event consultant profile 39 Spring/Summer 2019 CORPORATE MEETINGS & EVENTS CM&E:What kind of events do you focus on? JENNIFER:We do a variety of work to keep it interesting and exciting. We don’t have any niche markets, so to speak. We do a lot of work with non-profits on fundraising galas and initiatives. We do the private-social market, conference and meeting work. CM&E:What do you like about being a corporate meeting and event planner? JENNIFER:Constant learning, learning from suppliers and clients, and hopefully vice-versa. I like being challenged and I still think the pinnacle for me is when we work collaboratively with the client and execute something that we’ve hit out of the park and people attend, they’ve had a good time and it can be anything from a meeting for 40 people to a dinner for 950 people. I think the biggest thing for me is the energy we get from the guests that we work on collaboratively with our clients. I feel like sometimes I’m more than just the planner, we’ve become part of the culture of our client. CM&E:Tell me about some of the challenges of being a corporate event planner. JENNIFER:Staying current in the technology world, for me at my age. The way I deal with that is I hire younger people and learn from them. The Halifax market is a big market, but it’s not a huge market. The big challenge for us would be keeping things fresh, not being repetitive, letting all of our different clients have different experiences. I think the expectations of clients are changing. I just think there’s a lot of pressure. With technology, everything is quick and very last minute and people are working very hard and they’re spread thin. Turnaround times are quicker, that kind of thing. When people are putting on events, it’s an investment and they really want to ensure whoever is attending – because people are so busy in today’s world, when they’re going to give their time and attend an event – it’s got to be worthwhile. CM&E:What do you see as the impact of a well-planned event? JENNIFER:It’s two-sided. For us as the event planner and I would suggest for the client, pride, satisfaction, that kind of thing. And I think when an event is well executed, the people who are participating in the event, there’s just this energy for them to be able to participate. “ISTILLTHINKTHE PINNACLEFORME ISWHENWEWORK COLLABORATIVELY WITHTHECLIENT ANDEXECUTE SOMETHINGTHAT WE’VEHITOUT OFTHEPARKAND PEOPLEATTEND, THEY’VEHADA GOODTIMEANDIT CANBEANYTHING FROMAMEETING FOR40PEOPLE TOADINNERFOR 950PEOPLE.”