Personal Branding

First, you need to brand yourself. An often-misunderstood buzzword, “personal brand” means having a clear vision of who you are, and it makes the difference between a wildly successful planner and a mediocre one, says career and branding coach Amanda Guralski, president of bizMe Consulting. Begin this year with one big career goal,  Guralski advises; smaller goals will follow in time.

Next, ditch the suit. “Clients should view you as partner, not a vendor,” says Richard O’Malley, a 15-year veteran of special events planning and president of The O’Malley Project, a production and tradeshow services company. “When you go on the site visits, dress appropriately. Don’t wear the $3,000 suit to the lighting warehouse, because then you look like a pompous fool.”

It’s also important to remain calm. Clients need to see your consistent enthusiasm, even on tough days. “The planners that get called back time and time again are the ones who don’t let anyone see them sweat,” says Guralski. In a bad mood because of a speeding ticket acquired on the way to a meeting? If possible, reschedule. “It’s not worth losing the client.”

New planners have to cut their teeth in the industry somewhere, and a good place to start is with positions at non-profits. “It teaches you how to talk to people and how to negotiate, because you have to get everything for free,” says O’Malley, who got his start as a wedding DJ in college, then transferred that experience to fundraising events. “Having an endless budget [at a mega firm] is easy. At a nonprofit, you become a better producer. The in-the-trenches experience is unmatchable.”

As you continue to brand yourself, understand that there are times where you’ll be uncomfortable. You need to be uncomfortable to challenge yourself and advance your career. Too many mid-level planners become burned out or lulled into a comfort zone, no longer giving their all. A client’s big day becomes “just another job” to them. “It’s not just the bottom line on this one job,” says O’Malley. Create wonderful memories, add value to events, and clients will return.

Certification

Planners often seek professional certification, but O’Malley cautions against pursuing every certification opportunity presented. Thoroughly investigate the instructor’s credentials before signing up. “There are a lot of charlatans out there who hold seminars to hold seminars.”

While Guralski is an advocate of continual learning and personal growth, she says work experience often outweighs certification. “Anyone can memorize a book,” she says. “Business savvy and maturity come from applying skills and knowledge.”

Social Media

“If you’re not on social media, you don’t exist,” says Guralski, who encourages the business owners she coaches to be very clear in their 140-word bios on Twitter. Make it easy for potential clients and peers to understand what you do, what you specialize in and, eventually, to recognize you as an industry guru. Host Twitter chats on topics relevant to your expertise or form a content-driven group on LinkedIn.

Planners need to provide valuable content on social media. Content is still king. When sharing links via Twitter or LinkedIn, give your audience ideas of substance—articles on how to run their business, for example. “Posting a link to your event’s photos, saying ‘hey, look at me,’ is not content,” says O’Malley.

Marketing

Be smart and include money for event sponsorships in your marketing budget then select opportunities that optimize exposure. “Your stuff should be highlighted, not just thrown in a goodie bag…that’s wasted marketing money,” says O’Malley. “Make sure it’s something that’s seen and experienced by the crowd as important so they’ll take away the memory of it. If you’re a florist, don’t do the centerpieces—build the podium out of flowers. Maybe one or two people will say ‘look how nice that centerpiece is,’ but 500 people will say, ‘Is that podium made out of roses?’”

Maria Carter is an Atlanta-based writer focusing on business, travel and other lifestyle topics. Her work has appeared in dozens of consumer magazines and trade publications. You can reach her at maria@marcarter.com.

Learning to prioritize

Writing down your goals is the first step to harnessing time. The SMART system of goal setting makes each task more identifiable: Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound are targeted and easier to meet. For example, listing “create budget” as a goal would not meet the SMART system. Instead write: In two weeks, create a budget that is 5 percent lower than last year’s program. This goal has a deadline, is specific and realistically attainable based on your research.

Prioritizing your task list is important. Keep your system simple. For example, label tasks with an “A,” “B” or “C,” the “A” tasks being the first to tackle. There are a number of online systems that can assist in managing your tasks. Toodledo is an online to-do list with a time-tracking feature that helps you identify which tasks you might be spending too much time on and assists those who have to track hours for client-billing purposes. The tool also has a “Hot List” feature, which places priority on certain tasks.

Wunderlist is another online task management tool that works on a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android. Another task management system, Remember the Milk, can be integrated with Outlook and has a task postponement notification feature. While you are able to postpone tasks that need more time to complete, the system also notifies you when you have postponed a task too long.

If your energy level is high in the mornings, schedule challenging tasks and meetings then and leave less difficult work for later in the afternoon. Work on items you dislike first. Once you get them out of the way, it’s easier to move quickly down the list.

Dealing with technology

Probably one of the biggest time consumers is addressing emails. The more organized you are with email correspondence, the less time you will spend searching for messages and weeding through an overly full inbox. Adopt the TRAF method: Toss it, Refer it, Answer it or File it. Determine how each email fits into one of these categories and address it before moving on to the next message.

