Why I Will Do a Great Job For My Company

The poop was everywhere. Not only did it burst out my baby’s diaper but it had run up his back, through his outfit, and somehow in the process of cleaning him up it got all over his hands, arms, and into his hair. Ugh. I was just about to leave and drop off my baby at my in-law’s house so I could get some work done and now I was late. But you know what? I didn’t care.

I didn’t care that I was running late because I am blessed with a VERY rich work/life balance in that I only work 25-30 hours per week, have flex hours, and can work remote ocasionally. So I don’t think the person I’m about to call on will mind if I call an hour later than I originally planned. :) And my boss won’t mind because he knows I’ll get the work done. And I don’t mind because it allows me to be in the moment with my baby Collin and then later on when I do start working I’m 100% involved in my work and I won't be feeling guilty that I’m not spending time with my baby. (Okay, well maybe there’s still a little guilt)

So I was able to enjoy the moment with my 6-month old baby, laugh about the poop situation, and enjoy the bath I had to give him that caused me to run 45 minutes late. My time with Collin as a baby is so precious and fleeting.

This benefit and balance not only makes me want to do a great job for my company; it’s WHY I will do a great job for my company. And that is a big difference.

Social Media for Event Planners

This afternoon I attended the PYM (Plan Your Meetings) Live 2009 event at The Atlanta Event Center at Opera. The topic was Social Networking Strategies. Although this was my first PYM event, they have a reputation for facilitating events with great speakers and about 80 planners were in attendance. Prior to the keynote luncheon I spoke with several people who were hungry for knowledge on how they can apply social media strategy to their organizations. It’s interesting how our industry is still very much in the educational phase of social media. No one knows quite how to implement it for several reasons:

1. It transcends departments and no one knows who should take ownership: meeting planners, the IT department, marketing, corporate communications, or sales?
2. Setting up a social media site is easy; maintaining it purposefully on a consistent basis and using it to achieve marketing objectives is another thing.
3. ROI – marketing departments and planners are all under pressure to demonstrate returns and social media is very difficult to gauge short-term.
4. There is still skepticism and pushback from conservative (older) colleagues, internal clients, association members, direct reports and stakeholders who think social media has nothing to do with them.

Although I’m sure many planners are interested in general social media, I specifically have been educating myself on applying social media to our clients’ conferences and events. It’s a very exciting niche.

So David Nour of Relationship Economics was the keynote speaker. I have seen him speak several times and as always he engaged the crowd and essentially “dumbed it down” for people. What I appreciate is that he shows concrete examples, leaves great takeaways, and his content is relevant for both beginners and more advanced social media learners such as myself. More to come in the next post about a synopsis and review of his presentation.

Loews Atlanta Site Visit

Today we had the opportunity to take a hard hat tour of the Loews Atlanta Hotel. Slated to open April 2010 they are a few weeks ahead of schedule and drywall will be coming up shortly. It will be a great property and will help solidify Atlanta's Midtown Mile. Loews will have 414 rooms which all have great views. One of my favorite parts of the hotel is that it is filled with floor to ceiling glass windows. Another favorite is the terrace that is just off the pre-function space of the ballroom. Very unique and private which is great for events. This corner room under construction is a standard room so make sure to request it for an extra special experience.

Loews has 18 hotels and resorts in the US and Canada. They aren't Starwood or Hilton and they don't want to be. Their motto is that they "go beyond Four Diamond standards to delight guests with a supremely comfortable, uniquely local and vibrant travel experience." We can't wait to do our first Schmooze event here!

GaMPI Monthly Program

This afternoon I attended the monthly GaMPI (Meeting Professionals International, Georgia Chapter) meeting at the Buckhead Hotel. I was especially interested in hearing the speaker since the topic was about Work/Life Balance. I need a lot of tips on this as I have a 6-month old and a new job! Really though, I am so blessed and lucky as I have a great work/life balance since my boss and I came to a very mutually beneficial arrangement that I work about 25-30 hours per week. Andy Masters was the speaker and he was very energetic and told entertaining stories. 3 interesting items that came up randomly during his presentation:

1)The average person spends 23 hours watching television per week - WOW. I actually think my husband is one of those people. He loves television and swears that he never gets sick of it and never will.

2) This slide is awesome:

and

3) We did a fun exercise where we had to fill out items we wanted to START, DO MORE, DO LESS, and STOP doing. Here's a photo of my list.

