it’s outside the industry where we have a major disconnect.
It’s Not about the Chick- en
A friend and colleague, Jan Aument, told the greatest story last year at a SPIN (Senior Planners Industry Network) event. She nervously set up a meeting with the CEO of her large company to discuss upcoming meeting strategy. Sev- eral weeks later, when she sat in his offi ce, he began discussing transportation and lunch options. She politely interrupted him, saying, “Sir, excuse me, but it’s not about the chicken.” He was surprised to learn that she had strategies in mind to align his goals and objectives with her
“How many of
you have friends or family who
don’t understand exactly what you do?”
meeting design - strategies that could elevate his message and strengthen the return on investment (ROI) of the event. Today, she has a seat at the table whenever the CEO wants to discuss the business strategy of company meetings. All the planners at the SPIN event roared with applause after hearing her story - somebody had broken through and achieved her rightful credibility! Hurrah! 10 years from now, I truly hope that such a story will a) not have to happen in the fi rst place, because we’ll have a seat at the table and b) if the story does happen, it’s just a run-of-the-mill conversa- tion and not a major career breakthrough. How do we get there though?
How do you talk about what you do? Change has to start with us. CEOs aren’t suddenly going to de-
cide we have merit and HR Directors aren’t suddenly going to start classifying us differently - we have to lead. It all starts with how we talk about what we do. That doesn’t mean we have to go into deep detail with the gas station attendant about strategic meeting design, but we have to do better. Rather than saying, “I’m an event planner,” how about elaborating a little to say, “I plan events that enable my non-profi t to change the world,” or “I design meetings that achieve high-level corporate objectives,” or “I am the chief of 1,000 tasks that deliver a strategic outcome and I’m darn good at it?” Start with your friends and family. Commit to doing better when it comes to explaining your job and its impact. It starts on the individual level with us claiming and conveying our true worth.
We Change Lives
Do you ever stop to consider how the meetings you plan change lives? They do! I planned commercial real estate meetings for 15 years and those meetings changed lives. Through my efforts, sales- people were inspired, educated, recognized, connected and less
WWW.MIDWESTMEETINGS.COM 11
frustrated - which all led to greater earn- ings for their families. Through my ef- forts, the CEO could sleep better at night, knowing his message and his strategy were resonating throughout the company af- ter a national meeting. It wasn’t feeding starving children, but what I did changed lives. I know that whatever type of plan- ner you are, you change lives too. We all do. Next time someone asks you what you do, how about saying nothing more than, “I change lives,” and gauge their reaction? The time has come for meeting plan- ners to speak up and elevate ourselves be- yond bagel-counters and party-throwers. I’m sure we all can throw a mean party, but there’s a whole lot more to our skill
set than that. Shawna Suckow, CMP, is a veteran planner and the Founder and President of the Senior Planners Industry Network (www.spinplanners. com). She’s the author of Planner Pet Peeves, and her new book, Sup- plier Pet Peeves, both available on Amazon or at
www.shawnasuckow. com. She speaks to audiences worldwide on supplier-planner relations and other meetings industry topics.
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