What Do I Actually Do At Work?

When I tell people where I work, the first thing they ask is “what’s a CVB?” or if I’ve said Convention & Visitors Bureau, they’ll say “that’s a mouthful!” and then kind of stare at me blankly. Then they ask what I actually do. I tell them I help promote tourism to Liberty County. I know that’s very vague, but that is the essence of my job, and I’m trying not to bore them with the details. Now for me personally, the details are what make my job interesting and very rarely boring. I’ve had some unique experiences here and that’s what I like about what I do. I’m sure some people think I sit at my desk twiddling my thumbs, and while I may do some thumb twiddling when I’m thinking, I try to limit it to only half the day. Just kidding. It’s really three-fourths of the day. So for any who are curious to know what a person like me does at my job all day, here goes.

I write. A lot. Sometimes the writing is for this blog, sometimes it’s just an email (and if you think you don’t need to carefully craft the wording in an email, you’re mistaken), sometimes it’s content for our website or for Explore Georgia, an article for the Chamber magazine, a press release, a tourism story, Facebook or Pinterest post, an advertisement or any other thing that might pop up. That probably sounds easy but writer’s block actually exists, and I’ve experienced it on more occasions than I care to admit.

If you’ve noticed the table tents that are in restaurants, hotels and some dentist offices around the county, that’s one thing I work each month, using Photoshop. Yes. I, who came into this job with no Photoshop skills whatsoever now create these once a month. And sometimes, I even create the panels (the part with the pictures) from scratch. Thankfully, my boss was very patient in teaching me, and I’m positive she’s happy that I don’t come to her with an “oops, how do you fix this?” every five minutes anymore.

I keep up with local festivals, so I can post them to Explore Georgia (the state’s tourism website). If there’s a change to restaurants, historical sites or hotels, I make those changes on our website and make sure that those postings on Explore Georgia are up to date as well. This entails everything from writing the copy to picking out the pictures, resizing them if necessary, posting, and then making sure everything’s correct on the front end of the website.

I get to create flyers for various events, take photos, take video and then edit it, and create content for our social media and website. Sometimes I think of clever things to post on Facebook. Sometimes they’re probably not so clever.

Sometimes part of my job is simply unloading and loading “stuff” for an event. Our Chamber/CVB is constantly busy and our office staff is limited, but we ladies put in some serious effort when it comes to carrying heavy loads. I’m talking boxes of magazines, pallets, road cones, cases of bottled beverages, plants, cookware, you name it, and we’ve probably hauled it. Honestly, it would be amazing to have someone simply film us for one day during an event to see what we ALL do to get things ready. Oh, and I make a pretty tasty bourbon spiked peach tea for after-hours Chamber and CVB events.

I schedule itineraries for travel writers and group tours. Sometimes rescheduling or rearranging those itineraries then sometimes doing it a third time. My favorite thing to do is make presentations to various groups and organizations. Ok, that’s not true but it’s part of my job and I just try not to break into hives when I’m speaking in public. I run errands, help pack and unpack for tourism showcases, count and organize our inventory, help handle grant requests from various historic sites, and talk to visitors and newcomers about all the things to do and see in Liberty County. Fun fact, I now know more about Liberty County than I do about my own hometown.

Sometimes, we drop everything to give a tour to a film or TV location scout. And I do mean we drop everything. These Hollywood people have to move fast, so we take them out and show them anything they might be interested in filming. I’ve had days where I planned to work on website postings or plan editorial content, but when we get a call that someone needs to see some woods NOW, the day is shaken up and we might be driving all over the county for the rest of the afternoon. Even though it messes with my schedule, I do enjoy a break from the desk life, and driving around here isn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Everyone in this office is busy. If we run out of work to do for some strange reason, we can find something productive to do. We all have our parts to play to make the Chamber and CVB run efficiently and effectively. From an outsider’s point of view, all this may seem like busy work instead of work that keeps us busy. But it’s this work that keeps people interested in Liberty County; it promotes our community as a place to visit, to do business and to live. That’s good for small businesses, hotels, restaurants, historic sites and our overall economy.

When I moved here over five years ago, I had no idea of what life was going to be like in this county. Thanks to my job, I’ve gotten to experience some amazing things, interact with interesting people and work in an office with plenty of perks and some great folks who value their work and each other.

So what do I actually do at work? I like to think I have a small part in making good things happen for Liberty County; even when it is just hauling a stack of magazines to the car.

-Amanda Scott, Program Manager for the Liberty County CVB

The Right Blend Blog is written by two different authors employed by the Liberty County Chamber/CVB. As we are able, we rotate weeks and each writes about our individual experiences, opinions and let our writing reflect our personalities and creativity. All content provided on The Right Blend blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.