The Business of Meetings

Today, we have the honor of speaking to Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, as impersonated by Randy Otto. Randy has been playing Winston Churchill for the last forty-seven years, and he is phenomenal! In this episode, you will learn about history. You will hear the great quotes of Sir Winston Churchill, and you will also get some great leadership advice.  We know you are goi...

Today, we are happy to be speaking to a well-known world traveler, Sabrina Meyers, from the Hot Hospitality Exchange. Sabrina has worked in different parts of the world, from Singapore to Sydney to London. Now, she is based in Germany. Currently, Sabrina is focusing on social media. In this episode, you will learn about influencer marketing, how to use social media, create content, and create onli...

We have the great pleasure of speaking to yet another icon in our industry today, Elliott Ferguson. He is the President and CEO of Destination DC and the current national chair of the board of directors of the U.S. Travel Association. In this episode, we will be talking about three main topics. We will discuss how DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations) can help business owners navigate the cur...

Today we are thrilled to be speaking with the poster-child of entrepreneurship, Jill Garcia. Jill is the President and Owner of The Hutton Group. She bought the company just before the pandemic and is optimistically looking to the future.  Jill has been in the industry for the last thirty years, and she has a fabulously inspiring story to share with us today. We know that you will enjoy listening...

Today, we have the great pleasure of talking to Jeff Fugate. Jeff is an icon in our industry and a rock star in sales and marketing. He never gets tired of learning, questioning the future, and making changes.  In this episode, Jeff talks about the amazing pivot he did in 2020.   Join us today to hear Jeff's fascinating and inspiring story of resilience. We know you're going to enjoy our conversat...

We are happy to be speaking to Ori Lahav today. Ori is the Vice-President of Clients and Operations for the Kenes Group and is also the current President of IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers). He has a wealth of career experience, even having worked on the startup of an electric car.  In this episode, Ori will be talking about pandemic leadership, virtual events,...

We are happy to be speaking to Roger Rickard today. Roger is an icon of advocacy in our industry.  In this episode, Roger talks about what we can do as business owners, in terms of advocacy, particularly in these challenging times and also over the long term.  Roger Rickard's bio Roger Rickard is the Founder and President of Voices in Advocacy® and author of 7 Actions of Highly Effective Advocates...

We are delighted to be speaking to Heather Mason today. Heather has tons of energy and lots of great ideas. She created her company, Caspian Agency, in 2005, and today, she is a rockstar, planning all the meetings and events for some of the world's major foundations.  In this episode, Heather talks to us about how our industry needs revolution, not evolution, and that women need to learn the mantr...

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking to another icon in our industry, Ed Rigsbee, of Rigsbee Research. Ed has spent his entire career helping associations and societies to recruit and maintain their members and increase their revenue. He has written five books: one of them on soccer, one on member recruitment, and three of them on strategic alliances, and he has also written more than 2,500 art...

We are delighted to be speaking today with Joel Block, a rock star in the worlds of speaking, finance, and real estate! Joel has a background as a venture capitalist, a CPA, and in real estate. He is also an entrepreneur and a board member of the National Speakers Association.  In this episode, we focus on what will be coming up in 2021. We discuss the changes and trends that Joel foresees and who...

Today, we are extremely grateful to be speaking with Melanie Bradshaw, the Vice-President of Global Events for the direct sales company, SeneGence.  Melanie has a wealth of experience in meetings and events. Like most of us, she had to switch to virtual last year, and she learned a lot from doing that.  In this episode, she will be speaking to us mainly about two things. She will talk about her in...

We are delighted to be speaking with David Burkus today. David is an amazing human being with a great mind, and he is full of very concrete ideas that you can apply to your business. He has just released a book called Leading From Anywhere, the Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams . In this episode, David talks to us about adapting to what the future has in store. He discusses the idea of work...

Today, we are extremely happy to be talking to Megan Grant. Megan is an amazing entrepreneur! She started her business after getting laid off four times in five years. After the last time, she decided that enough was enough. Megan is joining us to talk about her business, how she grew it, how she qualifies leads, and how to get into a mindset of abundance. We have a very inspiring conversation tod...

