plenary WHAT’S YOUR STORY? Michael J. Lyons

‘I Like to Get in Front of a Camera’

Leading Role ‘I enjoy the challenge of playing somebody else. The interesting thing is that that experience has helped me in my professional career as well.’

and some other meeting and corporate travel companies along the way.

T

But we were living in Connecticut about 20 years ago, and I realized that all three of my kids were going to be in college at the same time. In five years I knew that that debt was going to start hitting us. So I said to my wife, “I am working here in Manhattan and this is where they shoot commercials, so why don’t I see if I can go try to audition for some commercials?” The plan worked, and within a year I was starting to book some national commercials, including the longest-running Advil commercial ever that was on the air nationally, for four years. And that part of my life — the acting career on the side in addition to my day job in the travel and meetings industry — paid for all three of my kids’ college education. [Laughs.]

he longtime meetings and travel industry professional’s sideline career as an actor put his kids through college — and continues to help him play his latest role as exhibition director for AIBTM.

As a child, we moved from Philadelphia to Paris, France, for three years. And while I was there, my dad got me involved in doing some acting jobs, and so I got the acting bug. I came back to the United States, and during all of my youth and through high school, I was performing and working in theater, and really that is what I wanted to do as a career.

In the middle of college — I went to Notre Dame — and in the middle of hav- ing to announce my major, I switched it from drama to modern languages, because I realized that it was going to be difficult for me to make a living as an

18 PCMA CONVENE APRIL 2013

actor. So as much as I loved it, the prac- tical side for me directed me to go into the business world. My first job actually was working for a [building-materials] company in Valley Forge, Pa. And the boss came in one day and said, “We need somebody to run our sales meet- ing in Nassau [in the Bahamas].” This was 1974, so almost 40 years ago.

That is how I got involved in meeting planning, and I found that I was good at it and that I liked it. And that is what set me off on my career, where I have worked for a number of companies in the hospitality industry, including some of the big ones like Carlson Wagonlit

Along the way during those years in New York, I ended up making seven national commercials for Honey Bunches of Oats, Advil, Aquafresh, and a couple of other products. I also was on “All My Children,” and I was doing a lot of corporate videos and so forth. And I have continued that all the way up through the last year, where most recently this past May I was on

“Veep,” the HBO series with Julia Louis- Dreyfus, in a small part. I was on the ABC show “What Would You Do?” three times in the last year. I shot a scene with Bradley Cooper in the film “Limit- less,” which was kind of fun. And then I also have a small speaking part in “The Sixth Sense,” which I am still getting residual checks for.

I like to get in front of a camera. I enjoy the challenge of playing somebody else. The interesting thing is that that experience has helped me in my

PCMA.ORG