GEMMA'S LEAVING BLOG - GOODBYE EXPERIENCE DAYS!
56 weeks and 56 experiences later, my placement year with Experience Days has come to an end! What an incredible adventure it has been, having the opportunity to work as a marketing assistant in industry, taking part in unique experiences, and of course meeting my lovely office family.
The work experience I have had during this year has been invaluable to me, from attending Brighton’s SEO conference day where we listened to inspiring businessmen and women, to visiting the World Travel Market in London, where we spoke with new and existing partners. Although these events were eye opening, the day-to-day training I have had from my colleagues has been amazing! I am now able to use Photoshop to a high standard, and have loved sending out email marketing campaigns to our thousands of subscribers. I also feel confident in my customer service ability and have received lots of lovely feedback during my time here, feedback I wouldn’t have earned without my peers teaching me all they know! Robb, the managing director and co-founder of Experience Days, has taught me the importance of search engine optimisation, and how organically making your way to the top of the Google search result list is a fantastic achievement! Experience Days has earned this achievement by continuing to add new content, which I am proud to have assisted with.
Thinking back to my first day, I was full of nerves and excitement! Having never worked full-time or in an office, I was curious if my body clock would adapt to the early mornings. Willow and I, having been in communication before our first day, walked into the office together and have become great friends ever since, earning the nickname “twins”. We have countless memories from this year, my favourite being when we flew to Scotland to meet some of our Scottish partners! The months of planning were all worth it as everything went perfectly – we felt like such grownups! I will never forget tubing down the rapids of the Scottish mountains. The views were exquisite, and Willow and I couldn’t stop laughing throughout the day. We are notorious for having bad weather on the days of our visits and although we assumed it would be raining, Scotland ended up being hot and sunny! From sailing underneath the historic Forth road and rail bridges, to exploring Edinburgh Castle, we had a fantastic time being tourists, which was reflected in our staff reviews and smiling faces on product videos!
The variety of experiences we sell on our website is unbelievable, and I have been so lucky to be able to take part in so many fun ones! These include a helicopter tour taking off from Goodwood, sheepdog training in Leicestershire, a wine tasting tour in Oxford, and flying a motor glider plane - the most petrifying but rewarding experience of all! Thanks to some impeccable timing, during our placement year Champneys spas were interested in the marketing opportunities we provide, including supplier visits. This meant that Willow and I visited all 5 luxurious Champneys spas around the UK and were treated like queens! As amazing as supplier visits are, we understood the importance of the job we were completing, and the fact we were representing the company. We worked brilliantly as a team to make sure we collected high quality images and video footage. Being able to look back at the 50+ videos we took part in is fantastic, and has often been the show-and-tell at my family dinner table!
My time at Experience Days has flown by and it has been unforgettable. This is down to the amazing team in the office: Robb, Garry, Charlotte, Alex, Shaun, Ayla … and of course my partner in crime, Willow, who is going on a celebratory holiday with me to Budapest this summer!
I’ll be sure to pop in and see everyone soon! Over and out – ‘Gemma Bates Marketing Assistant’!
To read about all the experiences I have completed this year click here!
