In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld President Trump’s travel ban on travelers from several Muslim-majority nations as constitutional. As such, it’s an important time to explore a prior travel ban for travelers to the U.S. and how it impacted significant meetings and, arguably, may have hindered important dialogue in the field of HIV/AIDS research. The following originally appeared in The Meeting Professional, March 2017.
Lest you think travel bans upending U.S.-based conferences is a new thing, please take a trip with us back to the waning years of President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
In 1987, HIV was added to the list of “dangerous and contagious diseases,” for which, if a person is infected they would be denied entrance into the U.S. In 1990, Congress granted Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan authority to revise this list of diseases. Sullivan’s new list intentionally excluded HIV, a move in agreement with many in the medical and scientific community. The slow-moving debate on this proposed change began.
In June of 1991, without a revised list approved, officials from the Harvard AIDS Institute notified President George H. W. Bush’s administration that should HIV remain on the list, the planned Eighth International AIDS Conference, scheduled for Boston the following year, would likely be cancelled. Two months later, in August 1991, Harvard announced that due to the uncertainty of the U.S. policy toward HIV-positive people (the revised disease list remained in debate), the Boston conference would not take place. On Sept. 11, 1991, the conference was officially moved to Amsterdam.
The ban on most HIV-infected persons entering the U.S. was reinforced in 1993 when President Bill Clinton approved the disease’s inclusion on the revised list of “dangerous and contagious diseases.” This travel ban continued for 17 years and, as a result, no major HIV/AIDS conferences were held in the U.S.
In January 2010, President Barack Obama officially ended the U.S. immigration ban on persons with HIV and it was announced that Washington, D.C., would host the 2012 International AIDS Conference.
And that’s how a travel ban effectively killed all major HIV/AIDS conferences in the U.S. for more than two decades, despite repeated appeals from professionals actually educated in the field.
In light of the latest U.S. immigration ban, writers Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus explained on STATnews.com that the HIV/AIDS ban “was a principled stand, but it would be difficult to argue that the [conference’s] move had any real effect on the ban… Its real effect was pragmatic: to make sure that more people could attend the meeting.”
“That points to a broader concern: If conferences don’t move, they’ll likely suffer—not because of the protest, but because of the travel ban itself.”
If you’ve got a story about how the travel ban has affected your business (positive or negative), please contact us.
For every meeting and event professional, there are 1,000+ stakeholders standing behind them.
From the boss to the board to the client to the supplier, there are a lot of people invested in the success of the meeting, conference, exhibition or event. And your job, as the event magician, is to find out what’s going to make these people walk away happy.
Easy, huh?
Nope.
And there are 10 million nightmare scenarios that many meeting professionals have experienced that have thwarted making 100% of stakeholders 100% happy.
Lucky you.
Building buy-in and more importantly, meeting the expectations of your stakeholders is an extremely delicate balancing act.
It requires diplomatic savvy, impeccable ability to read people for unarticulated needs, a keen sense of available resources and the most acute skill of all: critical thinking.
Effective stakeholders are ones who can see the various needs of the stakeholders as pieces in the larger jigsaw puzzle. They also know how to get everything to fit, and how to negotiate the give-and-take that is part of the stakeholder management process.
Your first step in assessing and clarifying stakeholders is to start at the bulls eye of the event.
Who is directly going to benefit from it?
Who has skin in the game regarding the event/meeting outcome?
Who else can you partner with to improve the meeting?
Truly, the process really starts with initiating conversations. Stakeholders are more than ready to share with you what they want…and by simply engaging in active listening, you gain better insights into what they see as the benefit.
Start at the beginning, which is really the end.
How do they see the event transpiring?
What’s their meeting vision?
What do they want to see happen at the event?
Then ask the critical questions that delve into their core needs (articulated and non-articulated): What is the root of their requests? What is their objective?
Once you have made those contacts, ask the stakeholders:
Who else do you think might be interested in the meeting/event?”
Those referrals can help open up new ideas and doors to opportunity.
Too many times, sales people and meeting professionals forget to ask this question, and this usually means that money and additional opportunities are left on the table.
Once you have identified all of the stakeholders and their needs, then start parsing through your event to discover where you can “plug” them into the meeting vision.
