Miracle Workers: A Podcast for Meeting Planners by Meeting Planners.

It's been a little while, but Amanda and Darryl are back to talk about moving to a new town for a new job with guest Ralph Robinson, CAE, CMP, and DES. Be honest...would you drop everything and move to a new city for a job? I think it's safe to say that most of us aren't that brave. But what if you did? How do you re-establish your roots? Let's listen and learn.

Event Design? Who has the time for that? I thought the same until I started reading what our guest, Adrian Segar, had to say. Come listen for a discussion on what event design is and isn’t and how all of us can integrate it into our programs (without going crazy!). From bringing particles together at Cern to bringing participants together in a hotel ballroom, Adrian shares some cool ideas for us t...

Get ready to laugh (and cry) as we dive into the wild world of hotel expenses on this episode of Miracle Workers! Join us as we unpack the absurdities of skyrocketing costs that keep meeting planners awake at night. From the enigmatic realm of resort fees – seriously, what do they even cover? – to the outrageous notion that a gallon of coffee might soon rival the price of a small car (we're talkin...

We always try to put on the best meeting and event for our clients, attendees, or partners. But are we being welcoming and inclusive to all of our guests? The podcast is back and in this episode, Darryl, just Darryl (Amanda will be back..I promise) talks to an amazing planner about their experiences.  Thanks to Jolene Jang, Asian-American ambassador and meeting planner who joins us this week to he...

We always try to put on the best meeting and event for our clients, attendees, or partners. But, how often do we stop and look around? As planners, when we go to an industry event, are there real/concrete takeaways that we can apply to our planning when we get back? In this episode, Amanda and Darryl talk to two amazing planners about their experiences at IMEX Americas and talk through Darryl’s ti...

Once they figure out how to count to 3, Amanda and Darryl are back and discussing the fun of air travel, specifically delays. The episode focuses on the importance of being prepared for delays and how to handle them for speakers, staff, and attendees. They share their personal experiences and provide tips and strategies for minimizing the impact of delays on meeting plans. If you plan events or me...

Amanda and Darryl spend Halloween with famed meeting planner and now author, Terry Matthews Lombardo, CMP (or just TML to her friends). After navigating the pitfalls of Darryl’s bananas, your second-favorite pair of podcasters talk to TML about her awesome book, “Meetings Mayhem!”.  Listen to all the great stories she has experienced firsthand and those told by other planners. If you think yo...

So it's been a while, huh?  We didn't plan on this episode but when Amanda hits "Record", the game is on. Darryl recaps his recent travel including the "Don't you dare look out your hotel window" story and they both highlight upcoming episodes and the future of the pod. Sit back, enjoy, and get ready to perform miracles!  Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Amanda and Darryl are back and...evidently, eating lunch?  After getting through with hot soup and chewing of salad, they settle in to talk about what events look like as we return to in-person in the coming months. Amanda tells some interesting stories about doing an event and the White House and Darryl complains about stuff.  They can both agree that it would be awesome to have a plann...

Amanda and Darryl sit down after a “break” to talk about the value of hybrid meetings. Are they really here to stay or should we just go back to 100% in-person? Our special guest, Rebecca Kane, CMP, DES, tells us why her attendees need to be there in person. Darryl, being the jerk he is, argues with her that says “pish, we shouldn’t just toss out virtual experiences.” No matter what side of the ar...

Amanda and Darryl welcome fellow planners Hilary Howes and Barry Schieferstein to this week’s episode. We learn about their circuitous path to their current jobs, how they spent the last dozen and a half months in pandemic conditions, and what they are most looking forward to (and bracing for) in the future. Plus, we talk about the best time to launch and ways to price the virtual portion of your...

Amanda and Darryl celebrate Pride Month with the great team at the LGBT Meeting Professional Association. They take a look at the world of Prefered Gender Pronouns (PGPs). When planners collect and use them for our attendees, are we inclusive and accomodating or are we pandering?  Should we even be asking for them in the first place? Is it pandering if we make a show of collecting them and do...

Darryl and Amanda are back. But not just on the podcasting machine...they are back in person. No Zoom window here. Join them as they discuss what their ideal virtual meeting component looks like, talk baseball, business travel, plumbing, and even egg rolls. This is the episode you’ve been waiting for (if you’re really bored). Links Mentioned on the Show PCMA Foundation: https://foundation.pcma.org...

