Hey world! I wanted to start off by saying that blogging has become an awesome way to reflect on my experiences, while simultaneously improving my communication skills. I realized that this was a direct connection to some of my biggest passions in life, photography and multimedia. I am going to be writing about how collaboration, both online and in person, has made me the person who I strive to be.
Now, you might be thinking what collaboration even means in the first place. Well, one thing that is extremely important to understand is that “collaboration requires goals” (Hyde et at., 2012). People often think that simply sharing something on social media would constitute collaboration, but that is far from true. I think collaboration should be for people who share common interests, engage with one another, and share knowledge. One way in which I connect with collaboration in person is through a club that I am actively involved in here at the University of Arizona called Sports Marketing Association (SMA). SMA is a unique club that offers individuals an opportunity to learn more about the sports industry by having bi-weekly meetings with guest speakers who have had experience working in sports. After meetings, there are opportunities to sign up to volunteer or network in a variety of events, which all improve your knowledge and chance of getting an internship in sports.
Getting a job in sports is arguably the most difficult career to get inside. I felt that there was one topic from class that closely related to this idea. It was stated that “communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (McDermott, Snyder, Wenger 2002). SMA is a club that fits this description perfectly because everyone involved in it has a deep passion for sports. We can learn so much valuable information from our guest speakers just by attending meetings. Additionally, volunteering relates to deepening knowledge as well because we get the opportunity for hands on experience that is impossible to get elsewhere. Our club also offers networking trips that offer a great sense of professional development and a way to build worthwhile connections. SMA is a community of practice because they fill the void of making a job in sports difficult to attain. Every member has the opportunity to use these incredible resources to their advantage, and that is exactly what I chose to do. I had a mission last year to get an internship in the sports industry, and it was because of SMA that I could work towards that goal.
In the beginning of last year, the board announced there was a new group to the club who would be known as honorary members. The honorary works directly with the board members to establish networking trips, meetings, guest speakers and much more. I applied after putting in numerous hours to my resume and preparing for the interview. After over twenty people applied, I was happy to hear that I would be one of six people who would be an honorary member. I would work directly with the director of marketing, a position I hoped to be on the board next year. It was fantastic to see how everyone on the board collaborated with one another for things to make the club run so smoothly. I helped with taking photographs at meetings and events, designing the website, and creating social media posts. There was not one task that did not better me as both a person and individual.
Image by kvrkchowdari via Pixabay
I signed up for almost every volunteer opportunity that was available to get recognized and gain experience. I finished as the top volunteer for the first semester, and got second the second semester. At the end of the year, we had a panel discussion and meeting to discuss internships for the upcoming year. After going around all the tables, I was particularly impressed with one internship with a company called IMG. Out of one hundred applicants, I got the position to work with photography and social media! All my hard work had begun to finally pay off, and I could not be happier. While in person collaboration is a great method, I have also found that online collaboration has helped developed my personal interests as well.
Image by web via Wikipedia Commons
As I said before, photography and multimedia are two of my primary interests. I began it as a hobby in high school, but I really started to pursue becoming better at taking photos over the past year. I had become obsessed with doing whatever was possible to be able to learn more about photography, social media, and post-processing. That is when I discovered this website. I could focus more and develop my skills to another level by finding this unique source to collaborate with. The reason why I love meetup.com so much is that I can personally select which themes interest me the most. For example, I am in lots of different photography, editing and hiking pages because those are the best way I can improve my skills. This freed up a big problem that I was initially worried about when I first got serious about photography. To get the shots I would want, I would have to have access to a car to get places. With meetup, we arrange places that are easy to get to and carpool to cool locations. I had always wanted to get complicated photographs or time lapses, like the one in the video below, but I seriously did not really know what I was doing.
I started to attend meetings hosted on the website on everything from beginner courses to learn specific ideas about how to photograph different subjects. Initially, I was not so sure about meeting a bunch of strangers from the internet, but there was more to it than that. We all shared a common interest and I thought that was more important than anything. I became more and more skilled by engaging with other members that had similar goals as I did. My goal was revolved around a few different things, but the main thing was to become better at photography. After attending about four to five meetings, I was ready to get started on photographing the diverse beauty that Arizona offers. In a matter of months, my social media drastically improved. I went from forty followers on Instagram to having over five thousand in roughly five months. As a result, my passion for photography has gotten me to many places. I have been all over Arizona, Utah, California, and I have plans to continue traveling throughout this year. After working in photography and multimedia all summer, I went all in on improving my photography once again. I bought a new camera (pictured below) and a new drone (also pictured below the camera). I love everything about collaboration because it has been the focus of both my personal interests and work career. If it were not for these two forms of collaboration, I do not know where I would be in life, seriously. Everyone can continue to follow up on my story by checking out my Instagram! Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope to continue my travels this year! Stay tuned…
Image by Morio via Wikipedia Commons
Image by ZULMAHDI via Pixabay
APA Citations
APA Citations
Hyde, A., Linkvayer, M., K., Mandiberg, M., Peirano, M., Tarka, S., ... Zer-Aviv, M. (n.d.). What is
Collaboration Anyway? In The Social Media Reader. New York and London: New York
University Press.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R.A., & Snyder, W. (2010). Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to
managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
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