Emma Christen

As a floor set associate I am responsible for dismantling and installing new marketing materials and products. I must organize all product that is being removed and placing new product on the shelves. Corporate provides a floor set up instructions and sometimes changing the height of wall shelves and racks is necessary. It is important to follow these instructions down to the smallest details. When complete window displays I have to dress bust forms, change light box graphics, marketing materials, clean the windows and angle the track lighting to hit the display correctly.

I have recently started at this company and am excited for a new challenge along my journey. My arms are open to new tasks and responsibilities they hand to me. Only being at the company for a month, I have already been able to help with inventory. This consisted of counting, scanning and organizing items for biannual corporate inventory.

The mission of the EDPA is to advance the interests of members engaged in the design, production, and service of exhibits, events and experiential environments. The success and integrity of our industry will be enhanced through advocacy, communication, education and good works.

The EDPA is THE network for leaders in the customer experience industry. Its members combine marketing, design and production leadership to help organizations create effective face-to face customer experiences & environments for tradeshows, events, corporate environments, museums, retailers, education and entertainment.

EDPA is a volunteer basis, and we all work as a team to reach our goals.

During my time on the board of the Southeast EDPA I have helped organize the schedule of events for the year, contacting educational speakers, hosted social events and helped with the marketing of events. As the secretary when we have board meetings or conference calls I take detailed notes of everything discussed. I follow the meeting up with an email version for all to reference. I also keep a copy of all past notes at hand for reference during any meeting.

Starting in the CAD department at beMatrix USA I worked with Inventor to provide clients with setup instructions and job quotes of client requests. Since beMatrix is a systems company I use the standard and sometimes custom frame sizes to satisfy the customers needs. As the company continued to grow, I shifted in the marketing department of the company.

As a marketing specialist some of my responsibilities include designing, creating, and delivering marketing elements to support the growth and expansion of company products and services.

I was a PCA for a 6 year old girl name Sydney. She needed help with her behavior so I picked her up everyday after school and took her home. We would work on her homework, read books, and I would feed her dinner. If there was free time we would play outside, or do crafts that work on her motor skills. This job took a lot of patience because as most things come easy to other people they do not with her. This really worked my creativity because I had to think of ways to get the simplest tasks to make sense.

At Maytag there are two businesses. The laundry side, and the tanning side. The laundry did not take much training, the duties contained of washing, folding, and sometimes ironing. The tanning side consisted of a lot of information and hours of training. You must be able to explain everything to customers, and make sure they are safe and do not burn themselves. At the end of every shift you must clean the whole business so it is ready for the next day, lock the doors, and set the alarm.

This job entailed cleaning all of the cabins, lodge, bathrooms, and the property every week.

I started at Home Depot my freshman year of college as a cashier. I soon moved to the Paint and was their main associate in that department. I wanted to continue my knowledge so after a year I moved to the Hardware Department. I also filled in in many other departments, Flooring, Plumbing, Garden, Kitchen & Bath, and Flooring. This was an amazing experience because I learned so many things that I use on a daily basis!

Working amongst the chaos of the Minnesota State Fair, I bunned thousands of hot dogs! We worked in shifts of bunning and also as a cashier. We did not use a cash register or a calculator. Everything was done in our heads, this was a simple yet large challenge as the State Fair can be very busy!

At McDonalds I was trained in all areas. Starting as a cashier up front, to a bagger, to working the drive thru, to finally working in the kitchen. As a high school student I still worked 40 hours a week!