Yep, I had to learn something new today and although I like learning new stuff like how to build a rocket for my son, who is producing great new music and what new widgets won’t crash my WordPress sites, some things that you have to learn just blow chunks.
Here are some of the things that you may be forced to learn as a meeting and event professional….New formulas for how much attendees are going to swill at the next reception, how many square feet you have after you convert from square meters and how much fuel is going to set your budget back after the client decides that they really do want to take that company cruise..… and we continue…
How to convert Kilometers to Miles, how to make an aggressive attendee calm down, how to negotiate an A/V contract, how to get coffee stains out of a table linen, how to use gaffer’s tape to fix almost anything, how to find 15 cases of wine in 45 minutes or less (at 2:00 am), how to replace a keynote on the morning of the event, how to fix a flat on a golf cart, how to gently tell the conference chair they smell, how to gently tell your client they have had too much to drink, how to tell an audience they will not get to see the former president, how deal with a fire at a venue……how to fix a the reg desk printer, how to deal with a reg system crash………….how to move 57 attendees when you only have a 55 passenger bus.
The list can, and does go on and on and on and on and on and on and in fact, it really should not end because every day in the meetings and events industry is like your first day on the job.. Always something new.
Learning things like this can sometimes tax the brain and may do permanent damage to your self-esteem but take heart, you can get through it, you will learn it and when you are done, you will be a better meeting or event planner….trust me, if a simpleton like me has made it this far, imagine how far an Einstein like you can go!
Beyond the practical reasons for learning new things, there are a host of other reasons to continuing your everyday learning including getting a job, keeping a job, opening your own company, growing your company……
The possibilities are endless so keep an open mind and learn something new TODAY!
