Eventprofs Success - 17 Tips

This week I had the great pleasure of being at Event Solutions, a fantastic show very smartly co-located with Catersource - a natural alignment as we are so reliant on great collaborative relationships between producers and caterers in creating phenomenal, memorable events.  This offered a great combination of trade show and thought-provoking education delivered by a fantastic cross-section of speakers. There was an excellent social stream that allowed those who were there and those who were not to follow along - check out #CSES2014 for the stream and its great notes and links.

A consistent theme was how to succeed in an industry (hospitality, catering, event planning / production / design and all the supporting partners) that requires a great deal of commitment, and there were some specific points that came up around this for me as I really listened to what a plethora of speakers were consistent about which I am going to share here.

Hillary Harris @wbhillary accepts her induction into the Hall of |Fame

17 Tips Gleaned
Successful People:

1.  Have people to support them. This includes a great team, great staff, partners or family, friends, colleagues and a peer network.
2. Work with a PR agency (or person) to ensure their brand stays consistent across all channels.  While this may not seem practical for all - if you want to build a brand, this is a piece of doing that.
3. Have appropriate business support, filling their gaps - which could be accounting or business development, or organizational management as some examples - the range was vast and there is no right or wrong - just know what you are good at, and just as importantly, what you are not.
4. Stay relevant. How - see the next tips.
5. Share knowledge - in both directions. Event Solutions speakers included many smart and successful industry leaders and they didn't fly in and out for their sessions - they stayed and they learned from their peers too.
6. Are information consumers - catalogs, magazines, blogs, websites, books, classes, nature and patterns - they are constantly seeking information.
7. Seek inspiration - from other people, from the natural world, from design and architecture, from trends in food, beverage and fashion... as a start. They are also inspired by the brands they support.
8. Stay connected. In person and yes, on social media. Sharing current work, being an inspiration, supporting others in and out of the industry.
9. Stay fearful. There is always someone more connected, more knowledgeable and yes, just plain hungrier - successful people avoid becoming complacent.
10. Are master researchers. They dig deep, and then seek context.
11. Are generous of spirit.
12. Give extra. There is no "good enough" button for anyone succeeding in business. They build and design, they have great partners and they push for everyone to deliver a best in class product and service every time. And have fun doing it.
13. Are flexible. We all know things will never go exactly to plan so they plan well and know how to react and adapt.
14. Eat well and exercise.  You need to be healthy.
15. Plan well and dream big. Think about where you want to be and create a path to get there.
16. Don't define success by money, but by joy. The money will follow if you are truly doing something you are passionate about with people you enjoy doing it with.
17. Ask beautiful questions - the kind that make you think instead of the kind that have an instant answer - they seek dialogue.

There is no secret path to being successful, and making it through challenging economic times and shifts in client desires while maintaining a personal life also. It requires being dedicated and interested, kind and thoughtful, and having a keen desire to create a successful life. If you are doing any of these, you are well on your way, and if you are seeking more, I hope these tips inspire you too!

Social Media vs Magazines

social-media-influencers on MeetingsNet

I LOVE magazines - consumer and trade. I love flipping pages, pulling out pages, adding post-its and sharing with friends. I recognize it is not the most sustainable choice, and I have not yet developed exactly the same love affair with digital magazines, but I am learning.  I am enjoying the layout and ease of finding information on the digital edition of Event Solutions and I am learning to get through the pdf versions of association magazines I have long enjoyed such as MPI's The Meeting Professional and PCMA's alternate approach to sharing Convene digitally, in a click and read format. What I was very impressed with most recently is MeetingsNet app, as I found the information was very easy to "flip" through, and my conversion may be starting...

What I love most about Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook et al is the easy ability to share information, a quick link away, and you can while away an hour or a day learning about innovations, reading different perspectives and generally enjoying the mind-stretch. I was lucky to learn from Jenise Fryatt at the beginning of my journey, and embraced her #EIR - Engage, Inform and Retweet philosophy. More than three years later, I have continued to meet amazing people and hear inspiring stories and ideas on a daily basis, and I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA for its knowledge and its connections. 

I was truly honoured when MeetingsNet chose me as one of their 11 social media influencers for this year, and I think most of us smiled when we saw it was first Richard Branson... and well then all of us who are focused on smaller audiences and rather more of a specific area or industry.  Likely many of you have had in your minds too the "dream companies" you would work for, and for me Virgin has long been part of my short list, so the irony of being so close and still so far was not lost on me! 

Anyhow... I had a lot of fun reading about these other influencers, and I hope you do too!