“Success can only truly occur when you’re open for failure, when you’re willing to embrace risk and not just accept mediocrity. True success isn’t an end result—it’s part of an ongoing process that is as much about the effort as it is the conclusion. Finally, success isn’t about how much you have…it’s about how often you give back.”—James Spellos, president and founder of Meeting U
“Success is when I accomplish the goals I set for myself whether personal (i.e. lose 5 pounds) or professional (get recognized for a job well done). Professional success comes when a conference or event that I’ve planned achieves the stated goals and objectives; the participants believe their attendance was worth their time; I’ve brought it in under budget; I’ve built new relationships. When somebody says, ‘I don’t know why we need a meeting planner—everything always runs so smoothly,’ I can’t help but wonder if that person every stops to think about WHY everything runs so smoothly.”—Kathleen Zwart, CMP, Corporate Meetings and Events Manager
True success isn’t an end result—it’s part of an ongoing process that is as much about the effort as it is the conclusion.
“Success is doing what you love every day. I am celebrating 40 years in this business and I still occasionally work seven days a week—because I choose to. I love interacting with clients and creating memorable experiences. Success requires passion, persistence, patience, loyalty.”—Jaki Baskow, founder and CEO, Baskow and Associates
“For me, success is not just being in his industry for thirty years, but for having learned and mastered many, many different aspect of it along the way. My experience in planning, operations (both in house and on site), budgeting, marketing, sales and management, all of which I have gained along the windy path of my career, enabled me to open my own company eight years ago. Not a day goes by that I do not draw upon the skills I learned in each area. I feel successful because I was able to leverage my experience, my contacts, vendors and education to create a successful company. Three years ago, I became a certified woman-owned business (WBENC). Knowing I am connected to a great number of successful woman-owned business is very empowering.—Laura Yates, president, Dovetail Event Partners
“Successful events are driven out of several key visions: excellence in execution, experiential differentiation and strategic alignment to business. If you have a great team that has mastered meeting execution, can drive loyalty, trust and specific behaviors because of the meeting and event experiences they produce, and can exceed customers’ expectations because their meetings meet business goals and objectives, you will always have a successful event. Of course, team is a key word in this statement. Teams needs great leaders who produce safe, healthy and productive environments. If you don’t have that you will never achieve excellence.—Patricia Kerr, AVP, Meeting & Event Management
