I Provide Pain Relief For A Living

Post written by Missy Johnson, Principal, MJMeetings, LLC | Meetings Consultant | Gourmet Food & Wine Enthusiast | Sports Fan

Being a business owner in my third year of business, one thing I continue to learn is how important the role of educating people is to their (and ultimately my) success.

A large majority of people I talk to don’t know what meeting planners do or the value they provide. Even though my title – Meeting & Event Planner – seems descriptive, most people don’t really know anything about the actual work that goes on behind the title.

Allow me to provide one recent example of what I mean…

Recently I got a phone call from the Executive Director of a small medical association. As the conversation got going, I quickly realized she didn’t really understand all of the ways I could help her and her association.

I began by telling her how I could help her association save money when booking their annual meeting. After a minute or two, I quickly realized she didn’t understand all that goes into booking an annual meeting. She went on to explain that she was fairly new to the organization in her role as Executive Director and that the task of booking and planning the annual meeting had always been done in the past by a committee of volunteers. This is an all-too-common dilemma and unnecessary pain point that many associations experience.

So I began educating…

-I talked to her about all of the reasons why she would want a 20-year professional like me on her side.

-I educated her about industry norms for meeting sourcing and booking.

-I told her about how I could use my experience to not only save her association money but also mitigate risk that the association will have to assume with large hotel contracts.

-I mentioned how my 20-year relationships with hotel sales partners could be leveraged for her association’s benefit and the numerous ways this could help save money and deliver real ROI.

-I let her know how using an experienced meeting planner like myself instead of an ever-changing committee of volunteers can provide stability, strength, savings, strategy and history building for her meeting year after year.

In the end, the Executive Director was fascinated by all of the ways we could work together to alleviate the “pain” and uncertainty that she and the association has experienced for years. This is what I really enjoy about what I do…helping associations and companies have better meeting experiences while relieving them of the stress and uncertainty that goes into planning their events.

If you or someone you know is in need of education about how a meeting professional can help you and your next meeting or event, call or email me at 913-645-6649 or missy@mjmeetings.com.