It’s hard to believe I have already been at Heinz Field for 3 weeks. Time is flying! This week was by far my favorite, because we were preparing everything for the Kenny Chesney concert 5/30. We continued getting everything organized and ready for the staff working the clubs on concert day. We set aside bins that would have signs for the stanchions that said “enter’, “exit”, “no smoking”, etc. We made sure the North, East, and West clubs were all equipped with the proper signage. We also went through the club attendants’ sizes to find uniforms that would fit them.
Wednesday I worked the switchboard for the first time. Each of the interns takes a turn covering for the receptionist for an hour. I answered the phone, transferred people’s calls, and called the employee’s extensions when their appointments arrived. It was a good learning experience because I was able to get more familiar with employees in the building outside of the clubs and events staff.
On Friday, I did my normal office duties from 3 to 5, and then all of the interns gathered to do seat tagging. We went down on the field and tagged all of the seats by section, row number, and seat number. We put a tag on both ends of the rows and a few in between so that people would know where they were sitting. We were there until about 10 pm, but we got to see the band’s sound checking for the next night. It was so cool to see everything come together.
Saturday I arrived at 10:00 am. I started taking photos for the website,Twitter, and Instagram. I went outside and took photos of “Tiki Town” and around the stadium of the crew setting up.
Art Rooney Avenue was closed for the “pre beach party”. There was a small stage for live performances before the concert, photo booths, food stands, bars, etc. I then had to take balloons all around the stadium to various wristband tables. Most of the day, the other intern and I had to troubleshoot problems. The supervisors usually have iPads with all of the concert information, but they were not working. I made copies of all the content that would have been on the iPad, and organized it into folders. I then distributed the folders to the different departments so everyone was on the same page. I set up the ticket scanners, event day sheet, employee sign in sheet, and supervisor materials in each of the clubs. I watched the managers give their briefing before the concert, and then it was time to open the doors! Throughout the concert I took photos, and walked through the clubs assisting with any problems or errands that I could help with.
The show ended around 11:20, and then we cleared the fans out. I left the stadium at about midnight. I learned so much in just one day, and got to see how all the departments communicate and work together through a chaotic event like this. I can’t wait to see how the different demographic at the Taylor Swift will be compared to Kenny Chesney.