Roadblocks Along the Way
As we finish our Thanksgiving break and approach our last week of classes, we’re all hard at work on finish different assignments for our final project on the Roxy.
More often then not, when you embark on a new project you begin with more questions than you have answers. And, sometimes, there are only a few places you can look for those answers.
As journalism students, we all expect to be called upon to interview, call and at times go outside of our personal comfort zones to get the information we need. It can be a little intimidating being called upon to contact larger organizations.
During the course of this project I was in charge of contacting two larger organizations in the hopes of discovering the information we needed. The first, Georgia Power, based on a neighbor’s reports that Georgia Power workers have been seen going into the building itself.
The first course of action was to call the number listed for media requests. When I was directed to a person, all seemed to be going well, he gave me an email to send my information to and informed me it would take some “looking into.” I emailed him directly following our conversation. I have yet to hear back, despite having emailed again.
The lesson I learned from this experience in particular is that sometimes you will not hear back. Move to the next lead and don’t stop trying.
The second organization I was in charge of contacting was the church that had occupied the building after the Roxy. The Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith luckily had a website that listed both a contact email and a question request form.
I heard back from their contact only two days after my original email. We continued to email back and forth as he researched and reached out in the hopes of finding any information for me. However, though he was willing to help, he was unable to find anything or anyone that could help me find out more about the Roxy, when the church vacated the property and if someone affiliated with the church was still in charge of the property.
This experience taught me that patience and professionalism create good relationships, however there are times when your contact doesn’t have the information you need.
If you’re ever tasked with reaching out to larger organizations, conduct yourself with patience and professionalism and hope for the best.
