Two essential skills that a person needs to succeed as a meeting planner are the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and being detail oriented. But besides learning to juggle, what other skills does it take to thrive in this industry?
I recently had the opportunity to ask a number of meeting planners—corporate, association, nonprofit, and independent consultants—what other skills make them successful in their particular arena of meeting
planning. There were six skills that came up repeatedly: the ability to communicate effectively, knowing how to leverage partnerships, flexibility, strategic planning, accounting/budgeting, and patience and humor.
Communication Skills
Whether you work in a corporate, association or nonprofit setting, communication skills are critical to the success of any meeting or event. Kim Stoermer, CMP, an independent meeting planner based in Fremont, Calif., works with nonprofit organizations on a variety of special events and festivals.
“People skills are imperative because you are dealing with a wide range of individuals such as volunteers and sponsors,” Stoermer says. “You need to be a good communicator and be very patient, especially when you’re dealing with volunteers on-site.”
Knowing how to listen to what the other person is saying is another part of being a good communicator. Maryanne Greketis, meetings coordinator with the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in Lansing, Mich., finds it extremely important to listen to the requests from her volunteer planning committees.
“Often what they are asking is really not what they need or want,” she says. “Learning to ‘read between the lines’ about what they’re requesting involves careful listening and asking open-ended questions in return.”
In addition to verbal (and non-verbal) communication, it is also important to develop your written communication skills: writing, editing and proofreading.
Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM, chief strategist of Charlotte, N.C.-based Bonnie Wallsh Associates, teaches meeting and event planning in university continuing education programs and she reminds her students to focus on their spelling and grammar.
For Heide Kraus, CMP, director of Meetings and Educational Programs for the Milwaukee-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers, this comes naturally to her because she has a degree in journalism.
“I always mentor young people that it is imperative to be a good writer, editor and proofreader,” she says. “You must be able to read things strategically, analyze, question, and write well.”
An independent planner shared a story about a client who insisted on doing the proofreading for a registration piece. Believing they had done a good job reviewing the material beforehand, the client declined to review the blueline (the version of the layout before it goes to press for printing). Unfortunately, the number for attendees to phone in their registrations was incorrect. Luckily, the independent planner caught the error before the registration piece was mailed. To avoid having to reprint the piece, they produced a sticker with the correct phone number that had to be manually placed on over 1,000 pieces.
Flexibility
There is a sigh of relief from meeting planners when attendees respond on evaluations that the program was flawless. Only the meeting planning team knows about the one or two things that required some last-minute problem-solving. Whether you work in an association or corporate environment, it is important to be able to think on your feet and be flexible.
“Something can and will happen on the spot that you will have to be flexible toward, and many times you have to ‘think on your feet’ to come up with an immediate solution before the problem gets out of control,” says Jade Yoong, meetings and events coordinator for the Torrance, Calif.-based International Right of Way Association.
After working for six years as the conference manager at San Francisco’s Western Arts, Stoermer decided to step out on her own as an independent planner. She now works with nonprofit organizations.
“Being flexible is important because I’m working for a number of clients, both internally and externally,” she says. “Although the nature of the events I’m working on are similar, each client deals with their vendors and sponsors in a different way and I have to be flexible about the way I interface with each of these groups.”
Flexibility is not exclusive to association meetings.
Tammy Benedict, CMP, a meeting planner with BD in Franklin Lakes, N.J., has found that “…perseverance and flexibility has always been core to my skill set. Being able to constantly drive toward the goal in the face of conflicting schedules and/or priorities while maintaining the ability to recognize the conflicts and flex toward a more creative solution keep me on track with my management.”
Patience/Empathy
How many times do we remember our parents telling us that ‘patience is a virtue?’ In the case of planning meetings, it is an essential quality. Stoermer finds this to be true especially when she is dealing with volunteers on-site.
“I work on my patience level with people on a daily basis,” Stoermer says.
“Without a doubt,” says Sue Walton, an independent planner in Evanston, Ill., “empathy is the most valuable characteristic. If one cannot be empathetic with others, they cannot understand how others do their jobs and the reasons for certain policies and procedures.”
Working with Numbers
Whether or not you were a math wiz in school, an important skill to cultivate is the ability to work with budgets.
“We put a budget together for every event and use them for final reconciliation. You cannot make a realistic business decision if you do not have everything itemized,” says Theresa Garza, CMP, owner of Amigo Solutions in Phoenix. “Budgeting is such a critical piece of what you are doing with an event or meeting. You have to learn what a realistic budget looks like.”
A good place to learn about budgets is at industry association conferences. Another good source for independent meeting planners is local small business organizations, such as the Small Business Administration and the Urban League.
Leveraging Partnerships
Dawn Tryon-Rasmussen, CTP, CMP, director of education and community relations for the Wilsonville, Ore.-based Oregon Restaurant Education Foundation, started her career as the receptionist at the Portland Oregon Visitors Association.
“By learning and understanding what callers and members needed, I was able to connect them to the services that they were seeking and helped build awareness internally about finding a way to link people and resources,” she says.
In Tryon-Rasmussen’s current position, she leverages her partnerships with members when it comes to sourcing out speakers or panelists, sponsors, or to help generate attendance at meetings.
Knowing how to “connect the dots” is something that Lisa Laubgross, CMP, conference services general manager for Booz, Allen, Hamilton in Virginia, says is an important skill she has developed throughout her career in the corporate arena.
“I am able to see the big picture and ‘connect the dots’ to get to the correct or a correct answer quickly,” Laubgross says.
It is critical to understand who the shareholders are and how a meeting or event impacts a company or organization’s goals and objectives. This falls in line with another important skill: strategic planning.
Thinking Strategically
Most meeting planners begin their career focusing on meetings from a logistical standpoint, and that was certainly the case with Donna Patrick, CMP, CMM, manager, group meetings and travel operations for Medtronic, based in Minneapolis.
“Early on in my career, I did what most planners do; I thought from a logistical standpoint, where people need to be and when,” Patrick says. “When you manage meetings in a corporate atmosphere there are lots of goals, objectives and justification. Suddenly I started asking, ‘Why are we doing this meeting? What are the business strategies? Do they fall within our overall mission and corporate objectives?”
Matthew Schermerhorn, CMP, director, corporate events for AAA in San Francisco, has also found strategic leadership an important skill, especially as it relates to “aligning corporate strategy with budgets, message and motivational components in and across events.”
Take every opportunity to expand your repertoire of skills—you never know what direction it will take you.
