Find your tribe
“Isolation is something that every planner will eventually encounter in her career,” says Shawn Suckow, founder of SPIN.
“Even in a 5,000-person company when I was a corporate planner, I felt pretty isolated because I was the only planner in the company. Our jobs very often are solo operations, even in a big corporation or association, we often get put into silos to do our work. When I started my own company and began working from home in the 1990s, the isolation was accentuated even more.
“My advice? Find your tribe. When you’re isolated from peers, it’s hard to stay motivated, come up with new ideas and enjoy your work. As a young planner, I didn’t know about associations like MPI and PCMA. When I finally found MPI, it was like I was home. I was surrounded by people who did what I did for a living for the first time. Today, planners have all sorts of options – from the Global Emerging Leaders (GEL) group for younger planners, to my group, the Senior Planners Industry Network (SPIN), and other options depending on experience or what types of meetings you plan. It’s enriching both personally and professionally to be surrounded by people who get you and understand your challenges.
Don’t go it alone
“I think most planners are attracted to the profession as they want to coordinate all details, resources and circumstances to produce the best possible event,” says Daphne J. Meyers, CMM.
“The challenge that seems to arise is when your growth potential is severely limited by not wanting to let go. It is hard for a control freak or a perfectionist to let someone else do it, but a single person can’t do it all.
“Advice? First realize you can’t do it all, and accept that you will have to let someone else do it. Next, accept that she probably won’t do it like you would do it. I had my light-bulb moment when I realized she will probably do it better. My leadership skills really improved when I learned I could create a roadmap for others to follow and then get out of the way.”
About the SPIN planners
Carolyn Browning, CMP, CMM, is chief solution strategist of MEETing Needs, LLC, in Stamford, Conn. She began her career in the meetings industry on the corporate side, handling customer events and sales meetings at Sprint and GE Capital. She then went out on her own and never looked back. In her current role, Browning speaks about meeting planning, leads prep classes for the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) exam, facilitates meetings and retreats and supports clients’ planning efforts for their strategic and logistical needs.
Daphne J. Meyers, CMM, and her company, Red Barn Group, partner with organizations in the Fargo, N.D.-Moorhead, Minn. area to maximize their investments through strategic event decision-making.
Tracey B. Smith, CMP, CMM, Austin, Texas, has more than 20 years’ experience planning meetings and events for corporations, associations and the public. She also served as a supplier for a few years, but missed the excitement of the planner world. She is currently developing educational content for The Hive Network, a forum for suppliers who want to learn better ways to conduct business with planners.
Shawna Suckow, CMP, started as a receptionist straight out of college and as happened with most planners of her generation, the job eventually fell in her lap. She was a corporate planner for seven years before starting her own company, COMPASS Events. COMPASS was a thriving third-party company for 10 years before Suckow founded SPIN. Suckow was named to Successful Meetings Magazine’s Top 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry for 2012 and 2013, and a 2014 Trend Setter by Meetings Focus magazine. She’s written two books: Planner Pet Peeves and Supplier Pet Peeves.
Therese “Terry” Lombardo, CMP, is a veteran planner based in Orlando, Fla. She has extensive experience covering incentives, corporate and association work and has held management positions on both sides of the industry. Her mantra for success and longevity has always been to sweat the small stuff. Although she has managed groups as large as 10,000, she prefers to work with the small meeting market because she feels she can make a bigger impact with minor changes or adjustments to small meeting agendas and groups more effectively than with large programs.
Vickie Mitchell is the former editor of Small Market Meetings. If you have ideas for future columns, contact her at vickie@smallmarketmeetings.com.