Classify each according to their needs/expectations, and create the opportunities that match.
Then—and this is the most critical phase—develop the plan that will manage all of these stakeholders and deliver on your outlined promises.
By clearly assessing their needs then classifying them, stakeholders feel fulfilled because you met their expectations.
You promised, and you delivered, and that’s the formula for success.
For every meeting and event professional, there are 1,000+ stakeholders standing behind them.
From the boss to the board to the client to the supplier, there are a lot of people invested in the success of the meeting, conference, exhibition or event. And your job, as the event magician, is to find out what’s going to make these people walk away happy.
Easy, huh?
Nope.
And there are 10 million nightmare scenarios that many meeting professionals have experienced that have thwarted making 100% of stakeholders 100% happy.
Lucky you.
Building buy-in and more importantly, meeting the expectations of your stakeholders is an extremely delicate balancing act.
It requires diplomatic savvy, impeccable ability to read people for unarticulated needs, a keen sense of available resources and the most acute skill of all: critical thinking.
Effective stakeholders are ones who can see the various needs of the stakeholders as pieces in the larger jigsaw puzzle. They also know how to get everything to fit, and how to negotiate the give-and-take that is part of the stakeholder management process.
Your first step in assessing and clarifying stakeholders is to start at the bulls eye of the event.
Who is directly going to benefit from it?
Who has skin in the game regarding the event/meeting outcome?
Who else can you partner with to improve the meeting?
Truly, the process really starts with initiating conversations. Stakeholders are more than ready to share with you what they want…and by simply engaging in active listening, you gain better insights into what they see as the benefit.
Start at the beginning, which is really the end.
How do they see the event transpiring?
What’s their meeting vision?
What do they want to see happen at the event?
Then ask the critical questions that delve into their core needs (articulated and non-articulated): What is the root of their requests? What is their objective?
Once you have made those contacts, ask the stakeholders:
Who else do you think might be interested in the meeting/event?”
Those referrals can help open up new ideas and doors to opportunity.
Too many times, sales people and meeting professionals forget to ask this question, and this usually means that money and additional opportunities are left on the table.
Once you have identified all of the stakeholders and their needs, then start parsing through your event to discover where you can “plug” them into the meeting vision.
Classify each according to their needs/expectations, and create the opportunities that match.
Then—and this is the most critical phase—develop the plan that will manage all of these stakeholders and deliver on your outlined promises.
By clearly assessing their needs then classifying them, stakeholders feel fulfilled because you met their expectations.
You promised, and you delivered, and that’s the formula for success.
Waco – The Heart of Texas
The Waco Convention Center, located 6 blocks from Magnolia Market, is the backdrop for the perfect Central Texas meeting. Call the CVB at 800-321-9226.
Ever since LinkedIn and Facebook introduced their native apps, social media experts have been encouraging people to upload videos. There has been a lot of hype about it. It sounds like the magic bullet…the next big thing.
I’m always skeptical about following fads and the “flavor of the month.” Far too often, results have not turned out to be as promised. So, I started experimenting with uploading some of my existing videos using the native app to see if they gained traction. The results were mixed. After much reluctance, I recently started shooting and uploading new videos.
As of this writing, I’ve uploaded four videos. I shot nine but only six were usable and were far from perfect. What the experts fail to tell you is that shooting videos is not simply a matter of grabbing your camera or mobile and pressing record. In fact, the technical aspects can make or break your video.
My recommendation is that some things are best left to professionals. If you can hire a professional videographer or engage a talented film student, do it. If that’s not in your budget, then a DIY approach is what you’ll have to use.
I’m an actress, so I am already comfortable on camera. Many people aren’t. I’ve even produced a couple of videos for clients, written the scripts and done some of the voice-overs.
When I am on a TV, movie or commercial set, there are always professionals to handle set design, sound, lighting and the shoot. There are also hair stylists and make-up artists. After the shoot, professional editors work their magic.
I’ve never had an interest in the technical aspects of making movies or shooting videos. But when you’re using a DIY approach to creating video content, it’s important to master the basics. It can be a steep learning curve, and I’m still learning. Here is what I have learned, so far, from the school of hard knocks.
