Proud to BE

Truth is, working as a hotelier or meeting planning professional are two very big career undertakings.  We take care of people away from home, create an experience for them to be all they can be, and help companies, organizations and educators accomplish all kinds of successful ventures. In addition, we do all this while making our employers and/or ourselves profitable (really key).  Frankly, our role deserves all the respect that we in our business know it earns.

Let’s begin with the hours. As far as I know, most rocket scientists sleep in their own bed most nights and their hours are not 24/7 (by the way, I use “rocket scientists” figuratively here, so I hope they take no offense).  After considering the multitude of hours, consider the environment where our role takes place – a vocation that puts balancing values at a pinnacle; where pairing family and endless travel with long hours make for a constant tug. That includes trying to control and deliver when much is beyond our control.

Preparedness, thoroughness, and creative competence are givens, even considered second nature to successful planners and hoteliers. When things go well, it just happened.  When they don't, it was our fault. The objectives and demands that are steadfast must be achieved even when an act of god intervenes. 

The next is “change,” a steady date for all meeting planners and hoteliers, and one that requires a lot of maintenance. Flexibility is by far manifested in its highest form with hoteliers and planners. Most professions allow for a little crankiness.  But not ours.

I hope that now you are respecting yourself volumes and know that what you do is as important as rocket science.  When the Monday morning quarterbacks chime in (and they will), take all the input with a grain of salt. My wife says it best when we are out together – “You can drive if you have any more suggestions."

By Bill Heaney

Rodney Dangerfield said, "Just can't get any respect." And you’ve heard, "This isn't rocket science" many times over.  Then there are the backseat drivers and Monday morning quarterbacks who share all their suggestions with you, all the while making everything about your job sound just SO simple!

Comments

[Eli Gorin]

Bill you are absolutely correct with just about every point you made. I wouldn't expect anything less from a MiGuru!

One point I would like to make is that the professions we have decided to undertake are probably some of the most misperceived in the world. They seem so luxurious and simple that people do think "it's not rocket science". But I look at meeting planners and hoteliers from a different perspective. What impact do we really have on society?

Tell someone you are a hotelier and they assume "Oh wow you must have the most awesome job ever. I'm sure you meet lots of celebrities and meet a lot of cool people and get lots of fun perks." While that may be true, it's far from being the core of what hoteliers do. One the meeting planner side, the reactions are more "Ohh, so you get to fly all over the world and stay in luxurious hotels. Must be a cushy job."

The fact is, professionals on both sides of the industry have major impacts both on the business world and, as I like to see it, on human dyanmics. In the business world, meeting planners are the ones that are properly organizing the corporate meetings, events, conferences, tradeshows, etc. where employees from all companies around the world travel to in order to have that human interaction that will seal the deal with their businesses. Hoteliers are the people that provide businesses their homes away from home. They are the people that make sure that businessmen and women have a place to rest or meet in order to make their business successful.

On the leisure side, planners can be the ones that are organizing the incentive trips that the sales people have won that they may be able to take their families on. Trips that they may not be able to afford or wouldnt know how to really organize on their own. The hotels are the ones bringing in the tourists and leisure groups that bring friends, families and others together to get away from the stress of everyday life.

There are so many ways to gauge the impact meeting planners and hoteliers have on society. Our jobs may not be rocket science, but they definitely are up there!

-Eli Gorin
[email protected]
www.meetingsbabble.com

[Juno888]

..this has its own laundry facilities where Seventh Generation eco-friendly detergent has been established as the brand standard.