We are extremely happy today to be speaking with Simon Bowen, the founder of The Models Method. Simon is an amazing man! He is a true genius in sales and communication, and he has created something truly unique! In this episode, you will learn how to position your pricing, how you can differentiate yourself, and how you can use models to explain to your customer and your team what you are doing. Y...

We are pleased to be speaking to one of the leaders in our industry today! Aaron Bludworth, the President and CEO of Fern, is joining us as our guest for the show.  Aaron is someone who truly walks the walk when it comes to helping others. In this episode, he gives us some great insights and talks about the impact of trade shows on the economy. He tells us why he believes that face-to-face events...

Today, we are very happy to have Noah Rosenfarb as our guest! Noah is a third-generation CPA, an investor and entrepreneur, and an incredibly knowledgeable advisor about everything related to finance! He has lived many different lives and is currently the Chief Investment Officer of his company, Freedom Family Office. Noah focuses on helping entrepreneurs to keep more of what they make. He is join...

We are delighted to be speaking to a fabulous and fascinating entrepreneur today! We have Mike Brcic, the creator of Wayfinders as our guest. Mike started a business called Sacred Rides back in 1996 and was nominated by National Geographic Adventure as the very first mountain bike tour operator on earth!  Mike is an amazing individual. He has been through everything one can go through as an entrep...

We are delighted to have an amazing individual as our guest for today! Brian Palmer, the former President of the International Association of Speakers Bureau is joining us!  Brian has had a vast amount of experience with booking speakers over the last forty years. He is with us today to talk about what he and his clients look for when recruiting speakers, to give some great advice about what you c...

Today, we have the great pleasure of speaking to Angeles Moreno, the founder of the specialist consulting firm, The Creative Dots. Angeles is a spirited entrepreneur, and she has had some tremendous experiences that include losing her company to her partner and writing a book about it.  She is joining us today to talk about her journey, the importance of women's empowerment, how women should get e...

We have the great pleasure of speaking to Paul Jarvis today! Paul has been an entrepreneur for the last twenty years. He is the Cofounder of Fathom Analytics, a company that supports the privacy of digital data, he hosts three podcasts, and he has also written a book called Company of One .  Paul is an advocate for thinking first about whether growth makes sense before you decide to grow your busi...

We have the privilege of speaking to another amazing entrepreneur today! Nathalie Cadet-James is joining us. She has lived a full life, and she has a fascinating story to tell! Nathalie has been recognized by Harper's Bazaar as one of the top wedding planners in the world, and she has traveled all over the planet doing event planning for corporations.  Nathalie gives us insight into her decision t...

You're in for a treat today! We're speaking to Dave Wakeman, aka the Revenue Architect. Dave is a star in the ticketing and entertainment industry, and he's the guy that American Express referred to as The King of Tickets. Dave has a fascinating story to share! In today's show, he talks to us about creating revenue, how to deal with change, and reinventing yourself. He also tells some amazing stor...

Today, we are delighted to have a gem of a conversation with an icon in the hotel and meetings and events industry! Ivan Artolli is currently the General Manager of the Hotel de Paris in Monaco. He is joining us today to talk about his journey and share some stories about Winston Churchill, learning, traveling, champagne, and the importance of good communication.  Ivan Artolli's bio Mr. Ivan Artol...

We are happy to have Sharon Fisher, the CEO and Founder of the company, Play With A Purpose, joining us on the show today! Sharon has been playing with a purpose for the last thirty years, and she has been doing it with the clear objective of helping organizations integrate fun into their learning processes. In today's episode, Sharon discusses the difference between engagement and content. You wi...

We're delighted to have Mike Gamble, the Co-founder, President, and CEO of SearchWide™ joining us on the podcast. Mike has had a tremendous amount of experience in our industry. In today's episode, he shares his knowledge and many nuggets of information about where our industry is heading, diversity, inclusion, the skills you need to focus on to prepare yourself for the future, how to start develo...