Do Something Unexpected
T
his article almost didn’t get published. To be more accurate, it almost didn’t get written. You see, I’ve had this cold now for a couple weeks, and in my fog
of decongestants, I inadvertently left my laptop behind on a plane the other day. Imagine the panic of arriving home late in the evening, on the last fl ight of the day, and wondering why your briefcase is a lot lighter than it should be. Now double the panic. In addition to this article, I’ve been fi nalizing my second book, and I had worked on it feverishly (no pun intended), for the past couple weeks. Did I mention that this is my sole work computer, and I hadn’t backed up my fi les in a long time? Shame on me, but I digress.
I drove back to the airport, told my sad-sack tale to Southwest Airlines, and they radioed a baggage worker on the tarmac. True to what I’d expect from South- west, the worker dropped what he was doing, found a cart to drive him to the hangar, hooked up a ramp of stairs, and combed the airplane for my laptop…and found it.
I tried to give my new hero - Chad - a tip, but he declined twice, saying simply, “Thank you ma’am, but it’s my job.” Wow. We all work in the hospitality industry, but how many times are we wowed by true hospitality these days, especially from each other?
It got me thinking about all the research I’ve been doing for my books these past few years, and some of the unfortunate results I’ve uncovered about how plan- ners and suppliers interact with each other. For people in an industry all about hospitality, we often aren’t that hospitable with each other. How can this be? My fi rst book, Planner Pet Peeves, was two years in the making. I spent a lot of time listening to my planner peers gripe and complain about suppliers, and all the things they seemingly conspire to do to us, to make our jobs unpleasant. My second book is Supplier Pet Peeves (the one that almost got lost forever on a plane). It’s the counter-perspective, as suppliers gripe and complain about plan- ners, and all the things we seemingly conspire to do, to make their jobs unpleas- ant. Sound familiar? It’s been like listening to two warring siblings. They’re both really good-natured kids, but they can’t see how alike they really are, and sometimes they just drive each other nuts. To understand these two siblings, let’s generalize a bit. What do most planners have in common? We’re people-pleasers and problem-solvers. We thrive under pressure. We aim to build strong, reliable business relationships, and our end goal is always the best possible experience for our attendees.
What do most suppliers have in common? Exactly the same things as planners! 42 MIDWEST MEETINGS SPRING 2013 MIDWEST MEETINGS SPRING 2013 by Shawna Suckow, CMP
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116