Meetings industry statistics indicate that the vast majority of meeting planners and other event professionals are women.
Research by Catalyst and other business-trend firms indicates that professional women in general still have a harder time attaining leadership positions within corporate America.
MPI, for its part, created the Women’s Leadership Initiative in 2001 to find out why there were not more women in leadership positions in their own organizations/corporations.
According to its website, MPI’s membership has “maintained a ratio of somewhere around 75 percent women for many years. In 2002, only 11 percent of the approximately 15,000 members who are women were in leadership positions, whereas 30 percent of the 5,000 men were.”
My bet is that the statistics haven’t changed radically. Why is that?
Could it be that many women are more hesitant to take new positions that stretch their talents to assume leadership roles? How about you? Do you get queasy at the thought of speaking up and taking ownership for your achievements before your peers and superiors? Are you asking for what you want?
I used to wait for things to happen. But ultimately, I decided to change my way of thinking and take ownership for being recognized and rewarded.
Initially, it was quite a daunting task. My first course of action was to observe, interview and read about people who were successful, and doing what I wanted to do.
What was their magic? What were they doing to personally build their brand?
The Product Is You
If we begin to see ourselves as a product, we realize that visibility is critical. With low visibility there is NO visibility. People like to do business with professionals they know, like and trust. Are you that person? Are others aware of what you have to offer, and what you want?
Remember, it’s not just what you know, or who you know, it’s who knows you and what you’re capable of doing that will build your event planning business and create a brand.
I built my company—Brody Professional Development—by creating and constantly fine-tuning my product and my MAGIC.
MAGIC is an acronym I developed after noting what successful entrepreneurs and business executives did both knowingly and intuitively:
M: Manner
The first aspect of marketing your MAGIC relates to your manner, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you meet people, the way you treat people.
Do you project the body language of a winner? Do you walk with purpose? Do you look people in the eye and smile?
Does your grooming project attention to detail? Are your clothes appropriate for the occasion? Do you project the image of success?
Are you the type of person people want to do business with? Can they count on you? Can they trust you? Do you treat them respectfully?
No one wants to do business with—or work with—people who treat them poorly. Your manner can open or shut doors.
A: Advocates
Creating an advocate system is another great way to market your MAGIC. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, an advocate is “a person who pleads another’s cause…a person who speaks or writes in support of something.”
These are the people who create “buzz” about you and your company or services. Consider them your unpaid salesforce.
Advocates don’t just happen. You need to meet as many people in as many places as possible—at work, within professional associations like MPI, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), PCMA, and other specific industry groups, and in your daily life. Being a good networker helps with the first step in creating advocates.
There are four things you need in order to make the most of your networking opportunities: a good self-introduction, business cards (carry them with you at all times), an effective handshake (firm, not bone crushing or wimpy), and, of course, an interest in helping others.
Advocate relationships in your life often evolve and grow over time as you get to know each other better. It’s all about creating, building and maintaining the relationship.
Here are three pointers to nurture the relationship you develop with advocates:
- Ask for their advice. They will probably appreciate and remember the fact that you respect their opinion.
- Focus on ways you can help your advocates, not just on how they can help you. Be willing to listen, offer insight, help with projects, and share your best practices.
- Stay in touch: call, send articles, “do lunch,” drop them a quick reconnecting e-mail or text message.
G: Grow
The third part of my MAGIC formula for success is to grow. Strive to grow in knowledge in three areas:
- Craft: What you do. The skills/information to do your job.
- Market: Your field. What are the trends? What do you need to know so you don’t become obsolete?
- Self: Take risks; try new things.
How do you grow? Continue your education and get advanced degrees or certifications in your industry—MPI, ASAE, PCMA, National Speakers Association, and the other meetings industry trade groups all offer various levels of certification. Training programs, mentoring and mastermind groups also provide opportunities for growth.
Taking risks is necessary for growth. Whenever you evaluate a risk, ask yourself the following two questions:
- What’s the worst that can happen?
- If it happens, then what?
Once you’ve identified the worst possible outcome of taking a risk, think about how you would cope with potential failure. Do you have a good backup plan? Would you have opportunities or resources to fall back on? If so, then what do you have to lose?
I: Involvement
The “I” in the MAGIC formula relates to getting involved. Get involved in the things that winners you are involved with are involved with, and winners you would like to be involved with are involved with.
Where to get involved:
- Within your own company and industry
- Professional associations and other professional/community groups
- Life (country clubs, synagogues, churches, your childrens’ activities, etc.)
Involvement means take leadership roles, get involved training others, become a mentor, serve on a board, do something!
C: Commentary
The last part of the MAGIC mix is to be perceived as an expert. You need to give commentary in order to do this. Get your name out there. Become an expert resource.
There are two aspects to creating commentary:
- Write
• Articles: print and on websites
• Newsletters and e-zines
• Books
• Letters to the editor
Once you are published, send articles to your advocates and to others in your network and industry. Or, send out news releases in order to secure media interviews.
- Speak (and this also means speak up at meetings)
• At MPI, NSA, PCMA, or other meetings, conferences and conventions
• Teach a course
• Do radio and television interviews
• Present papers
• Introduce speakers
All of these techniques—paying attention to your manner, creating advocates, constantly growing, involving yourself in the things that winners are involved with, and delivering commentary through speaking and writing—will help you create greater visibility.
