Liftoff.

This summer I landed an internship at Barkley in downtown Kansas City. I courted these guys for months and somehow didn't manage to piss off Jen Karns to the point of telling me to get lost. Go ahead and endorse me for "tightrope-walking-the-fine-line-between-getting-yourself-hired-and-stalking-your-way-into-being-unemployed." It was finally time to tell Maryville I'd be taking a break to hang out with some new faces for a little bit.

"Alright...who put the tall guy in front?"

Nonetheless, the gig rolls on. I wanted to share some of my experiences (despite already being nearly halfway through my internship) before I have to strap on my nostalgia goggles to do so.

On day one I was given a company laptop thin enough to pick my teeth with. I quickly learned where I could get coffee.  Beer is on floors 2 and 4, but don't bust out the brews before 4 pm. Especially if you're an intern. You know, the basics. 

Basics aside, Barkley throws interns right in the thick of it. In my first week, I had been a fly on the wall of meetings for 5 different clients. I've since created and scheduled a month's worth of  client-approved content for a brand which I'm now community managing. But before I get ahead of myself... Back to week one.

Toward the end of the week, the entire agency was in for a treat-- the company-wide annual partner meeting at Union Station was promised to rock our socks off. Without getting into too many details, I was surprised by a roaring drumline performance, breakdancing astronauts, a speech by a a guy younger than myself who is no-doubt going to cure cancer someday, and the echoey result of a DJ and liquor-fueled happy hour right in Union Station. See diagram from a moment of said event below.

1. Penny Hardman, AKA the person who hired me, OWNING the dancefloor. This went on for some time.
2. Jason Elm gets his own bubble simply because he's a badass. 
3. Fellow media intern, Sarah Arnoldi, dancing in my frame once she saw I was snapping a picture.
4. Jen Karns silently judging and/or 'mirin Sarah's footwork from afar.

Kauffman makes me make that face I always make.

I always did like Sprint's color scheme.

Not long after the excitement of the annual partner meeting, I went to a Sprint Accelerator event which hosted demonstrations by some of the best innovators KC had to offer. The whole thing ended with a presentation by Sprint CEO, Marcelo Claure. That dude set the "most humble CEO" bar VERY high. Really cool event, which was followed by another night of drinks and karaoke with some more Barkley partners over at the soon-to-be-closed bar, the Bulldog.

Marissa can actually smile. I just open my mouth.

Social media interns rock the hardest. We stayed at the Bulldog long enough to hear more than a few of our fellow social media partners sing karaoke with the help of a little (or possibly lots) of liquid courage. Gotta love this industry.

More photos. Less text.

3D scanning is cool. 3D printing is also cool.

#selfieception

Lunch buds.

Kellen was napping at Town Topic one time.

We grill.

We're spoiled with things like beer and ice cream until the creativity oozes out.

#BLVDIA

Everything that Whiskey Design touches is freaking gold.

I got the chance to hit up the beer and music festival, Boulevardia, with a handful of other interns last Friday.

This Friday, I attended the 2015 Gas Can Creative Conference at the Sporting KC arena. It was chalk full of great presentations on what it means to truly be creative, collaborate with other humans, and to just be rad. During this conference I also participated in a choreographed air guitar flash mob instructed by the 2013 Air Guitar Champion. Can't make this shit up. Looking for video evidence to post here, but until then, here are some photos from the event. 

Here we see a room full of grown adults coordinating an air guitar routine to Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name of.

Just remember, the coolest creatives are always photographed walking away from their ideasplosions.

Soccer's the one with no hands, yeah?

Ahh, and here we see some familiar NWMSU faces. We all got to attend this event because of the trust that AAFKC puts in future advertising talent in the form of their Foundation Scholarship. They provide free admission to its Foundation scholars as well as a lifetime mentor in the industry. We're currently awaiting which mentors we are assigned and couldn't be more excited to find out. 

Okay so this is kind of a MASSIVE post, but it feels so good to get caught up. I can only expect more exciting experiences to come from Barkley this summer. We've got a bomb-ass group of talented young interns who will all accomplish great things over at 1740 Main Street in KCMO. Trust me when I say what I have outlined here so far is only scratching the surface.