very rewarding about my job. This one is a little nerdy, but it brings me so much joy when I see the meeting come to life on‐site. I love seeing the entrance unit go up and all the signs placed in the foyers. The other thing is my relationships with my vendor partners.
it? I post reminders and ask if additional resources are required to help meet the deadlines that are past due. Timelines are critical. If you do not have a meeting timeline, I recommend creating one! What do you wish you had known when you started event planning? When I started taking classes 20 years ago, I wish there was a course on planning and executing virtual meetings! What is a permanent change you would like to see in the association event planning industry? I am sure you don’t expect this answer, but I would be ok if buffets never came back - from an environmental and germ spreading lens. What are the biggest challenges when organising international events, especially in the current pandemic? In my opinion, the biggest challenge any organisation is going to face while we are in this pandemic is getting people to attend the event fromother countries. It is costly for someone to have to quarantine for ten days in the country the meeting is taking place, then participate in the conference, fly home, and quarantine for an additional ten days. Financially, not many attendees will be able to do that. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received and what advice can you passon? Treat your vendors as anextension of your staff. I refer to all my vendors as vendor partners and introduce them as an extension of SCAI. Take the time to build a relationship with each one of them.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job and how do you deal with it? The most challenging aspect of my job is not meeting deadlines. Our industry is very deadline-driven; when one or two deadlines are missed, it has a trickledown effect. How do I deal with When I started taking classes 20 years ago, I wish there was a course on planning & executing virtual meetings!
AMIMAGAZINE.GLOBAL APRIL 2021 49
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