What Do Convene Readers Like Best About Their Jobs?

Author: Convene Editors

OneFORUM space at a Freeman’s Global Sales Meeting.

In a reader survey Convene sent out earlier in 2017 to readers, when we asked “What do you like best about your job?,” many of you responded with all of the things you love about your jobs. When we printed them out, responses ran to 19 single-spaced pages.

Many mentioned the same things: autonomy, creativity, challenge, the opportunity to travel, and to see a project through from beginning to end. Many also mentioned how much purpose, connection, and personal meaning you get from contributing to the missions of your organizations and the quality of your relationships with your teams and the people with whom you work and interact. It was more than a little heartwarming reading through your answers.

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Amid the overlap of things you liked was a lot of individual variation. What makes one meeting professional happy may not be another’s cup of tea. Which is pretty good news: There are lots of different ways to find fulfillment in the business-events industry.

We bring you the ABC’s of what readers like — and often love — about their jobs:

Actually enjoying going to my job every day! I love a little bit of everything — the planning, the communication with vendors, speakers and sponsors, the creative aspects, the cyclical nature of the job, and my co-workers.
Autonomy, ability to try new ideas, fast-paced nature.
Bringing my vision for an event to completion.
Building and coaching my team, producing live educational and interactive experiences.
Building relationships with sponsors to help them meet their objectives.
Challenging every month, need to learn new technologies and better myself in order to deliver expected requirements.
Collaborating with vendors to produce a fantastic event. Less so the contracting, but more the sharing of ideas to make something work effectively in their space.
Colleagues connecting with other staff, and association members. Constantly meeting new people.
Contracts.
Creating exceptional experiences.
Creative and deadline driven.
Details, details, details and on-site management.
Developing the agenda and content for events; designing the framework for attendee experiences.
Different duties from day to day.
Diversity and varying scope of events and meetings; the mission of the non-profit academic institution that employees me.
Engagement with volunteer leaders who are at the top of their profession.
Enhancement of the community through events we produce or support.
Event decor and production.
Every day brings a new challenge. I am continually learning.
Excitement and unpredictability.
Fast pace, teamwork, volunteers, colleagues, flexible schedule.
Finding solutions to problems.
Fitting pieces of the puzzle together; logistics management.

Global scope and engagement with partners and customers.
Great colleagues in the industry.
Hotel sourcing and research.
I get to travel internationally and be paid for it! And, I like that the job changes every day. No meeting, destination, or even project is ever the same.
I love how meeting planning involves finance, protocol, HR, international affairs, logistics, and other disciplines. I have to be an expert planner, but have competency in other areas as well.
I love pulling a plan together and watching it be executed — coming up with an idea and seeing the completed product.
I love the meeting industry in general. It is why I have been doing this so long.
I love the unpredictability, problem-solving, helping others further their career.
Interaction with various vendors, CVB’s members and corporations wanting to do business with us. I’m a people person and I have met some wonderful people through this job.
Interesting, challenging work and being able to implement process-improvement ideas.
Learning new roles, working face-to-face with exhibitors, mentoring staff, the option to telework whenever I like.
Like the travel — love my team.
Love the organizational tasks, and the actual on-site experience. Love working with hospitality people, and seeing a meeting go well.
Making relationships with speakers and clients.
Marketing, budgeting, problem-solving, traveling.
Medical meeting industry is challenging!
Meeting attendees that we have gotten to know over the years. Seeing new employees grow and learn the career and new technology.
Learning about market trends and trends specific to the meetings I plan. Negotiating contracts.
Meeting new people, variety, strive to get a group to come back.
My boss!
My coworkers are awesome. They are truly like family and we are a great team. The benefits at my job are fantastic.
My employer makes employees feel valued.
My favorite part is being on site and seeing everything come together.
My team is amazing.
Organizing smaller training programs.
Our industry is so different than others. In the IT world, you are only as good as the newest software you have been trained on. There is no relationship building that will help you. In this industry, relationships go on for many years. You never want to make an enemy. You want every situation to have positive outcomes. Networking is paramount.
Owning what I do. Working with and meeting so many new people. Something different every day. New challenges. New opportunities. New sites.
Problem solving, organizations, fun clients
Putting on educational events that help adults better themselves.
Re-creating the wheel each year in new cities and watching it come to fruition.
Seeing the event come to life and our customers engage with each other.
Seeing the final design of the exhibit hall and knowing that the industry members are pleased with their ROI.
Selling.

Seeing participants engage in our meeting activities, make new connections, grow professionally because of educational content provided at our meetings, and leave smiling makes the late nights, long hours, early mornings, and stress all worth it. There’s something special about personally having an impact on helping members grow and further their careers.
Serving other to help make a difference in their professional lives.
Site visits, pre-planning.
That I work for ethical associations who are working to make a difference in the world. I love the challenge and detail of meeting management, as well as the satisfaction I get from being on site. I also love my team, and feel as if I’m getting paid fairly for my work, including our great benefits.
The bond created with my clients and being part of each event.
The people I do my work for — our veterans.
The people I encounter and the mission we are fighting for.
The people I meet, the challenge of creating an event that is unique and enjoyable, the thrill of riding the wave of running an event or conference that I helped create, and the travel.
The satisfaction of a successful event.
.The opportunity to be creative and do things outside of the box. I also like the immediate reporting structure — I have a great boss and team.
The trust I have received from my immediate supervisor, and the officers of the board. Their willingness to allow me to do the job I was hired to do, implement new ideas. I am responsible for more than 60 percent of incoming revenue for the society.
Traveling and being on site. The whole process really. I love what I do! The details coming together to form the big picture.
Try new things, supportive boss, work from home a lot.
Variety — working on a number of meetings and sized meetings.
Variety of work and people, travel, flexible work hours during non-event days.
Versatility of being able to do a variety of tasks.
Being able to work virtually. Having a forward-thinking, supportive company that realizes employees are their greatest asset.
Working collaboratively with people for successful outcomes.
Working with CVBs, hotel, convention-center staff.
Working with people from all over the world.
Working with people who are excited about their professions.
You never know what you are going to experience on any given day. The satisfaction of seeing your attendees enjoy themselves; it makes all the craziness worth it!

What Do You Like Best About Your Job?

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