1. Prepare to go on camera
Here are a couple of really quick tips based on my experience on-camera and in training hundreds of corporate professionals in presentation skills.
Keep it brief. Two to four minutes is best. Any longer than that and people will tune out.
Never write out or memorize your script
Put a few keywords on a large index card in large print to remind you of what you want to say. Post this where you can see it or have someone hold it. (A flip chart is even better.)
Rehearse, but don’t over-rehearse. Your deliver must be natural. Rehearse in a whisper so that you don’t get locked into patterns.
2. Make sure you look great
Get your hair and make-up done professionally if you need help.
Bring powder for the shine.
Bring two or three tops so that you can shoot more than one video at a time. Make at least one outfit a business suit. For the other outfits, select colors that pop.
3. Scout locations in advance and pick the right location
Whether it’s indoor or outdoor, it must be free of noise and distractions. This isn’t always easy. That is why film and video companies have location scouts. Fortunately, some libraries and community centres have rooms that you can use for free. Make sure the room is furnished and not a relatively empty space. (See lesson No. 6 for the rationale.)
I recently attempted to shoot outside of my apartment building. A neighbor in one of the apartments overlooking the courtyard was coughing loudly and intermittently.
This brings us to our next point.
4. Always have a back-up
Even in a remote location like a lake, there can be cars passing by, dogs barking or children coming out to play. You don’t always have control.
Last week, I found what looked like the perfect location by a pond. As soon as I popped out of the car, I heard the motor running for the water pump. As I type this, a neighbour has just powered up landscaping equipment outside, near my office.
You need to have the option of driving a few blocks to go to a park, garden or greenhouse until the noise has stopped.
5. Select the right background
I’m not talking about going out and buying backdrops, although that would be helpful. When you’re deciding where to shoot, make sure that it’s a wide background with some height to it. If the person operating the camera is not a professional, they are going to have a tough time zooming to crop and frame you properly. The result is that you could end up with distracting objects in the frame. A wide backdrop is more forgiving.
6. Keep it steady
It can take a long time to get the technical details right. Many takes may be required if the person on camera is inexperienced and they’re making mistakes. If someone is holding the camera, their arms will get tired. It is also likely that they won’t be able to keep the camera steady the whole time. Save yourself the trouble. Get or borrow a tripod.
7. Shed the right light on it
This is very important, especially for people of color like me.
Even on a bright and sunny day with the shades drawn up on two large windows, there wasn’t enough light in my office for me to shoot. It took a long time of fiddling with lamps in order to get enough lighting.
As soon as you can afford it, invest in a ring light. Have the person being videotaped (on camera) sit facing the window. Set the camera on a tripod in front of the window and put the ring light around the camera. Make sure the person on camera is close enough to the light so that the light shines on them. If that is not enough you may need to invest in an LED panel light.
8. Sounding off about sound
Sound can make or break your video.
I learned this the hard way. Frustrated with trying to get the lighting right and a wide enough wall to prevent framing problems, I ventured into a couple of hallways. They were big and bright—and the videos looked great. After I uploaded them to LinkedIn, I received feedback that there was echo. I never noticed it.
Echo happens when a room or space is almost empty and the sound bounces off the walls. The solution is to always select a location that has furniture and, if necessary, bring in pillows and blankets to cushion the sound. It is also important to use an external microphone. Apparently, even if you invest in an excellent DSLR camera, the internal mic may not be enough. Check out “Improve Your Audio: How to Reduce Echo in Your Video” for more recommendations.
9. Get the right equipment
Perhaps this point should have been covered first, but it was important to set the stage so that it is clear why this equipment is needed.
The basics
A digital SLR camera (DSLR) with an external port for a microphone and horseshoe for a light
A tripod
A ring light
A panel light (optional)
I have what is considered to be a good camera—Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ70 (16.1 MP). It has a powerful zoom and it has been fabulous for shooting photos for blog posts over the past seven years. Echo was a problem in some of my videos, so I was advised to get an external microphone. Unfortunately, a quick trip to the camera shop revealed that there is no port for an external mic.
Sometimes you can pick up gently used or even new equipment online at affordable prices. Some libraries and universities have equipment that you can borrow.
