It's a fact that the meetings industry has been affected by the economy. This is a time when a lot of corporate and independent company owners are trying to justify memberships to such groups as MPI, ISES, NACE and ABC. It is hard to see a benefit of belonging to these organizations when the return on investment (ROI) may not be there. But there is a way to guarantee not only a ROI but an opportunity to learn skills that can take you company to the next level. Get involved in your chosen organization.
Professional organization will only benefit you if you get involved. You get out of it what you put into it. Even if you only have a few hours a month, I'm sure there is something you can do to get involved. Organizations break down their committee's so you can see what they handle and make a decision on whether or not that group interests you. Choose one you are interested in and passionate about and you'll be surprised at how quickly you will see the benefit.
To demonstrate the value and benefit I will use GOAMPI chapter as I am the VP, Marketing & Communications.
Meet New People
The Marketing & Communications committee interacts with all other committee's within the organization. That means committee members have multiple opportunities to interact with others within the organization. It increases their chances of getting their company information out there to other members. It also give your company visibility within the organization. You never know if one of these other members could be a potential client!
Learn New Skills
Within my committee there is constant learning as we are trying to stay cutting edge in these very competitive times! We have gotten involved with Social Networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook. Linked In and You Tube. These are all constantly changing and evolving and we try to keep up with these changes. Working together with a committee that shares ideas and best practices to help each other catapult MPI to the next level is a HUGE benefit to anybody and any company!!! The information shared about these social networking outlets and the best ways to use them not only benefits the GOAMPI chapter, but also all of our personal and company businesses. This is the way of the new economy and what better place to learn about these tools than at a professional organization that you already have a membership with! Most people pay to learn these skills, but within my committee we have so many different experiences that we are able to work together and learn from each other.
Become a Leader
Opportunities are there for you to become a leader within the organization. By associating yourself with a professional organization appears to other industry folks as if you are investing in your future. Most companies can be selective when choosing a planner of Supplier and the hope is that most companies will tend to go towards people who are involved with professional organizations that hold high standards. As a leader in the organization you also have the opportunity to utilize all your great ideas and make a difference within the organization. This give a great opportunity to stay involved and keep others involved as well!
The benefits of joining a committee within a professional organization are endless. People get involved for many reasons. Most importantly however, is the fact that you feel good about being able to make a difference within your industry. So when you choose which professional organization you are going to be a member of, be sure and get involved and reap all the benefits the membership can offer! You can make a difference!!
It may seem as if we just threw a couple buses, some random bars, beer on the bus, made up some drink specials at the bars and ordered some t-shirts but believe it or not, there is a lot that goes into creating one of our Bus Tours. One of the largest and most important element is what bars to go to! How to select a bar is so important because it can make or break the fun of the trip. if you get to a bar that is run down, mismanaged or overall not fun, people will be begging to get back on the bus and leave! This will impact them not to go on another Bus Tour!!Start with a List - When we are in the pre-planning stages of the bus tour the first thing we do is start listing all the possible places we could go to. We take into account past places and feedback we receive. We also ask around and see if anyone has a person experience with a place they think might work for us. Visit the Bars - Once we have our list of about 10 places we venture to see them personally. You wouldn't believe how many places we went to and decided it just wouldn't fit our group, the place was too small, there wasn't enough bartenders or there just wasn't anything to entertain the group there! Another element taking into consideration is the locations. We don't want to bring a bunch of crazy partiers into an establishment with a bunch of kids or families. Awkward!! Bar Distance - Once we have about 5 possible options we try and map out a bus route. We are merely making sure people are sitting on the bus longer than 1/2 hour in between stops. If you get more than that, people start getting anxious and wanting to get off.Bar Negotiations - Another important element to out Bus Tours is making sure that once the tour fee is paid, there isn't a lot of other expenses. This is where we negotiate with the bars to see what they can offer the group. Whether it be food & drink specials, visits by alcohol brand girls, free drinks... whatever. If a bar is unwilling to negotiate with us, we move on to another one as there are a lot that will. Believe it or not, the "specials" or "free drinks" at the bars do make a difference to the group! They do remember the times that they received a free shot or that the manager came out and mingled with them and gave some drinks at the table and so on...Once all the above elements fall into place, we can choose the bars we feel fit our group the best! In the past we have used several bars that may be fun to hang out at, just not for a group of this size. If we let a bar know we are bringing 55 - 110 people to the bar at a specific time then the bar staff better be ready! If not, we know not to go back there again!Upcoming Bus Tour The upcoming "Off The Beatin' Path" bus tour features Wall Street Cantina, Hagan O'Reilly's, Lakeside Bar & Grill (formerly Benchwarmer's) and Trotter's. All of the bars were great to work with and are very excited to have our group come visit! We have created a perfect mix of things to do and great people together to make this bus tour even better than the last two were!! We hope to sell out two buses and give everyone an experience to remember as well as a trip worth the money they spend on it!If you are interested in going on the Off The Beatin' Path Bus Tour, sign up by Sunday, October 11 to get your official t-shirt ordered: The tour is on Saturday, October 24th at 3:00 PM meeting at Wall Street in Orlando, FL.