Schedule a time for updating your social media sites, either before you start work in the morning or when you get home. Keep these pages closed in your browser and turn off e-mails and sounds notifying you of updates. If the sites have a chat function, stay offline during the workday. If your event has a Facebook page or Twitter feed that you must monitor during the day, create a different login from your personal sites so you are not tempted to visit those pages.

Being efficient on the road

If you work from both a main office and a home office, or if you travel a lot, online collaboration platforms allow you and your co-workers to access files from one website, where they can be revised and shared by everyone. iCohere is one platform that also has a webcast feature for online conferences. Onehub is another platform that is useful if different teams need to access and contribute to a proposal; it provides a separate workspace for each proposal, allowing you to keep updates in one place.

Dropbox and Fileshare both allow you to send and store large files that cannot be sent via email. The applications are free up to a certain storage size and the person to whom you’re sending files does not need to have the application downloaded. The system sends an email to the recipient alerting them that they have been invited to view a shared file. Google Docs also has a file share feature that allows you to upload existing files and provides templates to create new files.

If you spend time trying to remember login IDs and passwords to all your online systems, Agile Web Solutions can help. Its 1Password tool stores all your passwords in one online system. All you have to remember is a single master password to gain access to all your passwords. With a quick shortcut key combination, 1Password will fill in the username and password on most sites with most browsers.

Managing online resources

If you spend a lot of time researching on the Web, Delicious can keep track of websites that you want to refer to later. You can save links while you’re bouncing around the Web and stack a collection of links around a common theme. Let’s say you are searching for a hotel in Orlando. You can click the “create stack” tab on your profile page and gather all the potential hotel links, images and information in one place. You can also share your stack with others, allowing decision-makers to see the options with one click.

If your job involves a lot of travel and keeping track of your itineraries is time consuming, try TripIt. The site keeps all your itineraries in one place and notifies you of flight delays, cancellations and gate changes. You can track frequent flyer points and coordinate travel with colleagues who are flying to the same city at the same time.

Evernote is another tool that combines several organizational functions. The system syncs and gives you access to your notes, bookmarked Web pages, pictures, checklists and files through any computer, tablet or mobile device. Search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images.

Creating and tracking goals, and using technology tools to assist in timesaving processes, will put you well on your way to being better organized.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta. She has 20 years  experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally. 

Be the Leader You Would Follow 

Begin by knowing and understanding yourself. “Know your strengths and weaknesses, your vulnerabilities and your blind spots,” says Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., executive coach and author of “The Introverted Leader.” “Self-awareness helps you to be more effective because you’re able to supplement your team with the people that complement your strengths and weaknesses.”

John Brubaker, performance consultant, speaker and author of “Overtime Victory: Success Strategies from the Locker Room to the Board Room,” says higher-ups should ask themselves one question: What characteristics would I like to see in my people, and how would I like to see them change? Maybe the answer is a positive attitude, greater resilience or servant leadership. Perhaps it’s communication or relationship-building skills. Then cultivate those traits in yourself. “Great companies [have a] person at the top [who] is modeling what he wants from his sales managers, his VP and his customer service representatives,” says Brubaker. “No one is going to buy anything you’re selling unless you own it yourself first.”

Get Personal

Regularly connect with each team member on an individual level. “Get to know the people behind the jobs: what their personalities are like, what their interests are, what makes them tick,” says Kahnweiler. “Know what drives [them] and makes them want to stay and work harder. All effective leaders are great listeners. When they listen they not only build trust and credibility with their teams, but they also, usually, elicit terrific ideas.”

Brubaker points to a real-life example of servant leadership at CleanBrands, where CEO Gary Goldberg does something similar to a physician’s rounds in a hospital. Goldberg goes through the sales department asking, “What’s the one thing I can do right now to help you with what you’re working on?” Every day, he checks in on his employees. “You’re making an investment of your personal time and your willingness to put down what you’re doing, to make sure you help other people,” says Brubaker.

Maximize Your Human Resources 

Brubaker and Kahnweiler agree: Great bosses make their people look good. They tune in to their employees’ talents, play up those strengths and maximize each individual’s ability to succeed.

By getting to know, and listening to, your team, you’ll know what motivates them, says Kahnweiler. “For one person, it may be getting to go to a new training course that’s going to ramp up his skills, where [for another person] it might be getting to have some time off so she can be with her kids more. You can then recognize and reward people with what matters to them.”

Kahnweiler encourages deliberate job-design to play up individual strengths. A planner should know, for example, that more introverted team members shouldn’t be placed on a trade-show floor to interact with sponsors and attendees. Rather, that person may be better suited to go behind the scenes and help with logistical planning, office duties and housing issues. “People are motivated when they can use what they already do well.”

