GIVING BACK & GETTING INVOLVED
Overcoming Barriers – Babs Sefiane and Life’sWork
By: Meredith Flory
Business growth can come in a variety of ways. An organization can grow larger in number of employees as its client base increases, or it may offer more services or products and expand its mission. Businesses may grow into new territories or simply have the means to invest back into their employees, operations, and community.
Life’sWork of Western PA is a longstanding nonprofit that focuses on helping people overcome barriers to employment, such as physical and mental disabilities, substance abuse, or family crises. Babs Sefiane is their chief development officer, working with clients, businesses, and the community in all aspects of business growth.
Babs has worked at Life’sWork for over five years, but prior to that she had 20 years of employment success in the energy industry. Then she decided she wanted a change in her career. She says, “I knew I wanted to give back, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do; and then when I came in and toured Life’sWork, I was like, this is the perfect fit.”
She has a unique and personal perspective on the work they do. Babs shared how years ago she was in a car wreck, facing major injuries and a long recovery period. She says, “It gave me that personal connection that I realized at any point, I could have been an individual that was receiving services here at Life’sWork.”
LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT
Megan Biddix—Event Facilitator Extraordinaire
By: Heatherlynn Akins
When Megan Biddix first joined West Monroe five years ago, she came from a varied professional background. Having worked for an international travel company just out of college, where she paired leadership with teams, Megan also spent time as a teacher and coordinated events for the leading foster care provider in Illinois before landing at West Monroe. Though she started with internal events facilitation at West Monroe, she quickly transitioned to marketing and working with top-level clients coordinating, strategizing, and executing different styles of events, including West Monroe’s annual marquee events.
West Monroe is a national management and technology consulting firm headquartered in Chicago that helps clients “adopt, adapt, and use digital technologies differently and more effectively as it relates to what really matters within their specific industry.” Unlike other firms, they bring together multidisciplinary experts who have experience working together to deliver solutions for their clients. Megan is aligned to the Chicago headquarters of West Monroe, where she works to ensure high-quality, highly effective client-facing events are planned and executed.
West Monroe makes Megan feel like a valued member of the team, with keen insight into how to provide career equity, professional growth, and rewarding connections. “It’s exciting to be onsite with clients,” Megan says. “It’s personally rewarding to know you’ve created a seamless event for someone to simply arrive and enjoy, especially if you’ve created a space for busy people to leave feeling refreshed, educated, and connected.”
Empowering the Homefront
Our Empowering the Homefront pilot program is here! Designed to empower and provide career support to military spouses, the program offers career kick-start prizes, including free resume makeovers and other career tools and support. Winners will be announced throughout 2023, so be sure to check out our Empowering the Homefront web page and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn throughout the year for more information and exciting opportunities.
Did You Know?
Event facilitators can wear many hats. From moderating meetings to planning grand-scale client events, the best facilitators know that each day brings unique challenges and opportunities that require a great deal of patience and flexibility. Working to bring another’s vision to life means having confidence in your ability to communicate effectively and the impartiality to creatively realize someone else’s dream.
The best event facilitators imbue confidence, curiosity, humility, and flexibility, especially when working with diverse clientele. Every small business needs to host some type of event, whether it’s an office meeting, charity event, conference, or just participation in a convention or trade show. If your business needs to plan an event, and you know that it’s not in your wheelhouse, Powerhouse Planning can help. We have experts on hand who can help you plan and execute your best event ever. To find out how we can bring your event facilitation vision to life, check out our website or contact us today.
MARKETING BUZZ
Social Media Tips & Tricks for a Successful Event
By: Julie Clark
Event organizers put a ton of thought and work into planning and preparing events: speakers, sponsors, venue, amenities, entertainment, and more. Whether virtual or in person, what can make or break even the most well-planned event? Attendance!
Creating a social media strategy to market your event is a must, and the quality and effectiveness of that plan can not only boost interest in attendance, but it can also attract sponsors, speakers, and the media.
Here are some easy-to-implement tips and ideas for your event’s social media marketing strategy.
Generate a buzz with hashtags. Hashtags will help you boost traffic to your event web page, create memorable branding and awareness, and help you tap into the communities and audiences you seek to attract for your event. Hootsuite has a helpful hashtags guide that will help you choose one perfect for your business and event.
BUSINESS ETIQUETTE
Etiquette for Event Facilitation
By: Meredith Flory
Putting on an event of any size is a giant undertaking for a business, particularly small businesses. Whether event facilitation is part of your business or you are creating an event for customer connection, professional networks, or philanthropic pursuits, there are sure to be a ton of moving pieces as the day approaches. From a small, one afternoon affair to a multiday conference, the event will represent your business both by how well things run and by how calm and professional you and your employees can stay under all the pressure. Here are three ways to show you respect everyone’s time and talents as you put on an event.
Stick to a Schedule
It’s important to be mindful of scheduling before and after a big event. It’s fairly easy to avoid popular holidays when planning but check for other possible conflicts. Major holidays for religious minorities are usually not federal holidays in America, but you may want to avoid them to show respect for your employees and guests. Also, are there other large events that may cause traffic issues in your city? Avoid dates for regional festivals and instead see how your business can play a part in those larger events. You will never avoid all scheduling conflicts for your audience, but working to avoid preventable ones is courteous and can help your event find more success.
Craft the schedule for the event thoughtfully. There are always unforeseeable challenges you cannot predict, but good planning will show you care for your participants’ time and help you keep calm when there are hurdles to work around. When planning, consider the following questions:
- Do guests have enough time in between sessions to get to each comfortably?
- Do you have capable emcees and moderators to keep speakers on task and on time?
- Is there a reasonable mix of time for speakers, interaction, rest, and networking?
Treat Your Guest Speakers with Respect
Guest speakers at professional events are professionals themselves who deserve more compensation than exposure, whether the event is held locally or virtually or includes travel expenses. In particular, women and minority speakers often deal with not being compensated for their time and expertise. If you cannot afford a particular speaker’s fees, be professional and understanding if they say no, and if they choose to lower their fees or volunteer their time for a cause they feel passionate about, then show gratitude in other ways such as food and travel expenses, advertising, and reviews.
Make sure your communication with speakers is clear and concise. Be upfront about payment, expenses, scheduling, expectations, and any other details they need to make decisions and preparations for your event. If you are asking presenters to attend any tech rehearsals or meetings, make that clear during negotiations and have your team prepared to run each in a timely manner.
While unavoidable issues happen, your team needs to do their best to respect the time and talents of presenters and attendees. Make sure names and biographies are read correctly and assign a point person whom speakers can contact in case of any issues with timing and technology.
Work After the Event
Your event is not over at the end of the day. There are thank-you notes to send, invoices to pay, and feedback to collect and analyze. While you want to give your employees and volunteers time to relax and decompress afterward, in the days following the event, make sure to do any necessary follow-up while the event is fresh in people’s minds. Expressing thanks and listening to feedback in a timely manner will show that the success of the event was important to you and will provide important information when planning future events. Processing payments quickly will help you develop continuing relationships with vendors, locations, and speakers.
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