If you are using a DIY approach, get help. Get a film student to help you and/or team up with other event professionals in your area to share equipment together, shoot videos and learn from each other. Here are some tips for helping things go smoothly when you get together.
What challenges are you facing in creating LinkedIn videos?
Exploring the meeting and event industry publications landscape, we recognized the need for something more like a career resource than a newsy magazine. While the better industry publications absolutely provide valuable content that can be useful in your business life, any attempt at a one-stop-shop for professional development information appeared to be elusive at best.
Scholarships for planners as well as students in the industry to attend conferences in multiple countries, attain professional designations (such as the CMP and CMM), help defray the costs associated with college programs and more. You’ll also find a testimonial from a peer who attended MPI’s World Education Congress thanks to a scholarship.
Free and affordable online professional development courses are out there, if you know where to look. Not only can you find info about free Plan Your Meetings webinars here, but the MPI Academy has generously allowed us to build into this edition its “Art of the Deal: Strategic Hotel & Contract Negotiations” webinar—for free!
Most meeting and event industry print publications can be had for no cost—you just need to know how to get them. Here, you’ll learn for which publications you can receive a complimentary subscription—and, for those not available freely in print, where you can find much of that material at no cost. With the magazines, blogs and podcasts, you’ll have plenty of free fodder to help you grow.
Professional industry events are an integral part of the planner career experience—and that’s where the hosted-buyer format can ease your financial burden. Check out 12 conferences for the duration of 2018 for which you can apply to be a hosted buyer and receive complimentary registration and, in many cases, accommodations and airfare. Beyond that, PYM LIVE is a series of half-day events throughout North America taking place all year long—and those, too, are free to planners!
This is how the Plan Your Meetings Professional Development Guide story begins; your insight is necessary for the betterment of future adult learners. So, what other information would you look to see presented here? Let me know!
P.S. Don’t miss free education opportunities at PYM LIVE events throughout North America—see future dates and register.
“Should I get a master’s degree or a certification?” It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot over the years. And my answer is usually an ironic, “Yes.” Asking, “Should I get a master’s degree or a certification?” is like asking, “Should I have an apple or should I have turkey and dressing with giblet gravy?”
A certification and a degree are not equivalent. Believe me, I know. I have both. I’ve taught in both kinds of programs. Thus, it makes me irrationally crazy when I see a certification described as “the MBA of” any field. It’s not the MBA of a field. An MBA is an MBA (did I mention I’m a professor in a business school?). But I digress.
A certification—be it a CMP, CMM or one of the many other valuable options available—is a great professional development tool when you want to fine-tune skills or knowledge within a fairly well-defined framework. The content is consistent and it can usually be achieved within a short period of time. While sometimes including strategic elements, it tends to be focused on more discrete topics out of necessity due to the timeframe. It’s recognized within an industry or professional segment but may or may not be known outside the industry.
A degree, on the other hand, is an expedition into a body of knowledge. The focus of most advanced degrees is strategic and I would venture to say that no two degrees are alike. Ten students can take exactly the same classes in the same master’s degree program at exactly the same time and they will all come out with something different because you get a certain freedom to customize, to integrate your professional experience into the curriculum, to poke and prod at the materials and challenge the professors and theories over an extended period of time based on your unique experiences until you come out with a common base of knowledge layered with unique experiences and projects that make a master’s degree a one-of-a-kind experience.
The beauty is, you don’t have to choose a certification or a degree. You can do both. Or either. Or several of either or both. That’s the beauty of educational credentials. There’s no one-size-fits-all, but there’s probably a credential for everyone. When people ask me which they should get, I ask them these questions:
How much time do you have to devote to it? In the short-term? In the long-term?
Why do you want a credential? Personal gratification? Do you think it will help you get a promotion? A raise? A new job?
What kind of credentials do others who have the promotion/title/job you want have?
Do you think you’ll go on for additional credentials in the future?