Everybody is talking about hybrid meetings but where do you begin? Most of us start with the budget, but if you’ve never produced a hybrid meeting what do you need? Our special guest, Shayna Moskowitz, the  Director of Meetings and Event Technology with Part 2 Events (part2events.com), breaks down the items that every planner should consider and some of the things she’d have on her “unlimited...

We’re a year into what we never thought could ever happen. When will we return to face-to-face meetings?  What will “Normal” look like?  Why are you asking us? Do you think we just sit around our offices with a crystal ball?  What are we some sort of Miracle Workers? Well, yes, we are but even with those credentials, we can’t predict the future. What we can do is do our best to pred...

Are you an accidental meeting planner (like Darryl and Amanda), or did you plan...get it…” plan”...to be a planner all along?  Well no matter how you got here, you’re here now and it’s time to own it. But what happens when you want to move up or are forced to move out and onto a new position or even a new career entirely?  Our guest GiGi Blair is a professional career coach and she will...

Our focus is laser-locked on making sure our attendees have a great time at our events. Do they have enough to eat? Are they comfortable in those chairs? What can I do to make their lives better? But what about us? When did you take time out to look at your own health? In this episode, we explore just that. Our special guest, Patty Stern ( pattystern.com ) , tells the story of how she finally took...

Did you know meeting planning is one of the top 5 most “high-stress jobs”?  Of course, you have, it’s one of 12 reasons that I have very little hair left!  Have you ever been ankle-deep in planning and that board member, or your boss, comes to you with yet another change?  What do you do? Do you rip them a new one and say that you hope they get hit by a bus and then a steamroller an...

Welcome to 2021!  It’s a new year but Darryl is still taking things too literally. Amanda talks him off the diving board and back into pants as they welcome Shawn Cheng of the MCI Group to talk about Event Mapping and the D.I.V.E methodology. Takeaways: Event Mapping is a great way to design your event so it follows a specific path resulting in higher attendee engagement and satisfaction Even...

2020 has FINALLY come to an end. Amanda and Darryl would have liked to provide a full fresh episode to send you out on but instead, they mailed it in and gave you a clip show. You should be grateful you got anything other than a lump of coal!   Listen as they look back on 2020, share some behind-the-scenes clips and talk bout their news year's resolutions.  Stay for the end where the US...

In this episode we give thanks to all of you out there listening, our awesome guests (yes, Derrick Johnson), and for the great community of #meetingplanners who have allowed us to do this for this first year! We wish you a happy, healthy, and especially, safe Thanksgiving this year! A special thanks to Sheli, Jan, Shameka, Terry, and Linda for calling in with your messages of thanks!

This week Amanda and Darryl learn all about the new Pandemic Compliance Advisor course being offered by the team over at Health Education Services ( https://healtheducationservices.net/training/pandemic-compliance-advisor/ ). They interview the creators/facilitators: Heather Seasholtz, CMP, DES, Mary-Ann Urbanovich, MS, CMP-HC and Shannon Majewski, CMP, CMM, HMCC. Sure there's lots of talk of duty...

We round out our 3-part series on "Using Events to Change the World" by taking a look into discrimination based on sexual identity and orientation.  Our guests for this rather long (but ultra-important) conversation: David Jefferys, Executive Director/CEO of the LGBT Meeting Professionals  Association (LGBTMPA) Alex Carvalho-Lukachova, CMP; Sr. Meeting Planner with Kasier Permanente Toge...

Darryl shuts up for (almost) an entire episode and Amanda gets to interview two of her best industry friends.  Join us for a "girl talk" episode covering what it's like to be a woman in this business and all the pitfalls they have to navigate, and the celebrations they get to enjoy!  We're joined by Iby Seltzer (http://www.eventsbyeb.com/about) and Andrias White (https://andriasevents.my...

Summer is over and Amanda and Darryl are back at it. Come hear how they spent their summers and what meeting-related lessons they learned.  No  take-aways this week, just good clean recapping fun! Links Mentioned In Today's Show: Vote.org: http://vote.org MPI Foundation: https://www.mpi.org/about/foundation PCMA Foundation: https://foundation.pcma.org/ Meeting Industry Fund: http://www.t...