Overall, great GaMPI program as always.

Green Meetings Industry Council

On Thursday I attended a meeting of the Atlanta Chapter of the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC). A relatively new organization, the group is collaborating on green meetings and preparing to become a leader in the green movement for our industry. Once a very popular concept it got sidetracked due to the economy but is once again emerging. I have always been environmentally conscious – for years and years I have cut up the plastic that holds together 6-packs of soda cans so the baby seals and dolphins don’t get stuck and I do my part for the environment by also honking at drivers who throw their cigarette butts out the window. From an industry standpoint, I am interested and excited to hear what other companies are doing and see how we can be leaders by bringing these issues to the forefront and creating best practices for meetings and events. A couple other random thoughts that came about from this meeting:
· If advocating something, walk the talk. That’s one of the reasons why I blog. I personally believe that my company can make a lot of impact for our clients and their events by assisting them to incorporate a social media component to promote their programs and engage their attendees.
· People resist change – that is what the current economic time is all about in my opinion. People who have been securely stagnant are having to get out of their comfort zones and figure out who they are, what they want, and what new skills they need to move forward.
· Competition – in my industry, we are always crossing paths with our competition, and most of the time the exchange is friendly. I recently was listening to a panel at an industry meeting and the person next to me was making snide comments and belittling one of the panelists because he was their top competitor. It was a little uncomfortable and unfortunately made my neighbor look very petty. One of our competitors was on the GMIC panel and I thought he did a great job and had very insightful things to say. I even went up and told him so.
· Generationally, younger people are more involved in technology, CSR, and the environment. Get their guidance on any of these topics for new ideas.

Volunteerism

I am a member of the Junior League of Atlanta. Attending a JL event for me is like going to the gym. I moan and groan about not wanting to go because I’m too busy, but then once I go I am always very glad about how it makes me feel and grateful for the wonderful things in my life.
On Tuesday I attended a “Self-Esteem and Empowerment of Others” Foundations event. I have to admit that I attended because I needed another meeting credit. What I thought might be an interesting program though ended up being a GREAT program. One thing that I really like about Junior League, is that every event I attend I meet really amazing, interesting women. One of the girls I met and chatted with for awhile is getting her PhD in Organizational Psychology. Her job entails the study of behavior in work settings and to coach executives on being effective leaders, managing time, etc. Another girl I met told us about her experiences working with DFCS (very awful and sad) to working with men in the Fulton County Jail System (very rewarding). One of my most favorite JL moments was meeting the very inspiring Ron Clark of the Ron Clark Academy and listening to his remarkable story.
The Foundations program itself was very interesting. One takeaway is that you can’t just empower people – you have to empower them AND give them skills. They go hand in hand. When you’re in a position to make a difference, you have to give someone the necessary tools to get to the next step.

Long after people forget what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.
--Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, Beyond Booked Solid, The Think Big Manifesto

Thank you, G.J. Hart and Texas Roadhouse

I am now a huge fan of Texas Roadhouse. Although it seems like everyone is cancelling meetings these days, a few forward-thinking leaders are still out there. This video is a must-see! Texas Roadhouse CEO G.J. Hart is not only still holding a 5-day combination incentive/business meeting in San Francisco worth over $2 million, he is going on the news and having a very frank discussion on the benefits of this event. He quotes that "People are the best asset we've got" and you have to "give a little to get a lot." Even during the hard times, you have to recognize and retain good people.

It's so refreshing, and a very sincere thank you is warranted. Let's all support this company that is supporting and celebrating it's workforce. Kudos!

The Hospitality Industry and Economic Woes

The hospitality/meetings/events industry is suffering so much now due to the AIG effect and economy. I subscribe to the Business Helping Business newsletter and this latest request sums it up perfectly:

0407.N1 - SUMMARY: I need to fill a 4 million dollar cancellation at a Conference Center that has over 900 overnight guestrooms and 250 meeting rooms in the metro Washington DC northern Virginia area. This cancellation caused us to have to lay off 8 people last week.

Cancelling meetings is not the answer! I truly believe that businesses will benefit 100 times over by meeting face to face.

AiMA Meeting

This morning I attended the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA) meeting at the headquarters of Cox Enterprises. I feel very privileged that my job allows me to attend various industry events all over Atlanta. This was my first time at an AIMA meeting and I was excited about it since personally I am interested in social media and professionally, I believe it has and will continue to become an integral tool for my company, dynami group.

