It was January. The COVID Ghost of Christmas Past had just come to visit all of us. In January, cases were spiking in many regions.
“They want to hold the event? They’re 100% sure?” I asked.
“Yes,” my partner replied.
We had been waiting for a cancel, and suddenly, I started the journey of my first live event, held in the middle of February. 300 attendees were invited. 294 RSVP’d yes within the first week of registration opening. The clients holding the event had become dear friends over 10 years, and we weren’t going to let them figure it out alone.
And so started the journey that called on every aspect of our CMP Domain areas.
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Clubhouse is a social networking space where people around the world with similar interests exchange information and communicate based on voice – to tell stories, ask questions, debate, learn, and have impromptu conversations on thousands of different topics.
Launched in April 2020, Clubhouse has exceeded 10 million downloads worldwide as of the end of February 2021. The app is only available on iOS, and the closed nature of being unable to enter without an invitation stimulates curiosity. Clubhouse is riding a wave of media hype, celebrity endorsements, venture capital and chart-topping download figures. Currently, this service is available in 154 countries around the world.
Since meetings and events we organise are often held for the same purpose, I would like to talk more specifically about how to utilise Clubhouse as an event planner.
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By Berenice Lai, CMP, DES | Head of Global Events, SurveyMonkey
The event industry was destined to be rewritten on March 11, 2020, when the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The past 12 months have been a crash course on new norms, most notably with social distancing and handwashing drilled into our psyche. This same concept of new norms is the fate of the event industry as we are now forced to create a personal ambience within a remote setting. Living in a pandemic feels like we are in an indefinite race where the finish line never comes into focus.
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How many years have you been a CMP?
15 years
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, USA.
What did you want to (or think you’d) be when you grew up?
When I was growing up, I loved all things science. Biology was my favorite subject in high school, so I wanted to become a medical lab technician.
What was your educational field of study (college major or whatever, as applicable), and, if notably different from what you do, your how/why/story?
My story is kind of funny. As I mentioned, I wanted to be a medical lab technician. Unfortunately, I got the dates of the biology final wrong and missed it. I knew immediately that I was not going to repeat biology, so I changed my major and graduated with a degree in economics and a minor in public administration. I was eager to move out on my own after graduating, so I accepted a job working as an administrative assistant in the executive office of an association. Like many meeting planners in my generation, I sort of fell into meeting planning.
When did you first hear about the CMP designation and what drew you to this certification?
I first heard about the CMP designation in 2005 when several of my colleagues started preparing for the exam. I had been a meeting planner for about 10 years.
Favorite snack?
Cheetos Simply White Cheddar Jalapeno Puffs
What is the biggest life lesson you have learned during the pandemic?
What I have learned during the pandemic has only reinforced what I already knew about myself and meeting professionals. We have great coping skills when confronted with a crisis. We are resilient. We have the unique ability to confront a crisis while maintaining control of the situation. We can calmly and rationally look at the problem and envision a successful solution.
What was the last book you read/listened to?
The last book I read was "Our Iceberg is Melting" by John Kotter. It is a story about doing well under the stress and uncertainty of rapid change. We have been living in a state of constant change that has substantially upended major portions of our personal and professional lives. "Our Iceberg is Melting" provides tools to help thrive during tough times.
Do you have a favorite quote?
I have many favorite quotes and they can change based on what I am experiencing in my life at a specific moment in time. Right now, my favorite quote is from Shirley Chisolm. “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
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 Save the date 6-8 April 2021 as EIC paves a path to Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID). As our industry begins to rebuild and come back stronger than ever, EIC is excited to present two days of impactful and thought-provoking webinars that highlight our efforts on advocacy, equity, recovery and sustainability.
Tuesday 6 April 2021
Advocacy in Action - 10:00 – 11:00 EDT / (UTC-4:00)
EIC Equity Task Force Open House Session - 12:00 – 1:00 EDT / (UTC-4:00)
Wednesday 7 April 2021
EIC APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force Open House Sessions
- Meeting Design - 10:00 – 11:00 EDT / (UTC-4:00)
- Workforce - 21:00 – 22:00 EDT / (UTC-4:00)
EIC Sustainability and Social Impact Committee Sustainable Event Standards Open House - 13:00 – 14:00 EDT / (UTC-4:00)
EIC is proud to offer these webinars free of charge to our global community. More details on programming and registration coming soon!
Each webinar is eligible for 1 CE toward your CMP, CMP-HC or CAE. Closed captioning will be available during each webinar.
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During this time of change, it's important to update your personal information in your CMP Account. This will help us help you stay connected to the CMP community.
