sports Psychology,

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and he also works one-on-one
with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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And I was able to get
in contact with him,

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and we had over an hour
phone conversation,

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just allowing me
to pick his brain,

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understand the field better,
understand what he does day in

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and day out.

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And that really excited me.

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And that's something
that I highly

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recommend for anyone that's
not really sure what they want

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to do, is just, honestly,
LinkedIn and the internet

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is such an amazing resource.

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And I was able to basically
stay in contact with him.

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And I still talk to him.

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And he's really been a
mentor of mine, I'd say,

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since having this
opportunity in this summer

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and really being able to
realize that although I loved

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one part of my internship, it
also gave me insight as to what

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I really do have a passion for.

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So thank you all for coming.

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