When WWE and Full Sail announced a partnership last year that brought live tapings of the NXT series to the Full Sail Live Venue, Show Production students jumped at the opportunity to shadow WWE crewmembers. At the same time, Entertainment Business Course Director Rob Burrows and Sports Marketing & Media Course Director Christopher Woodward saw the partnership as an opportunity to get involved in the marketing and promotion aspect as well.

“We wanted to look for ways we could provide some kind of experience for business and marketing students outside the normal event management aspects of the show,” said Rob. The pair selected a team of elite Entertainment Business, Music Business, and Sports Marketing & Media students recommended by their Course Directors, and together the group pitched a marketing plan to WWE Senior Marketing Executives, which according to Rob, the students “knocked out of the park.”

Since then, the group has worked with the WWE’s Social Media team to come up with new ways to get fans involved during NXT tapings and help bring in new NXT fans from outside of the Full Sail community. Tasks have included surveying fans about the tapings, hosting T-shirt giveaways and photo contests to increase crowd participation, and helping manage NXT‘s Twitter feed and Facebook fan page.

Christopher and Rob are looking to soon grow the number of members in the group from around eight currently to about 15-20. They’ll be taking into account GPA, GPS, and Course Director recommendations when considering applicants. “It’s basically all of the requirements that a real internship requires,” says Music Business student Ricci Pearson, another current member of the group.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to get their feet wet, on a small scale here, but working for a large company,” says Christopher. “And it’s a great way to network within Full Sail.”