I am asked all the time why I involve myself with other people and organizations. They just can't understand why someone would want to keep so busy helping out others. Especially when I am trying to promote and get my own business. Well the answer is simple... it makes me feel good!I have gone through life doing things the hard way! Turns out that it isn't such a bad thing. Because of this, I was forced to learn as much as possible on certain subjects so I could make good, well-thought out decisions. So for others I am able to offer up ideas, suggestions and opinions so they don't have to go through what I did. When I see people successfully moving forward using what I suggested, it makes me feel good!When I started my Meeting Planning company it was scary and I didn't know what to do. But now that I have been through the process and see what it takes, I can help others adapt more easily. I can reassure them about doubts, show them good websites to check out and maybe even throw in some DO NOT's that should definitely help get them started. I have seen results of those I have helped and I fee good about the fact that I was able to make it less stressful for them!!The big business tool now is Social Networking using Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and You Tube. Well I have gone through a lot, read a lot, attended educational classes and am constantly learning ways to use these tools better so I can network my business. All this effort will be put to good use for not only myself, but others. Since I understand the ideas behind it as well as how it works, I am able to share this knowledge with others and make them more comfortable with it. I have been able to get countless people on Facebook & Twitter simply by taking time and explaining to people how it can work to their advantage and giving them basic knowledge on what they need to get started. I feel good to see people actually using these applications and feeling good about doing it.It truly does make me feel good to be able to help others learn. I feel as if they appreciate it and I can see the stress melt away in their eyes when they start understanding something. I wish there were more people like me out there to take the time and help others simply because it gives you a good feeling! I will continue to help others where I can and some day it may come back around to me and someone will do the same for me!
One of the most common questions I am asked is how do I know so many people! The answer is simple... because I truly enjoy getting to know people and the experiences they have been through. I feel like I can learn from people and that helps me grow as a person. I don't consider myself outgoing, in fact I can be quite shy. But I put myself out to get to know people because it makes them feel good as much as it makes me feel good!But how is this done when your shy and uncomfortable meeting new people? It truly is a frame of mind. If you are afraid you won't have anything to say or people won't want to talk to you... get rid of that mind set!! Put your mind set in a place that says... I'm a great person and I have a lot of good stuff to say! Remember how "fun" you are to be around and you want to share that with others! If you give off those vibes, people WILL want to be around you. Most people would rather be around someone with a great personality than a bump on a log!Another thing to remember is that most people LOVE to talk about themselves. If you find yourself with worrying you won't have anything to say to someone, DON'T! Just ask them questions about themselves and figure out something you have in common. If you are at a networking event ask someone to tell you about their business and what they do. Once they start talking about their business you will come up with lots of other questions. If you're out at a bar maybe watching sports, ask questions about the sport. Just take the environment you're in use it to your advantage. If you look around there are a lot of great ideas to talk about. Most important, keep it real. Speak from the heart and take time to actually listen to people. People will go out of their way to respond as it makes them feel like you are looking to them for their opinion.The most important thing to do is make people feel special! If you can figure out a way to make people feel special you've made a connection. Whether it is make a special point to going over and saying good-bye from an event, acknowledging them out at another event, or simply making them laugh. Find something personal that makes an impact and it will make them feel special.Remember, meeting people shouldn't be a scary thing! It should be an exciting adventure to expand your horizon's! If you remember to keep it real and speak from the heart, you will be amazed at how comfortable you will feel meeting people. You can never know enough people and someday you never know whether or not you and that new friend can help each other out!
One non--profit organization that is near and dear to me is Best Buddies International. http://bit.ly/Best_Buddies Best Buddies is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.I have volunteered with Best Buddies for 5 years organizing and helping them with several of thier events including thier monthly fundraiser "Business Buddies". Business Buddies is a social and networking opportunity for the Orlando business community. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for professionals to come together, network, socialize, and have fun for a good cause. http://bit.ly/Business_Buddies. I have also been involved helping organize and support thier annual fundraiser Orlando's Toast & Taste. All proceeds from Orlando's Toast and Taste support programs for Best Buddies Orlando 25 local programs seving our 2,000 + participants in Central Florida. http://bit.ly/Toast_and_Taste. This year's fundraiser is on Friday, October 16th 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM at Stirling Sotheby's Global Gallery in downtown Orlando. The event features an array of fine wines and scrumptious cuisine. For collectors, travelers and wine connoisseurs, this year's event includes silent and live auctions featuring autographed memorabilia, vacation packages and rare bottles of wine. For additional information on these great events or how you can help Best Buddies of Central Florida please contact:Michelle Tano - Area Director407-898-0787 ext. 107michelletano@bestbuddies.org
