Launching a new website took more time and content than I ever dreamed possible but here it is.
As I get more proficient at blogging there will be good things from new cities, food experiences, or the many, many articles that come my way. For now, if you are reading this you are either a friend, family member or someone looking at my new website for the first time.
If you fall into the latter category and want to know more about me or my work please keep reading..
I planned my first meeting for Carlsberg Financial in San Francisco. It was in the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont hotel and was a one-day product introduction with lunch for 500 people, in a banquet setting. It was love at first contract. I was 19 years old.
At the time Meeting Planning was not the career it is today so I went back to my core competency - selling. The central part of my marketing plans always included membership in the professional organizations where I found my client base. No one really wanted the job of planning the monthly meetings, or annual holiday parties so I volunteered for that committee and before long was planning meetings for three non-profits. While I wasn't a paid meeting planner I got the experience and at the same time, developed a high enough profile within the respective organizations that I always got a chance to bid on the contracts that came from the membership.
I transitioned back to meeting planning at a small start-up that was being acquired by Microsoft. After a couple of years spent learning how to plan internal meetings for the brilliant and unconventional groups of developers that would change how we live, my focus turned to the world of Continuing Medical Education (CME).
What a wonderful world is CME! It is where I learned how to investigate the infrastructure of cities and venues as it applied to meetings and events. It is where I learned the true value of contract terms and concessions. It is where the significance of first impressions in the perfect flow of a great site inspection was made real. It is where I learned to balance the needs of all three stakeholders (the client, the venue and the attendee) so that everyone got what they needed.
Above all, the best part of planning CME meetings and events was having a noble purpose. At every juncture you could feel the work would influence the quality of patient care. It was and remains the best meeting planning experience I've ever had.
Today I find my noble purpose in community volunteerism, while my business referrals come from and for larger group meetings. Part of the reason I reconfigured this website was to attract interest from smaller groups (Where Is My Room?) and meeting planners who need a trusted partner in San Francisco (Boots on the Ground San Francisco). My personal interests are also represented as a part of Informed Sources, in the Food Travel Forum and Play 313 websites. The foodie site is still under construction. It is a whole new world.
The other reason I built this website is because small businesses today cannot survive without one. You don't really exist as a business entity without a website, a Facebook page, a Tweet here and there, and a LinkedIn presence. We all know that meeting planners are good at many things but selling ourselves is not necessarily one of those things. I hope this blog page has explained a little about who I am and what I do best. If you want more information please email me: [email protected]
As I get more proficient at blogging there will be good things from new cities, food experiences, or the many, many articles that come my way. For now, if you are reading this you are either a friend, family member or someone looking at my new website for the first time.
If you fall into the latter category and want to know more about me or my work please keep reading..
I planned my first meeting for Carlsberg Financial in San Francisco. It was in the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont hotel and was a one-day product introduction with lunch for 500 people, in a banquet setting. It was love at first contract. I was 19 years old.
At the time Meeting Planning was not the career it is today so I went back to my core competency - selling. The central part of my marketing plans always included membership in the professional organizations where I found my client base. No one really wanted the job of planning the monthly meetings, or annual holiday parties so I volunteered for that committee and before long was planning meetings for three non-profits. While I wasn't a paid meeting planner I got the experience and at the same time, developed a high enough profile within the respective organizations that I always got a chance to bid on the contracts that came from the membership.
I transitioned back to meeting planning at a small start-up that was being acquired by Microsoft. After a couple of years spent learning how to plan internal meetings for the brilliant and unconventional groups of developers that would change how we live, my focus turned to the world of Continuing Medical Education (CME).
What a wonderful world is CME! It is where I learned how to investigate the infrastructure of cities and venues as it applied to meetings and events. It is where I learned the true value of contract terms and concessions. It is where the significance of first impressions in the perfect flow of a great site inspection was made real. It is where I learned to balance the needs of all three stakeholders (the client, the venue and the attendee) so that everyone got what they needed.
Above all, the best part of planning CME meetings and events was having a noble purpose. At every juncture you could feel the work would influence the quality of patient care. It was and remains the best meeting planning experience I've ever had.
Today I find my noble purpose in community volunteerism, while my business referrals come from and for larger group meetings. Part of the reason I reconfigured this website was to attract interest from smaller groups (Where Is My Room?) and meeting planners who need a trusted partner in San Francisco (Boots on the Ground San Francisco). My personal interests are also represented as a part of Informed Sources, in the Food Travel Forum and Play 313 websites. The foodie site is still under construction. It is a whole new world.
The other reason I built this website is because small businesses today cannot survive without one. You don't really exist as a business entity without a website, a Facebook page, a Tweet here and there, and a LinkedIn presence. We all know that meeting planners are good at many things but selling ourselves is not necessarily one of those things. I hope this blog page has explained a little about who I am and what I do best. If you want more information please email me: [email protected]
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