What do you think it would be like to intern for the 2016 NBA national championship team, the Cleveland Cavaliers? Recent 5X and School of Communication Studies alumna, Katrina Hall can tell you all about it! Hall has spent the past two years interning with the Sales and Services Crew for the Cavaliers and has enjoyed every winning moment.
During her time with the Cavaliers, Hall was responsible for all events that happened in the arena during game time, whether the team played at home or away. Hall assisted in organizing and taking part in pre-game and half-time shows, the high-five tunnel for the players, special parties for season ticket holders and more on-court events. She also had the opportunity to create event agendas called The Fan Experience Program for the Cleveland Gladiators, an arena football team owned by the Cavaliers organization.
“The Fan Experience Program agenda is probably the most important piece of paper during any sporting event held at the Q,” Hall said. “It gives a timeline of what is happening on the court and it ensures everyone in the building is on the same page.”
Hall enjoyed meeting and interacting with a new crowd of people every game night and said her communication studies courses helped her feel prepared.
“Every game night I was faced with a new batch of 20,000 people,” Hall said. “Part of my job involved constant interaction, and learning different communication techniques and styles from my communication classes definitely made communicating easier.”
Since Hall was often down on the court preparing for her next event, she did get some face time with the Cavaliers.
“All interactions I had were extremely professional,” Hall said. “JR Smith was always awesome when I had groups on the court. He would make sure to high five every kid and sometimes even pass one a ball.”
Working closely with the players resulted in dealing with the media; and Hall got a large dose of media chaos during her experience.
“My very first game working was the first home game with LeBron back in a Cavs jersey,” Hall said. “There were media everywhere and I remember thinking that I had never seen so much chaos and so many cameras. I did get used to it really fast and soon I realized the media were there to do a job just like I was.”
Hall described her favorite moment of her internship to be when a mandatory meeting was called for all staff members.
“No one had any idea of what was about to come,” Hall said. “We were told that we were all going to fly out to Oakland, California for game one of the 2015 NBA Finals. It was absolutely incredible.”
Hall originally applied for a different position with the Cavaliers but was not selected. She did not let this deter her and was able to interview for the internship within the Sales and Services Crew. Hall offered this advice for other communication studies students:
“Network and intern,” she said. “Find internships and dig deep. If you do not see anything posted on a company’s website, email them and ask about opportunities. They are out there, you just have to be willing to fight for it.”
Hall graduated this past spring and has landed a job with Vendome, a healthcare media group, in their sales and events department. Hall gives much credit to her internship experience with the Cleveland Cavaliers for helping her be successful.
“So many opportunities have come my way because of my experience with the Cavaliers,” Hall said. “People see it on my resume and automatically strike up a conversation.”