The University held an event management forum, where a National Football League executive spoke to students about his primary responsibilities and what it takes to work in event management for the NFL.
Senior Vice President of Events in the NFL, Frank Supovitz told students gathered in the D’Angelo Center about his past experiences in event management and that currently, he is overseeing the upcoming 2013 NFL Draft to go as smooth as possible. The forum on April 16 was run by Professor Gabrielle Simpson and her Special Event Publicity Class, which handled the process of promoting and planning of his visit to a real life simulation.
“I love working because what we do matters to the people,” Supovitz said. “The NFL is more than just a sport.”
“It is our job to entertain the fans and make them feel like they are a part of the NFL.”
Starting his career as an usher at Radio City Music Hall, he worked his way up to the operations department. With the experience he gained from Radio City, he then moved on to a lengthy career with the NHL that led him to be inducted into the event solutions hall of fame in 2006.
Now, Supovitz works in the NFL event management department and oversees the NFL draft and combine, Pro Bowl, and the Super Bowl, along with national and international games.
Although the job is filled with a lot of stress and requires extreme amounts of work and time, there is a sense of satisfaction from all the work that is accomplished according to Supovitz.
“You have to be constantly on it, if you’re doing what you love, that’s not work, it’s what you do and you get the enjoyment from what you do,” he said.
Behind the scenes of Supovitz’s visit, Simpson’s class used the event as a way of taking their lessons in the course and applying them to this situation.
“It was my extreme pleasure to bring Frank Supovitz to the St. John’s campus for a class run event,” Simpson said. “I’m very proud of my publicity event planning class, as they individually worked hard on this successful endeavor.”
Students split up tasks and designated different responsibilities such as advertising through social media platforms and making flyers and assigning a publicist to be a referral point for inquiries about the event.
Among those students was junior Christine Dirr, who enjoyed the experience of working on this event and recommends those with similar interests to join the class.
“I really enjoy being a part of this class especially because I am planning to become an event planner,” she said. “This is the first class that I am really learning the hands on aspect of planning an event.”
“If you are looking or interested in event planning, this is an awesome class to take.”
Students who were in attendance were particularly appreciative for Supovitz’s advice and outlook on their career paths.
As someone who is looking to work in sports, senior Patrick Maloney was very grateful that Supovitz came to St. John’s to speak to students.
“It was helpful to hear his philosophies and think how they can be applied to different situations,” Maloney said.
Wesley Davis, a sports management major, already has experience working in event management. However, Supovitz gave him a great perspective of what the future of the industry may be like.
“All the hard work is worth it and in the end it makes me know I am in the right major,” Davis said.