I have mentioned this previously, but as a professional in the meetings industry, I am pretty critical and pay very close attention to the details and logistics of meetings I attend. I had registered for the event in advance and even received a confirmation email; however, when I went up to the reg desk they didn't have any record of my name and I was directed to a long line with people who were registering on site. In line, I did meet a very nice woman from Cox Radio who also lives in Brookhaven. I also met two nice guys, Chris and Jason, from a video production and graphic design company called NoodleHead Studios. I had a nice chat with Jason, who is on AiMA's board, and I am always appreciative and impressed when board members mingle with attendees. Overall, the content of the meeting was interesting and I look forward to future educational meetings. Sorry the picture is so dark...user error.

First Job Out of College and Lessons Learned

I didn’t always look back very fondly on my first job out of college, although I do now. I was at Insight Global when it was in its start-up phase (second female to be hired) and I started out as a recruiter then moved quickly up to being an Account Manager. I was lucky enough to be taught by the owner and sales extraordinaire, Glenn Johnson. It was very high stress sales but I learned an incredible amount and think it was one of the best career moves I have made. I worked there only a year because I wanted to pursue a job in International Business and Spanish and the sales approach was a little too much for me. I cried when I put in my notice with the owners, as I did when I left my international marketing position at the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. I learned great life and professional lessons at IG. It’s interesting that I am putting these lessons back into practice (somewhat) after coming full circle from Sales to International Business to Marketing and back to Sales. Lessons learned:

-When someone walks into your business office ALWAYS get up immediately from what you’re doing (unless you’re on the phone) to shake hands and say hello. It sincerely makes the visitor feel important and incredibly welcome.
-I think I had about two emotional breakdown/crying spells at the office in front of coworkers. It was such an intimate, aggressive, results-oriented environment that any mistake we made we were immediately brought into the conference room by a senior employee then and there to address the error. And we were coached not to give rebuttals or excuses but to silently accept the constructive criticism. It took awhile for me to learn the benefit of this as the first few times my self defense walls were thrown up. This daily practice of in-your-face training made the office as a whole very close and connected as we all bonded over public exposure to our weaknesses. It makes for great colleague connections when all your faults and flaws are laid out on the table in front of everyone. And every single employee experienced this. A lot of people couldn’t handle it.
-Everyone needs a mentor! I would love to ask David Nour to be my mentor, but he is so busy that I am still preparing the best way to approach him and am putting together compelling reasons why he should meet with me.
-social get togethers also made the office closer. We had parties at the owners’ houses and were encouraged to go to company happy hours. Spouses and significant others were always welcome.

I learned a lot about who I am as a person and what I am (and certainly am NOT) looking for in a career. I think the best way to learn what you don’t want in a job is to experience it first hand.

Quotes to Live By

"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."
-Vince Lombardi

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
-Mario Andretti

"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)

Technology and Productivity

Efficiency experts are always touting the benefits of not logging onto email first thing in the morning. They say that you are much more productive if you’re being proactive at getting strategic tasks done instead of reacting to emails. When I once mentioned this to a previous boss she said we didn’t have this luxury since I was in a sales position and clients depended on us responding in a timely manner. Understandable but I have always still wanted to try this experiment.
So I very much enjoyed reading this article: E-mail, instant messaging and Internet use are rampant, but do they make us more productive? It mentions that in 2007 Intel conducted an inside experiment where they asked certain team members to turn off their email during certain times of the day. These workers reported being more productive and recommending it as a company policy. The article also has some great statistics about time spent on tasks before, during, and after distractions such as email, IM, phone calls, texts, and coworkers. Very interesting!

Two Great Blogs

I have followed two blogs for a long time: Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist and Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development for Smart People Blog. I love Penelope’s blog because it gives very un-traditional, no-nonsense career advice. For example, her latest blog post is about How to Lead in the New Millenium and gives great advice about authenticity and how to become a leader. Sometimes she’s a little too candid though, especially about intimacy issues and her divorce. You’ve got to feel a little sorry for her ex-husband and kids although it makes for great reading.

