--- title: 'Behind the scenes of Day of Understanding: An intern’s story' slug: day-of-understanding-intern-story author: Bryn Geraghty published: '2026-08-10T00:00:00.000-04:00' category: Understood updates excerpt: 'Working on the high-impact internal comms team showed this summer intern just how much every piece of work matters to the big picture. ' source_url: https://www.understood.org/en/blog/day-of-understanding-intern-story --- # Behind the scenes of Day of Understanding: An intern’s story Understood has run its internship program for five years, giving college students direct experience at a social-impact nonprofit supporting people who are navigating neurodivergence. This summer, six interns are working across four teams: Product – Research Operations (UXR); Advancement; Product – Design; and Expertise and Behavioral Change Innovation. Interns get  to take on projects that advance the organization’s mission while helping them develop professional skills through leadership opportunities, dedicated mentoring, and team-based work.   --- ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/7egbHRDMQxWSAWsIJI85vt/2c547a73beec5bef642a98e5fb971f04/2533_0Z8_0234.jpg) When I started my internal communications internship at Understood.org, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. But I knew I wanted to do meaningful work. I’ve always looked for a sense of purpose in my career, and I was thrilled to join an organization that supports people who are navigating neurodivergence.  Looking back, this experience gave me even more than I’d hoped for. Working in internal communications allowed me to connect directly with the organization — whether I was translating big-picture strategy into clear messaging every employee could understand or helping plan company-wide engagement events. I got to build real-world skills while doing work I truly love for an impactful mission.  My manager also made learning business operations a significant portion of my internship. One of the aspects of the internship that I was most excited about was helping plan and execute Understood’s *Day of Understanding* (DoU). Twice a year, Understood brings together its entire team. For the main event, an entire day is dedicated to deepening the organization’s understanding of the neurodivergent communities they serve, so every team member can better address their users’ challenges and guide users toward thriving lives. For the July DoU, the focus was on how as an organization we make our work better by helping every employee find greater ease in how they work and deliver impact. The event was designed to take a look at the micro tasks and the system processes we follow every day. Guest speakers showed the organization how to make microchanges and the impact they could have. And a two-part workshop helped teams improve their everyday work by finding pain points and root causes, then developing solutions for them.  Working on such a small, high-impact internal comms team showed me early on just how much every piece of work matters to the big picture. I learned that no detail is “too small” — every single task I handled played a direct role in making the day a success for our entire company. ## Planning the DoU This was the true heart of my internship. Being trusted to own key pieces of this event showed me that seamless, impactful moments don’t happen by accident. They’re built out of dozens of intentional, thoughtful details.  - **Creating interactive learning experiences: **My manager wanted to kick off the DoU with a fun, interactive learning activity: a custom-built team scavenger hunt! I was purposely kept in the dark at the start of this process so I could test the scavenger hunt and make sure it was fair, challenging, and accessible. The scavenger hunt was hosted on an app. Roughly 60 questions were broken down into three types of missions: GPS, text questions, and photos. I was responsible for programming all the missions directly into the app. After splitting all employees into teams for the scavenger hunt, we met with every team captain to prepare them to lead their team to victory. Once we explained the rules, I used my experience testing the scavenger hunt to give the team captains pointers and strategy tips to help them lead their groups effectively. I played a direct part in making sure every captain felt excited and ready. Beyond helping prepare our team captains, I collaborated with my manager to select prizes that aligned with the central theme of the DoU. We awarded first, second, and third place based on overall points. But I was most proud of our Neuroinclusion Champion award, which recognized the team that put the most heart and quality into their accessibility answers.  - **Engaging employees through communications: **A successful event starts with great preparation, beginning with our guest list. To accurately plan for food, seating, prizes, and workshop materials across all three portions of the day, I took ownership of our headcount logistics. In the weeks leading up to the event, a big part of my job was helping keep everyone informed. I helped make sure employees knew exactly what to expect, what action items to complete, and where they needed to be at every stage of the day. Beyond managing attendance, I really wanted to make sure our employees got to shape the conversation on stage. I created a dedicated question form so anyone could submit questions, giving our team a direct line to our external panelists. It was so exciting to gather those real, candid questions from across the company and see our staff’s voices represented during the panel. - **Day-of production: **One of the most important logistical documents we use during DoU is our run of show (ROS). This outlines, minute by minute, everything that will happen during the event. Weeks before DoU, I got to practice putting together an ROS for our All Team Meeting. That practice taught me how critical it is to map out every task in detail and to understand the impact it makes on an event. When DoU came around, I knew exactly how to create an ROS and what information my managers needed to ensure that the event went smoothly. ## The big day is here: A recap of DoU Planning the DoU was one thing, but watching it play out day-of was my first time seeing my work directly affect employees at a large-scale, company-wide event. It was also a great opportunity for me to see how dozens of pre-planned systems and small tasks lead to operational success.  As employees started their day off with the scavenger hunt, I monitored all answers submitted and responded to any questions sent to us during the hunt. It was so exciting watching the teams use my suggestions and tips to help with their answers. As teams arrived at the venue, we received positive feedback about how much they enjoyed starting their day with a fun, interactive activity. Then check-in began — the final mission of the scavenger hunt.  Before DoU, I helped organize a system to check in teams all together. Working the check-in table meant that I could put the system to use. The transition into the event went smoothly — the system seamlessly checked everyone in. It was also a great way for me to interact with all of the teams one-on-one, answer any last-minute questions, and get people excited and ready for the rest of the day.  Once the teams were checked in and ready for the event to start, my team and I relied on the ROS to make sure everything stayed on schedule. It guided us through our day and included important information like when to take a break, when to pass out worksheets, when to stand by with mics for audience questions, and when to transition between each portion of the event. I got to watch the event unfold firsthand as the timeline I helped map out came to life. ![People checking into the event](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/0AcR0hBKqPwMRadU6TQxX/b5ae0426fd66a5e7d5bcf55d567f215e/2581_0Z8_0282.jpg) ## Work that outlasts an internship Some of my work was about leaving systems behind that make the team’s work easier.  All 10 functional teams participated in a two-part workshop that helped them apply what they learned during the DoU. The goals were first to identify key operational pain points and their root causes, and then to develop actionable solutions. I brought structure to this process by organizing all reported pain points into distinct categories and themes. This information was put into reports that the Leadership team used to focus teams on specific issues to solve.  Not all work was about DOU. I also created an organization-wide headshot status doc for all employees. Headshots are used for both internal and external communications. They can be hard to keep track of, especially with new employees joining and old headshots needing updates.  I didn’t just create a new system — I also added details to the team’s pre-existing shared process document. By keeping these processes updated, everyone will be able to stay on the same page when handling different systems. Creating these systems was more than just completing tasks. It was about building reliable, quick processes that my team can use long after my internship is over. ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/3rTM0TGjY6bQSGh4whC2K/10f90032c4ac4369836b1ce768ccd88b/d2d4fd98-b583-4aeb-975d-873543c7d2b4.png) ## Reflections on my summer at Understood.org I came into this internship not knowing what to expect. But I never imagined how much impact one intern could make. Every little project adds up to a greater overarching goal, whether indirectly or directly. Every form I built, every tracker I updated, and every headshot I resized added up to an event that brought the whole organization together. Along the way, I learned how to build a run of show, keep dozens of moving pieces organized, and communicate effectively so that hundreds of people were informed. One of the most important things Understood taught me is that even the smallest task can make a significant and lasting impact.  --- **Bryn Geraghty** is an internal communications intern at Understood. She’s a rising senior studying marketing and information systems at George Washington University. Bryn grew up in Queens, NY, and loves spending her summers back home in NYC. She’s passionate about helping people, and she tries to bring positivity to everything she does.--- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/day-of-understanding-intern-story#webpage","url":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/day-of-understanding-intern-story","description":"Working on the high-impact internal comms team showed this summer intern just how much every piece of work matters to the big picture. 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