Brubaker calls this strategy “the power of one”: the ability to identify and maximize the one thing that a particular employee does better than anybody else. “If you can put each of your people in a role that maximizes [his or her] ability to succeed, you’ll have the right people in the right roles, with the right goals…the basis for a successful team or department,” says Brubaker. “A leader who can help their people discover their unique talents, and channel those into their work, can have unparalleled results.”

Connect Marketplace is almost here. You are planning ahead—what you’ll pack, with whom you’ll meet, if your RFPs are ready and what you will ask and tell the vendors at your appointments. Maybe you’re thinking about Chicago, too, and all the wonderful things to see and do there during your free time. Be sure to add this to your pre-conference to-do list: think about learning and specifically about the learning you can achieve during Connect Marketplace.

In-Session Learning

1. Determine before you arrive which sessions you think will best suit your needs and interests. Read the descriptions and about the learning facilitator (aka the speaker) to see what the best fit may be for you.

2. Look at more than the level of the session. You may think of yourself as an industry veteran and select sessions only in that track. Consider topics in all areas. Remember: Our skills and knowledge can be refreshed in any session and questions from less experienced participants may remind us of something we used to do and need to do again. If you are less experienced, challenge yourself by going to sessions that may be more advanced.

3. Come to each session prepared to listen, observe and take notes. (Silly as it sounds, bring extra writing implements and something in/on which to write.) If the facilitator has prepared materials, print them out and bring them. Learning is best done when we write information. If you have the slides or other materials, you won’t have to write every single word or information from the screen and can better concentrate.

4. If there is peer-to-peer interaction in the session, listen and ask questions of your peers. Often they will have solutions to just the situation about which you are seeking help.

5. Make a note of the other participants you want to talk with after the session. Find them immediately after the session and ask for their business card or “bump” them with your iPhone to connect. If you miss someone after the session, look for them—it’s a great opportunity.

6. Don’t sit in “clumps” or sit alone, at least not all the time. It is so much easier and more comfortable to sit with those we know. Do what I do: Make yourself sit with strangers. Much of your learning will happen as you get to know others, and you’ll build your network.

Marketplace Learning

1. Just as you prepare to attend sessions, prepare for your Marketplace appointments. Write out specific questions for each property or vendor with whom you’ll meet or even generic questions about the things most important to you. Come up with some creative questions so you hear new things.

2. If for some reason, someone is a no-show for an appointment, ask someone near you if you can sit and listen to their interaction. (Of course, don’t do this with a competitor of your employer!) You may learn something unexpected.

3. Observe the interactions during Marketplace. I’ve found some of my best social interaction learning has taken place in unexpected places. This may be one for you.

One last thing: you’ll make lots of notes during the day. Take time to consolidate them and add thoughts to the pages so you remember what you learned.

Whatever you do, learn! It is the best thing you can do.

— Joan Eisenstodt is founder of Eisenstodt Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based conference consulting, facilitation and training firm.

By Peggy Duncan

If your workload lasts well beyond the workday, getting organized will help. You can easily save one to two hours a day just by clearing clutter from your desk, mind, computer, processes and inbox. It’s not hard. You just have to make the commitment to start, finish and maintain the system you put in place.

Organize your files. One of the basic principles of organizing is to put like items together. If you make your system logical, you’ll start to remember where you put things. You need to organize everything from your paper files to the computer files to the inbox. The quicker you can put your hands on what you need, the quicker you’ll be able to leave work.

Organize how you remember. You want to use your brain for thinking and external cues for remembering. Every time you know you have to do something, ask yourself, “How will I remember to do this?” In my Marketplace educational session, we’ll explore different systems for remembering based on what you’ll be doing when you need the reminder.

Organize your processes. If you do something more than three times, you need a process for getting it done the simplest, quickest way. Take something you do often. First, does this work actually need to be done? If yes, develop a better way to do it, especially if it’s something you dread doing. Once you organize everything around you, you’ll be able to think more clearly and get this done.

Organize with technology. Don’t try to use technology to get organized before you’ve dealt with the chaos and clutter. That’ll just make it worse. Get your clutter under control, use external cues to remember when to do something, streamline your processes, then figure out what technology will make work even easier and learn how to use it. Everything will flow better and make more sense.

Do you need more time in your day? Are you willing to do what it takes to make it happen? This is not a complicated thing to do. You just have to stop long enough to make it happen. And unlike dieting or exercising, the results are immediate.

Peggy Duncan is a combination professional organizer, project manager and computer trainer. Find out more at peggyduncan.com. See the full list of educational sessions and find out when Duncan’s educational sessions take place at Connect Marketplace here.

Several Marketplace presenters have previewed the educational sessions they will be leading Aug. 25-27 in Chicago. Take a look at all the sessions available and read some of their blogs below for more information on the topics being discussed.