Answering these questions can help guide a person to what may be their first (or only) credential or may lead them to another path altogether. The credential alone, however, doesn’t make the person a better meeting planner or salesperson or whatever. Again, this is not to disparage certifications or degrees. Clearly, I’m a believer. My point is that you can get the credentials, but you have to apply the learning and continue learning for it to truly help you professionally. Both certifications and degrees are based on a body of knowledge. You can master the body of knowledge, great or small. But what you do with it from there is what makes you a professional…or just a person with a credential.
And what if you are thinking, “But I don’t even want a credential?” In my mind, that’s okay, too, as long as you never stop learning. Credentials aren’t for everyone. And there are plenty of non-credentialed learning opportunities out there. There’s nothing to say that a credentialed person is smarter or more knowledgeable than one without. For example, my mother finished high school when she was in her 30s with a GED. My father earned a master’s degree. With absolutely no offense to my dear father, matching wits with my mother was a far more formidable experience for me, even after I earned four degrees and a certification. Mom used to say, “There are common sense smarts and there are book smarts.” Then she’d give me a look that told me that she put my father and I in that latter (and from her perspective, inferior) category.
Some of us just do better with “book learning” than others. It happens to be something I enjoy very much, wrapping my arms around a body of knowledge, learning from experts, feeling I’ve mastered it and getting some kind of credential—whether a certification or a degree—for it. It’s almost a game for me, like running an obstacle course and capturing the flag at the end. But I know others in and outside our industry who struggle mightily with the kind of learning I do for fun. My mom and dad were polar opposites. My brother and I are, too. College was not his thing, but not because he’s not smart—he’s very smart. There is no machine he can’t figure out, including cars. He builds houses and says he thinks in three-dimensional blue prints, which blows my mind. In education, we call this “differently smart.” And we haven’t yet figured out the andragogy (methods and principles used in adult education) of how to offer the same credentials in ways that reach those who are differently smart. So, if you are differently smart, keep learning your own way until we catch up to you. We’re trying!
Now that the shock has worn off, it’s time for event planners to carefully weigh their options—cool heads must prevail. It is important to leave emotion out of it and make sound business decisions. So, what are the options for event planners who are experiencing a shortfall in income due to the policy change by these hotel companies?
One option is to book with hotel chains that offer higher commissions. This is problematic for a number or reasons and, at best, a temporary solution. If event planners bypass Marriott and Hilton properties, that flies in the face of the stance the industry has always taken. Event planners have always maintained that they make venue recommendations based on the needs of the client, not due to commissions or personal incentives. To bypass these chains brings that stance into question. Industry veteran Joan Eisenstodt has always expressed concern about the ethics of commissions especially when they are undisclosed and maintained that the commission model is unsustainable.
Many are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Has Marriott set a precedent? Perhaps, as Hilton has shown. Will other hoteliers follow this lead and, one by one, reduce or eventually eliminate commissions? Travel Weekly reported that some hotel chains such as Preferred Hotels & Resorts and a few independent hotels like Eden Roc and Nobu in Miami Beach designed promotions to court event planners by offering commissions of up to 12 percent. Is this likely to continue?
The writing is on the wall. At this juncture, it would be wise to learn from the travel industry. Many travel agencies that were dependent on commissions eventually went out of business when airlines eliminated or significantly reduced commissions. Based on the events that unfolded in the travel industry, it is likely that hotels will eventually wipe out commissions.
It is becoming increasingly clear that event planners would be wise to revisit their business models and gradually wean themselves off commissions. This won’t be easy. Even event planners who levy fees for their services have factored commissions into income projections and adjusted their rates accordingly. Clients have not been paying for the full value of event planning services as these have been partially underwritten by commissions. It will be challenging for them to perceive the full value of services that have always been subsidized. While a sudden and drastic increase event planning fees will surely result in the loss of business, over time, these adjustments must be made. To do otherwise is sure suicide.
How long will it take for hotels to fully eliminate commissions? One year? Two years? Certainly not five. In Jamaica, we have an expression: “When your head is in a lion’s mouth, you have to take it out…slowly.” Slow and steady wins the race. The time to make adjustments is now.
Now that the shock has worn off, it’s time for event planners to carefully weigh their options—cool heads must prevail. It is important to leave emotion out of it and make sound business decisions. So, what are the options for event planners who are experiencing a shortfall in income due to the policy change by these hotel companies?
