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Lessons in meeting planning from a TODDLER!

Magdalena Bonnelly • June 8, 2021

Lessons about meeting planning from a toddler!


I love how my daughter assesses situations and environment around her, before fully committing to whatever is going on.


She doesn’t act on impulse. She doesn’t blindly just jump in without figuring out at least basic information. I see it in her eyes, how she does it, you know? I see that amazing brain of hers working, eyes tracking her peers.. I can see questions swirling in her head “what are they doing? Have I done it before?” .. And I love that trait about her. As time goes by, she takes her steps with more confidence, she relaxes and things start flowing.


I had a privilege to spend a lot of time with her in last few days and observe her in many new situations like going to a new summer camp.


First day, I stayed a bit longer to watch her (honestly, I couldn’t bare to leave her there - it felt like a first day of daycare!!). She was cautious, looked around a lot, thought about her next move - it’s like she was doing her own internal audit and risk assessment. I would dare to call that she was strategic!


One of definitions of strategy is: an adaptation or complex of adaptations (as of behavior, metabolism, or structure) that serves or appears to serve an important function in achieving evolutionary success.


And guess what? My daughter is a natural at it.. and she is 4.5 years old!! Either it’s a first swim of the year in our community swimming pool or walking into a birthday party where she doesn’t know anyone.


Reflecting more on this, it made me think of my evolved vision for Event Strategies, I wrote about last week. The procurement plan I offer, has been designed to offer strategic advantage. If you take the definition above and what strategy is, when I designed each of the 7 steps, I wanted for my clients to achieve “evolutionary success”.


When I work with clients, I offer holistic assessment with customized strategic approach. If you are interested in complimentary consult, please fill out THIS FORM . 


Just like Giulianna did her own internal audit walking into new summer camp - I walk into partnership with my clients not from a point of view of having all the answers, but rather I approach each of their meetings or conferences with mindset: what can I learn from the past, how we can get everything done in time, what can I do to eliminate inefficiency, reduce exorbitant cost and stay within budget.


“Evolutionary success” is the end goal.


Meeting organizer’s brain is always on. Every last detail runs through their mind endlessly to make sure things don’t fall through the cracks: agenda dates and times, AV and possibility of technical glitches, meeting space and capacity for contracts few years out - those are just some of the most stressful pieces.


I believe that having accurate assessment aka internal event supplier audit, can reduce these stressors and contribute to major successes like:


1. positive attendee experience at the end of the event.


2. maximum ROI for exhibitors and other stakeholders.


3. driving registration and margins.


 We are all looking forward to meetings and events coming back to pre-Covid levels of activity and so far, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.


With that said, just like my daughter assesses environment around her, I encourage all my clients to invest time and resources for audit of the past meetings to achieve success for meetings and conferences in this evolved world.


Cheering You On,


Magdalena 



P.S. Discovery call takes only 15 minutes of our time - CONTACT US  today!

(updated June 19, 2023)

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