Express Yourself | Billy Kirsch previews his creative sessions—and gives a sneak peek to a surprise networking activity. 

Changing Landscapes | Monica Compton describes how her sessions will help planners stay on top of the ever-changing industry.

It’s the Social Economy Mr. and Ms. Obtuse | Jeff Hurt discusses the new social economy and how his boot camp and educational sessions will prepare planners to tackle it.

Right Brain, Left Brain | Industry vet Joan Eisenstodt encourages attendees to use both sides of their brains in her educational sessions.

Build innovative generational teams | Karen McCullough gives 10 tips on engaging multigenerational teams as a sneak peek to her session.

Get organized so you can think | Professional organizer Peggy Duncan says getting organized will save you time.

How to: Be successful at Marketplace | Joan Eisenstodt shares learning techniques that will benefit all Marketplace attendees.

Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., iCohere provides an online collaboration platform for conferences and events. Online communities can be set up for each event to exchange information, documents and discussions via a customized website. Through a secure login, participants can post messages and attach documents that can be edited and uploaded to the site for all members to access. “This reduces e-mail distribution and puts all the information in a central repository,” says Lance Simon, iCohere’s vice president of business development.

iCohere’s mobile application provides a web browser interface that runs on any smartphone platform. Whether you’re an iPhone or BlackBerry user, the app will enable you to access the site and view documents and discussions on your smartphone. The application also features a media player that allows you to upload videos from any site—a public site such as YouTube or an internal corporate site. Like the smartphone application, the media player knows which platform you are running and allows you to view the video from your appropriate file format. “It was important that we didn’t create a new format, but used one that was accessible to everyone,” says Simon.

The site also includes a member directory that allows you to search for people in groups and keeps your contact information up-to-date. The site’s calendar function keeps all meeting deadlines in a centralized location and can be changed or edited by all community members. An e-mail alert via RSS feed tells you when information has changed. The calendar can be synced to your smartphone and desktop calendar by clicking the iCal application. As with the smartphone and video applications, the calendar can be downloaded into any platform, whether you’re using Outlook or Lotus Notes.

New York City-based Drury Design uses Onehub as its collaborative portal and social networking tool. The company assigns a workspace for each proposal it receives, and everything having to do with that job is posted there. “Workspaces are branded and then customized to the particular job’s needs,” says Jill Drury, founder and CEO of Drury Design. “Updates and file sharing are very easy; even large files can be downloaded without a problem.”

Each workspace is password-protected and can restrict clients from seeing confidential information, and freelance workers see only information for the job they’re working on. The portal also provides greater sustainability since updates to documents do not have to be printed, but instead can be viewed in real time as changes are made.

Busy planners have many passwords to remember, from their personal bank account to their computer to their smartphone. Agile Web Solutions creates passwords and then stores them directly into your web browser. You select one of your passwords from a menu and the system automatically takes you to the website, securely fills in your user name and password, and logs you in.

There are several applications to assist in keeping track of your tasks. Toodledo is an online to-do list that provides folders for organizing tasks by project and a time-tracker feature to monitor actual time spent on a project, which is very useful when billing clients hourly. The application’s hot list gives you a snapshot of the tasks that are due soon and have the highest priority. 2Do is a smartphone application that syncs to Toodledo and brings all your tasks directly to your mobile or iPad. Like Toodledo, 2Do groups projects and action items, then sends reminders when tasks are due.

Super Planner brings a variety of meeting planning tools to your iPhone or iPad. The application provides calculators for venue capacity, staffing, catering, staging, projection and the dance floor. The catering feature, for example, calculates the number of hors d’oeuvres and drinks needed for various types of events, including the number of drinks per bottle for wine, champagne and liquor. The table grid feature lists the linen sizes needed for each table size and shows how many guests can fit at each. It will be available for the Android in March and the BlackBerry version will be available May 15.

To keep your travel organized, e-mail your travel confirmations to TripIt, which will put all your plans in its online system. The application sends instant alerts of flight delays, cancellations and gate changes to your mobile phone and also tracks your frequent travel points. Coordinating travel plans with colleagues and fellow employees is easy with TripIt Groups. This feature allows you to see where everyone in your company is traveling on a group map and enables you to share travel resources and answer travel questions.

From collaborative communities to on-the-go mobile apps, technology can make your life easier—or at least more organized.

Monica Compton, CMP, has 19 years experience as an international meeting planner. She is a writer and event-marketing consultant for U.S.-based Pinnacle Productions, a strategic corporate events management firm.

We’ve all heard the term “meeting planner perks.” It can refer to the non-event industry’s view of a planner’s life: luxurious stays in posh settings, business class airline seats and hard-to-secure reservations at a celebrity cook’s restaurant. In reality we know that those perks, if ever received, are rarely used, turned over to VIPs or often wasted. After all, do event planners in a fast-paced industry with an expected 24-hour availability to their organizations’ needs really have time to take a vacation?