One option is to book with hotel chains that offer higher commissions. This is problematic for a number or reasons and, at best, a temporary solution. If event planners bypass Marriott and Hilton properties, that flies in the face of the stance the industry has always taken. Event planners have always maintained that they make venue recommendations based on the needs of the client, not due to commissions or personal incentives. To bypass these chains brings that stance into question. Industry veteran Joan Eisenstodt has always expressed concern about the ethics of commissions especially when they are undisclosed and maintained that the commission model is unsustainable.
Many are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Has Marriott set a precedent? Perhaps, as Hilton has shown. Will other hoteliers follow this lead and, one by one, reduce or eventually eliminate commissions? Travel Weekly reported that some hotel chains such as Preferred Hotels & Resorts and a few independent hotels like Eden Roc and Nobu in Miami Beach designed promotions to court event planners by offering commissions of up to 12 percent. Is this likely to continue?
The writing is on the wall. At this juncture, it would be wise to learn from the travel industry. Many travel agencies that were dependent on commissions eventually went out of business when airlines eliminated or significantly reduced commissions. Based on the events that unfolded in the travel industry, it is likely that hotels will eventually wipe out commissions.
It is becoming increasingly clear that event planners would be wise to revisit their business models and gradually wean themselves off commissions. This won’t be easy. Even event planners who levy fees for their services have factored commissions into income projections and adjusted their rates accordingly. Clients have not been paying for the full value of event planning services as these have been partially underwritten by commissions. It will be challenging for them to perceive the full value of services that have always been subsidized. While a sudden and drastic increase event planning fees will surely result in the loss of business, over time, these adjustments must be made. To do otherwise is sure suicide.
How long will it take for hotels to fully eliminate commissions? One year? Two years? Certainly not five. In Jamaica, we have an expression: “When your head is in a lion’s mouth, you have to take it out…slowly.” Slow and steady wins the race. The time to make adjustments is now.
Thursday, April 12, 2018, is Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID), a dedicated date to focus on and promote the meeting and event industry and enhance your planning skills through free or low-cost professional education (it’s time to get more strategic in your planning). The tagline for the 2018 GMID “Real results, real impact, all around the world.”
MPI has a day-long free live steam planned for 12 hours (7 a.m.-7 p.m., ET), which will explore the GMID festivities from Asia to Europe to North America. This will include educational discussions with experts as well as partners from IAEE, IACC, PSAV and more. Some of the topics scheduled:
“How to Prepare for the Next Attack on Meetings”
“One Principle That Will Make or Break Your Negotiations”
“How to Grow Your Attendance”
“Inside the Industry: What’s Really Going on Out There”
If you want education in person, there are countless events, organized by numerous industry associations and destinations. Many of these groups are working together for true community gatherings.
For example, the GMID Spring Training! event in Atlanta (3:30 p.m.) is a collaboration between PCMA Southeast, IAEE Southeast, GSAE, SITE Southeast, the MPI Georgia Chapter and SPIN Atlanta.
Over in Chicago, the MPI-CAC Industry Xchange is organized by the MPI Chicago Area Chapter in partnership with a slew of other professional groups. There, participants will enjoy sessions with notable industry names such as Joan Eisenstodt, Tony Lorenz and Christy Lamagna.
Easy, huh?
Truly, the process really starts with initiating conversations. Stakeholders are more than ready to share with you what they want…and by simply engaging in active listening, you gain better insights into what they see as the benefit.
Ever since LinkedIn and Facebook introduced their native apps, social media experts have been encouraging people to upload videos. There has been a lot of hype about it. It sounds like the magic bullet…the next big thing.
Exploring the meeting and event industry publications landscape, we recognized the need for something more like a career resource than a newsy magazine. While the better industry publications absolutely provide valuable content that can be useful in your business life, any attempt at a one-stop-shop for professional development information appeared to be elusive at best.
A certification and a degree are not equivalent. Believe me, I know. I have both. I’ve taught in both kinds of programs. Thus, it makes me irrationally crazy when I see a certification described as “the MBA of” any field. It’s not the MBA of a field. An MBA is an MBA (did I mention I’m a professor in a business school?). But I digress.
