Association For Women In Events | Orlando Meet and Greet

Published August 4, 2016 | By ncmarsh

Association For Women in Events | Orlando Meet and Greet

76% of the event industry is female, but only 3% of our C-level leaders are women.

Last night was the Orlando Meet and Greet for the Association for Women in Events at Norman’s inside The Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes (and co-sponsored, along with Norman’s, by Teamwork Event Specialists). It was a chance for the Central Florida events community to come together to learn about the new association, which is just taking its first steps and only recently became open to membership.

A few attendees at the first Orlando Meet and Greet for the Association for Women in Event’s at Norman’s inside the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes (and sponsored by Teamwork Events Specialists)

I don’t usually write here about local industry events, but I think the work that AWE is beginning to do is important and it deserves as big an audience within our field as it can get. I’ve spoken at MPI events in the United States and Canada, and at university event planning classes, and spent years attending industry educational and networking events; it takes about five minutes scanning the room at any of these functions to realize that — at the levels of an organization where work gets done — women are the drivers of this industry.

Yet, for all that women contribute to live events; the statistics on their relative career paths and compensation in our sector are grim. Research from MPI shows that female event planners earn a shocking $44,430 less than their male colleagues.

Between enjoying Norman’s perfectly crafted cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and socializing with industry colleagues, we got to hear from AWE Board Member, MPI Orlando Immediate Past President, and Alliance Exposition Services Director of Sales Nicole Unger about the group’s vision.

A cornerstone of their work will be peer-to-peer mentoring. Members note what career skills they are strong in (i.e. Salary negotiation, speaker selection, captivating “seen-it-all” audiences with engaging corporate event entertainment). They also note what skills they want to develop. They are then paired with other association members who are strong in the areas where they want to grow.

Here’s the power of this approach: Event associations are, broadly speaking, mainly concerned with “expert-at-the-front-of-the-room” education. One person presents a prepared talk — which is the same for everyone in the room, regardless of their individual needs — the group listens. As an event industry speaker and a past VP of Education for MPI Orlando, I know the power of this approach — but I also know its limitations. It can’t hold a candle to the interactive, personalized style of learning that is at the core of this kind of mentoring program.

It’s also worth noting that a mentor program of this kind fully leverages the power of an association. In any room there will always be more experience in the entire room than there is within any one person there: that’s math. There is power in finding ways to connect members to each other for learning; and this nascent mentorship program shows tremendous promise.

This is a group with a compelling vision, working on a critical issue, and doing it in a way that it is innovative and fully engages their members (potentially, these are of course early days for the AWE). I definitely recommend friends and colleagues in the event business consider membership and support.

Sharing your passion for captivating events,

The Best is Yet to come!