For those who do, complimentary hotel stays and airline upgrades seem to be a well-deserved reward for spending 12 hours on the trade-show floor, lifting heavy boxes and not having enough time to eat. While hotel loyalty programs were created more than 25 years ago for frequent travelers, the concept of tailoring a program to target meeting planners is at an all-time high. In a lumbering economy, hotels are looking to entice planners with complimentary hotel nights, discounts on group meals and credits to their meetings’ overall bills.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide customized its Starwood Preferred Guest program, the hotel group’s original rewards program for frequent travelers, and created a Starwood Preferred Planner program. Planners just don’t get points; they get “Starpoints,” implying a higher level of benefits for meeting planners over leisure or business travelers. The program is further expanded to offer “Instant Meeting Awards,” the ability to get up to a $1,500 credit on your group bill as long as you are a Starwood Preferred Planner with 15,000 Starpoints (and, of course, a signed hotel contract must be in place). But there’s a terms and conditions catch to get meeting planners to book with Starwood again. Starpoints earned for the group’s current meeting may not be redeemed toward that meeting. So if you haven’t reached 15,000 points, you’ll have to wait until your next meeting to earn the group bill credit.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the first company to introduce hotel points with its Priority Club Rewards for Holiday Inn in 1983, has also created a planner niche for its program. With the addition of one word to its title, the Priority Club Meeting Rewards becomes a program that awards planners for “qualified” meetings. Reading the fine print is also essential here. Planners must have a minimum of 10 rooms occupied in their block from a minimum of one night up to five consecutive nights depending on the brand in IHG’s portfolio of hotels. InterContinental and Crowne Plaza have an additional requirement that meeting-related food and beverage charges must be applied to the master bill.

IHG further adds the perk of giving planners different status levels depending on how many meetings they book. Similar to an airline’s status ranking, IHG bestows Gold Elite status to planners who host one qualified meeting in a calendar year and Platinum Elite status to those hosting two meetings per year. The benefits of status range from the gold level’s 10 percent bonus in points and priority check-in, ensuring your room and keys are ready upon arrival, to complimentary room upgrades and a 50 percent boost in bonus points at the platinum level.

Marriott’s “Rewarding Events” program also offers levels of elite status and allows planners to choose between hotel points and airline miles. For every $1 in total meeting charges, planners can earn three hotel points up to a maximum of 50,000 or one mile up to a maximum of 15,000.

Marriott’s limited-time “Meetings Matter” group promotion adds contract incentives and bonus points to its base rewards program. For each meeting with at least 50 cumulative room nights booked and held by Dec. 31, 2010, a group will receive: 35 percent allowable attrition; one complimentary room night for every 35 paid rooms; and a 2 percent rebate off the master bill for each qualified meeting exceeding 100 cumulative room nights. This promotion also adds triple points for master bills paid with any Visa credit card up to a maximum of 150,000 total points.

Marriott, IHG and Starwood have all received “Freddie Awards” honoring the best frequent traveler programs throughout the world for the last 20 years. Receiving an award by giving travelers rewards confirms the industry’s intense focus on points. But for meeting planners who are bound by industry guidelines and organizational policies, does redeeming points for personal gain step dangerously close to the edge of ethics?

Many of these points programs focus their advertising on the individual benefits rather than what the group receives. Marriott’s Rewarding Events section of its website sympathizes with planners that “times are tight, and budgets are tighter,” but it can be “business as usual for you,” urging planners to earn points toward free nights for “your ultimate getaway.” Starwood’s site tells planners that earning Starpoints will “bring you one step closer to your dream vacation.”

IHG ran a 2008 campaign for Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts that masked the individual benefits by calling its promotion the “M.B.A.” (Masters in Business Accommodations), designed to engage the traveler and educate them “in the personality of the brand and our latest promotional offerings.”

So when do rewards points move from an acceptable gift to a breach of ethical guidelines? Joshua Grimes of Grimes Law Offices, a firm specializing in associations and the hospitality industry, says there is no industry standard on points; however, many companies have policies that employees and contractors must follow.

“Sometimes these policies require people earning points for business travel to credit them to the company account,” Grimes says. “Other times the [individual] may keep them.”

Sheila Evans, director of sales Southern region for Hilton Worldwide, has clients who create a “house account” for points. Similar to an escrow account at a bank, Hilton holds the rewards points for use as the group books meetings. This ensures that the points are going to the company and not the individual planner. “Some clients use their points in company giveaways or donate them to their favorite charity,” Evans says.

Grimes says that most hotels have a policy allowing the meeting sponsor to designate who gets the points, the only condition being that the points will be paid to only one person or entity. “This means that any recipient may be designated, Grimes says. “However, ethics considerations may dictate that the points should go to the meeting sponsor unless that sponsor designates another recipient.”