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Have you joined the LinkedIn group for CMPs? Log in and connect with 7,300 fellow CMPs from around the world. Search for the listed group: Certified Meeting Professionals – CMPs and request to join.
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The Events Industry Council (EIC), in partnership with Oxford Economics, has announced an ambitious new study examining the global events industry’s economic impact and, for the first time, quantifying the cumulative losses experienced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more
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The Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance (ECA), a newly formed advocacy group dedicated to the recovery and advancement of the face-to-face business events industry, is pleased to announce that executives from three of the leading organizations in the business events industry will hold leadership positions on ECA’s board of directors.
Read more
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The $11 billion industry is slowly coming back to life after a lost year. Are potential attendees ready to crowd into expo halls and hotel bars with strangers again?
Read more
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With no long lines, no traffic, and no parties, South by Southwest is going to look a lot this different this year. Here’s how organizers pulled it off.
Read more
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Los Angeles. It’s one of the entertainment capitals of the world, a bustling, diverse, sun-drenched city that’s known for drawing groups that want stylish, state-of-the-art spaces for their meetings and events. It was also the epicenter of this winter’s devastating COVID-19 surge—and while cases are starting to drop, the city is still dealing with some of the tightest regulations in the country.
Read more
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To date, this industry-wide task force has published seven accepted practices guides: B2B and B2C Exhibitions, Business Continuity, Meeting and Event Design, Health and Safety for Hotels, Workforce and Wellness, Travel and Transportation, and Resources for Destinations. Additional resources include a Code of Conduct, Principles for Recovery, Key Questions for Event Organisers, Know Before You Go, and a Crisis Communications worksheet. After the release of each guide, EIC hosted a webinar with task force members to review the resources. You can access all of this helpful aggregated content via EIC's website and YouTube channel.
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As our industry works through the realities and impact of COVID-19, we have many valuable tools and educational resources to reference. EIC's member organisations, as well as companies around the world, are sharing information, sparking new ideas and offering support. EIC has gathered resources and tools from various sources and centralised them into a COVID-19 resource centre. If you have information to share, please contact us.
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Did you miss the most recent APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force webinar? Not to worry! You can access this and other great content anytime free of charge by visiting EIC’s YouTube channel.
Recap of Webinar: APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force Discussion on Launch of B2B and B2C Exhibitions Accepted Practices Guide
In response to the impact of COVID-19, the Events Industry Council formed the APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force. The task force work groups are focused on aggregating and curating accepted practices across the events ecosystem and providing a framework for recovery and resilience as the industry adapts to its most significant disruption. In this webinar, our panel discussed the intention of the APEX COVID-19 Task Force work, the process of aggregation and curation of resources, the guide, and its customisable tools.
Learning Outcomes:
- Learn about the impact of COVID-19 on the trade show and exhibitions sector and its stakeholders, including supply chain partners
- Discuss key questions for show organisers and their partners to ask of each other when considering in-person or virtual events
- Review risk assessment guidance, duty of care responsibilities, and considerations for design decisions that minimise risk and promote the development of shared objectives and risk sharing
- Learn how COVID-19 has affected sustainability and social impact considerations for events, and how we can build back better
- Hear about best practices for safety and security that are being instituted as in-person exhibitions return
Panelists:
- Moderator: Cathy Breden, CMP, CAE, EVP/COO at International Association of Exhibitions and Events | CEO, Center for Exhibition Industry Research Foundation
- Adam Andersen, Group Director, Pharma, Informa Markets
- Stephanie Jones, CAE, CMP, DES, Senior Director, Conferences and Education at Water Environment Federation
- Kristin Mirabal, CMP, DES, VEMM, VEIP, EPIK: Event Experience Design
- Mark Mulligan, Director of Operations, IMEX Group
- Sheila Neal, CASE, Associate Director, Sales, Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Julia Smith, CEM, CTA, SVP, Exhibition Sales, GES
- Frank Yang, PMP, CMP, CEM, Kintex Director, Convention Marketing & Business Development
View webinar
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In conjunction with the recent release of the Resources for Workforce and Wellness Accepted Practices Guide, EIC has launched a Career Centre on its website.
The resources for the EIC online Career Centre are organised by:
- Career Opportunities: A job posting board
- Career Pathways: Tools and resources for career and financial support
- Certification: Links to certification programmes across the industry
- Education: Webinars, courses and online events
- Research: Research and data for the global meetings and events industry
- Scholarships: Financial support for meeting professionals
As an industry built on partnerships and collaboration, we are stronger together and are here to support one another.
Visit the Career Centre
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