Reported by Hannah Weinstein for the Flatiron Hot! News

This summer, I had the opportunity to work at the NYC Seminar and Conference Center. NYCSCC accepts interns year round, with the busiest seasons being fall and summer. I was a marketing intern, alongside Sanika Shah (marketing), Zach Gladstein (finance) and Hyomin Lee (finance). The conference center is a value meeting space for financially conscious businesses in the city. Companies can rent out rooms to have their meetings, with full technological capabilities and catering. 

Sanika (currently an undergraduate at Bates College) and I (a proud Muhlenberg College grad) were involved with the marketing side of the business. We went out to new restaurants, cafes, events and talks to review them for the Flatiron Hot! News blog. Our goal for the blog was to promote the Flatiron/Chelsea area, while also promoting the conference center. If clients were curious about the dining options in the neighborhood, we could direct them to the blog for more information. In addition, we would talk to restaurant managers to inquire if they could provide any deals to our clients, in exchange for writing a review on the blog. 

This aspect of the internship was exciting to me, because I love to explore the city and try new things. If you have a similar attitude, this is the perfect way to get to know a neighborhood in depth. There is so much happening everywhere in the city that people do not know about; our goal was to make new discoveries. Writing for the blog is also valuable, as you can improve your writing skills and learn how to write in a way that promotes establishments. It is a perfect opportunity to find your voice and style as a writer. 

Zach (currently a Carnegie Mellon student) and Hyomin (enrolled at Binghamton University in New York) worked on the financial side of the business. They worked as a team to assist in strategic planning for the business by forecasting future demand for the conference center. They used a cloud-based conference center management system to track past event activity, projected trends in the economy and analyzed fixed and variable costs to come to conclusions about the direction of the company. They also created monthly, quarterly and annual reports for senior staff to use to predict profitability at different levels of event activity. 

From a marketing perspective, I would highly recommend this internship. Everyone working here is so nice, and will make you feel at home. You can balance how many places you review while allowing yourself time to write for the blog. You will also gain insight into how a small business such as NYCSCC operates, while experiencing everything the Flatiron District has to offer!