Evans says that it must be stated clearly, prior to the signing of the hotel contract, who will receive the points. “This is usually decided by the meeting planner or the person booking the program,” Evans says.

Ethical considerations can be stretched further when a planner bases a destination or venue decision on the rewarding of points. Kyle Greer, program manager for the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF), books properties based on how they fit his organization’s needs, not by their points program.

“Our key concerns are location, meeting space and service level, Greer says. “It is critical [that] we pull off high-caliber meetings and events, and we’ve yet to find that a point system helps in any way.”

Paulette Hopkins, president of The Hopkins Alliance, puts a clause in her contracts listing the designated representative who will receive the points. “But it has never been the decision-breaker [over another property],” Hopkins says.

While Grimes says there is no legally correct answer, under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law the points would have to go to the company or organization sponsoring the meeting. Otherwise, there could be an implication that the planner chose a particular hotel because he or she was personally earning points — a suspect incentive because it doesn’t benefit the meeting sponsor,” Grimes says. “The best policy is for the planner to give the company the points, or to disclose to the company that the hotel is offering the points and seek approval from company officials to keep them.”

Monica Compton is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has 18 years of experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally. She is presenting several seminars at Connect Marketplace.

As a meeting planning professional, do you consider yourself to be in sales? Most planners don’t think about their jobs in these terms, but the job of a meeting planner is very much a sales job. To some degree, many professional jobs have a sales component and presentation skills are critical. “Meeting planners are constantly selling: ideas, locations, venues, events and, most importantly, themselves,” says Craig Harrison, a speaker, trainer and founder of Expressions of Excellence!, a speaker and sales consulting service.

“Strong presentation skills are vital for establishing credibility and professionalism, and building trust,” adds Harrison. “They enable planners to persuade, negotiate, promote and sell. If you can put on a good show in a presentation, it stands to reason that you can help plan a great event.”

Selling Yourself
Meetings industry consultant Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, agrees with Harrison about the importance of presentation skills for meeting planners. “We are selling ourselves and promoting our ideas. There are many situations where strong presentation skills will help meeting planners, like pre-conference meetings, on-site staff meetings, group announcements at events and in volunteer roles for professional associations. It can’t hurt to feel comfortable with public speaking.”

Ball says it was his election as president of the Washington State Chapter of Meeting Professionals International that made him get serious about public speaking. “With my year as president coming up, in which I would speak before 150 people and conduct a board meeting each month, I knew I needed to do something about it, so I joined Toastmasters,” he says. Toastmasters International remains one of the popular organizations offering speaking and leadership skills training. “This gave me the practice and the feedback to grow greatly as a speaker. Three years later, I started my own business as a professional speaker,” says Ball.

Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM, chief strategist with Bonnie Wallsh Associates, LLC, a meeting management consulting and training firm, says, “Outstanding presentation and communication skills are crucial for success as a meeting professional. Planners communicate with their staff, suppliers and internal clients, so it is imperative that their presentations be concise and anticipate any possible misunderstandings.”

After 32 years as a full-service meeting professional, Wallsh says her business is shifting to speaking, facilitating and teaching. “Most of my business comes from people who have attended my sessions and webinars,” she notes. For example, she was invited to present workshops and a boot camp at Rejuvenate Marketplace and Connect Marketplace after Dean Jones attended one of her sessions.

LoriAnn K. Harnish, CMP, CMM, CTA, is president and CEO of Speaking of Meetings and the past president of Meeting Professionals International, Arizona Sunbelt. She says speaking skills are vital to client relations and retention. “Whether you’re an independent, association or corporate meeting planner, you need to be able to present yourself well to clients and stakeholders,” says Harnish. “For years, we’ve been trying to elevate the position of meeting and event planning so that planners are highly regarded. All planners want a ‘seat at the table,’ so to speak, and this requires strong presentation skills.”

Beth Hecquet, CMP, the director of meetings and events for the National Association of Sports Commissions, says that she is often called upon to speak on behalf of her association to promote meetings and talk about her industry. “If I am not able to give an appealing presentation with confidence and ease, this reflects badly on me and my association,” she says. “First impressions are very hard to reverse, and if the first time you hear about a meeting is from someone who can’t communicate effectively, that can result in a potential lost attendee, sponsor or partner.”

Hecquet says she didn’t start her career with strong presentation skills, but has acquired them over the years by taking advantage of every opportunity she has to speak. “Being a good presenter is not something that comes naturally for most people; rather, it’s a skill that has to be learned through experience.”

After years working at various nonprofit organizations, MaryAnne P. Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CMM, president of Bobrow & Associates, an association and meetings management consulting firm, felt drawn to share her ideas and experience with others in order to give something back. One of her first steps was to take a public speaking class.

“I’ll never forget it. I held onto the lectern for dear life and stared like a deer in headlights at the back of the room for fear I might actually make eye contact with someone,” she says. “I now share my knowledge at industry conferences, use it for my clients and teach in the university environment so that those just entering the industry will have the tools they need to become successful.”