I started following Steve in 2005 when I ran across him in a Google search. I was searching for ways to become an early riser, since I read that all successful people are most productive in the early morning. Now that I’m a Mom, I don’t have as much of a problem! Steve is a great writer though and he gives very real, tangible methods and advice to becoming a better person every day. I haven’t kept up with him in the last few weeks though and was shocked to read his latest post that he and his wife decided to have an open marriage. The term “open marriage” seems like a big contradiction. Why not just get a divorce? I mean, my husband was mad at me for looking up my ex on FaceBook! As high school sweethearts, we are celebrating our five year wedding anniversary this June and have known each other for 12 years.

So although I don’t relate as much to Steve and Penelope with relationships, their professional development advice is well worth the read and time investment.

Elevator Statement

Random person I meet out and about: “So, what do you do?”
Me: “I work in the event planning industry. It’s great!”
Random person: “Oh, that sounds like fun.”
Me: “It is.”

Yes, I am very guilty of having an awful elevator pitch in the past and not initiating an interesting dialog about my job. In the book I’m reading now, “Book Yourself Solid” by Michael Port, it talks about crafting an elevator statement by answering two questions: “Who I help” and “Why I do it.” Here’s what I have so far:

Who I help:
I help people who manage strategic events
I help corporate marketing and communications managers
I help people who plan face to face business events

Why I do it:
I love bringing people together
I love educational events
I love helping people with their business needs
I love communications
I believe in face-to-face business
I believe in making face-to-face business experiences the best they can be
I know that face-to-face opportunities offer people personal and professional development

I’m still not sure how to bring these together or even if this makes sense. It took the author six months to perfect his pitch, so I guess it will be a work in progress.

AJC Subscription

I have been trying to get a 7-day, 52-week home delivery subscription of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for a few weeks now. My father-in-law paid $130 for his subscription and every time I call up the lowest price available is $240. I try to negotiate, offer to pay the fee up front, ask how I can get a discount, and I get nowhere. The reps always let me off the phone with no fight at all and a very cheerful “Have a nice day.” One would think that they would do what they have to to increase subscriptions. If anyone knows how to get a discount, please let me know!

Iron Chef and PRSA

I love networking events. It’s a chance for me to learn something new and meet new colleagues, clients, and friends. I always go to events looking to meet people and am constantly surprised at how many attendees I see standing in the corner and generally being very unsociable. Especially being in sales, I notice this a lot since I’m always looking over the room to learn from and seek out who the people are that are having animated conversations and who look interesting.
Today I attended two very different, interesting events. One was Marriott’s Iron Chef competition at the Renaissance Waverly. Because I have never watched the show before and having arranged a lot of teambuilding events over the past few years, I was pretty skeptical. It’s hard to impress meeting planners and put on events since that is what we do for a living. I was very pleasantly surprised at how fun it was and the quality of people the event attracted.
After that I attended the PRSA luncheon to hear economists talk about the region and the economy. The panel included economists and speakers such as Sam Massell with the Buckhead Coalition and A.J. Robinson with Central Atlanta Progress. Sam and A.J. are both great speakers and I’ve heard them several times throughout the last few years.

As a first-time visitor, I enjoyed myself and the people I met. A few recommendations I have would be that there are handouts in our seats promoting the next few events or highlighting the speakers and topic, and also to integrate guests and members. Overall...great day!

Sales and Entrepreneurship

My brother-in-law is a systems admin who has talked about starting his own business several times. However, he has the E-Myth Revisited challenge: he wants to do the technical side and not have to do the sales thing. I know so many entrepreneurs in this position that just want to do the day-to-day business aspects and would like someone else to do the business development because they either don’t like sales or don’t have the training. According to Persuasion IQ, 96% of small businesses fail within the first five years due to lack of sales.
As a salesperson, I empathize. Sales is difficult! With a successful sales background however, a person can be very marketable in this down economy. That’s how I got this job, even now when layoffs are so much more prevalent than hiring. I never thought I’d be so appreciative of my training and background, especially since I never planned on ending up in this profession.
A few months ago, before I got my current job as Marketing Services Manager at dynami group, I was looking for a part-time sales position after my son was born. I made a list of businesses that I liked and called up Sips n’ Strokes in Atlanta regarding a sales opportunity that I thought could be very mutually beneficial. I would market and sell Sips n’ Strokes parties and teambuilding to groups, conventions, corporations and associations. I even would’ve done this on a commission-only basis.
I’m sure a lot of really great business ideas never made it to fruition, and this makes me sad. What’s the best way to bring salespeople and entrepreneurs together?