Confidence and Credibility
Bobrow points to two key benefits of strong presentation skills for meeting planners: They help increase the planner’s credibility and self-confidence, and they help planners articulate their wants and needs to C-level executives they work with.

Carole B. Rosenblat, an independent on-site meeting and tour manager, echoes Bobrow’s thoughts about self-confidence. “As a meeting planner, you’re selling your services, and 90 percent of this involves your presentation skills. Having strong skills will convey that you have a sense of confidence in what you’re doing, which will give clients more confidence in you.

“Presentation skills have been very beneficial as I sell myself to potential clients,” she adds. “They help me think fast on my feet, stay calm, speak slowly and enunciate clearly, so that I can communicate my expertise to clients and prospects.”

Also, if your event’s speaker is late or doesn’t show up, you’ll be better prepared to deal with the situation. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving the presentation yourself, but you can at least address the group or facilitate a meeting, Rosenblat points out. “I’ve done this many times before simply because nobody else was prepared.”

Improving Your Skills
The most common presentation mistake is talking too fast, says Rosenblat, who now helps train planners on speaking and making presentations. “You really have to concentrate on slowing down. If you’re timing your presentation, keep in mind that it will probably be shorter than when you practice because you’ll probably talk faster than you realize.”

Here are some more tips from the experts for improving presentation skills:

Know your audience. “Research the profile of attendees and their objectives and know what their hot buttons are,” says Wallsh. “Customize your presentation as much as possible, rather than using a cookie-cutter approach.”

Be confident and enthusiastic. You’ll have a hard time conveying your message convincingly if your listeners sense that you don’t have confidence in yourself. Don’t be tentative or apologetic, and if you make a mistake, remember that your listeners probably won’t even notice. Just move on to your next point without stammering or apologizing.

Don’t use language crutches. Harrison urges speakers and presenters to use what he calls power language. “Avoid qualifiers, hedges and other figures of speech that dilute your message and diminish your impact and expertise.” Examples are words like maybe, if, possibly, perhaps and consider.

Learn from others. Identify people whose communication and presentation style you like and become a student of their success. This can be famous people on TV or videos, or simply others in your office or industry. “Listen carefully to these speakers and critique them to learn what techniques they use to engage the audience,” says Wallsh.

Join professional speaking organizations. Experts are unanimous in their praise of Toastmasters for anyone who’s serious about becoming a better presenter and speaker. Harrison has been in Toastmasters for 18 years and considers himself an evangelist for the organization. He has even written a quick-start guide titled “The Professional Toastmaster.” “Through Toastmasters, you can get mentoring, coaching, evaluations, feedback, support and lots of practice.”

Include examples and personal experiences. “This is the best way to really engage the audience,” says Wallsh. “People like hearing stories sprinkled in with facts, figures and statistics.”

Maintain strong eye contact. The natural tendency is to focus on just one or two people, but try to maintain eye contact with everyone in the room. Also, don’t be over-reliant on presentation materials and spend too much time looking up at a screen with your back to your audience.

Have a strong conclusion. Otherwise, it’s easy to ramble on and not know when or how to wrap things up. You want to leave listeners with a powerful idea or thought. Ask yourself: If they forget everything else you’ve said, what’s the most important thing you want listeners to remember? Then craft your conclusion around this.

Don Sadler is a freelance business writer, based in Atlanta, and a regular contributor to Connect. You can read more of his columns and blogs at ConnectYourMeetings.com.

The Value Debate

Patti Kennedy, CMP, CMM, was a meeting planner for 20 years before she received her first certification. Although she believes some companies place more emphasis on certifications than others, achieving a certification was not necessary for job advancement.

“I have definitely found that I receive a higher level of respect within the industry by having my CMP and CMM,” says Kennedy, a planner at Infor, a software company. “However, it would be nice to have had some of the scenarios I faced in the real-world experience brought up in a classroom.”

While Kennedy agrees that on-the-job training can’t be replicated in the classroom, she believes it could be “previewed” there, thus better preparing a meeting planner for the workforce.

Alexandra Wagner, a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration, agrees that classroom training should include real-life applications. “A good program incorporates these scenarios,” says Wagner, director of event marketing for SunTrust Banks Inc. “Students should have to create menus, manage and execute events.”

Leslie Hettenbach, CMP, CMM, meetings manager for the American Urological Association, was in the industry seven years before earning her CMP and 17 years before earning her CMM. She believes that in current times it is necessary to have a certification in meeting planning to advance in your job but it’s the experience that’s critical to being good at it.

“There are definitely things that you gain from classroom experience such as contract negotiation skills, risk assessment and crisis management,” Hettenbach says. “However, knowing how to deal with all kinds of crisis can really only be learned through experience.”

While Jeannie Battin, CMM, CMP, CTSM, doesn’t believe certification is necessarily the path to job promotion, she does see the value for both the individual and the employer. “Certification is an example of professionalism and commitment to your chosen field and performing at the highest level,” says Battin, senior program assistant at the National Education Association. “These traits will certainly have an impact with an employer or client in considering promotion or expertise.”

For Blanca Ferreris, CMP, CMM, job promotion was directly related to the attainment of her CMP. “I was promoted to my current job and believe this would not have happened without the CMP designation,” says Ferreris, meetings and events manager for the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. “The CMP designation gave me the tools I needed to become a team member who was ready to have an active role in my organization.”

Many planners with several years of experience decide to gain certifications later in their careers to keep their skills fresh and update them on industry trends and regulations. Battin has been involved in meetings and trade shows for more than 20 years and added the Certification in Meeting Management (CMM) to her list of credentials this year. Prior to this she had achieved the Certified Trade Show Marketer (CTSM) and the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designations.

“I have long held the conviction that skills development outside the job is critical,” Battin says. “I’ve always found a workshop, webinar or similar training to enhance skills.”

However, Gail Meyer, meetings and incentives manager for Mighty Distributing Systems of America, believes that learning “trial by fire” gives planners the ability to think on their feet, which cannot be duplicated in the classroom. Although she has received formal training during the span of her career, the foundation of her experience started at a young age with hands-on learning.

“My parents owned a motel and I worked the front desk as well as cleaned rooms,” Meyer says. “Then in the early ’70s after graduating from a business college, I was a travel agent and learned how to coordinate client vacations from start to finish.”

Whether you have this real-world experience, classroom training or a combination of both, most seem to agree that initiative and a passion for the business are the inherent keys to a successful career.

“You will quickly find out if you’re cut out for the stresses of the business once you start planning meetings,” Meyer says. “If you’re a hard worker, know how to multi-task and have the desire for this field, you can learn on the job; you will advance.”

Choosing a certification

Many planners and suppliers look for a certification that best matches their employment industries and best strengthens their weakest job skills. Those who have logistical responsibilities and are looking to enhance their knowledge of the tactical side of planning would find getting their Certified Meeting Professional a great advantage. CMP applicants must have three years of work experience in the industry or two years of experience if they have a degree in meeting, event, exhibition or hospitality/tourism management. Full-time instructors who have taught for three years in a meeting/hospitality university program also may apply for the CMP.

In addition to work experience, CMP applicants must show evidence of 25 hours of continuing education or must have completed an internship. Certification is achieved by passing a written examination of 165 situational multiple-choice questions. The examination must be completed in three and a half hours in the U.S. and within four hours if English is not the candidate’s first language.

Senior planners and those who have a CMP and are looking to advance to the next level of education often apply for the Certification in Meeting Management designation. This certification focuses on strengthening strategic decision-making abilities to drive the success of the organization. Its goal is to teach industry professionals how to use meetings as a strategic tool within the company. Many professionals seeking management-level positions and those looking to start a business in the industry such as independent planners would find this certification useful.

To apply for the CMM, individuals must have a minimum of 10 years of experience in all areas of meeting management and show evidence of continuing education. Certification is achieved by: attending a five-day program with group coursework; passing an online essay examination one week after the on-site program; and submitting a newly-created business plan within eight weeks.

Those who have a role specifically in the trade show industry might consider the Certified Trade Show Marketer designation. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and two or more years of experience in the trade show and events field or three years of experience without a degree. Certification is achieved by completing a curriculum of 28 seminars, which equates to 42 hours of classroom study, and passing a written exam of multiple choice and true/false questions based on the seminar coursework.

Those who are looking to develop their roles in association management might consider the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation. Applicants must be employed by a nonprofit organization or an association management company within the last five years and have three years of experience and a bachelor’s degree as a chief staff executive at an association, or five years of experience and a bachelor’s degree as an association staff member. Applicants must also have completed 100 hours of professional development. Certification is achieved by successfully passing a multiple-choice exam.

With the exception of the CMM, most designations require that candidates renew their certification within three to five years. Similar to the initial application, candidates must provide evidence of continuing education/professional development and current employment within the industry. Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits can be achieved by attending industry conferences. The 2010 Connect Marketplace, Aug.12-15 in Louisville, Ky., will feature a full-schedule of educational seminars that qualify for CEUs. For more information, please visit connectyourmeetings.com/2010-connect-marketplace.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta, Ga. She has 18 years of experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally. She will be a featured speaker at 2010 Connect Marketplace, presenting the topics: “Managing Your Room Block,” “Return on Investment Strategy: Outlining the Value of your Meeting” and “How Cultural Factors Affect Your Planning Process.” Read more about the conference’s educational sessions in “Connect Marketplace 2010: Educational Sneak Preview,” page 127.

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