Interview with Brandy Lewis, CMP

May 2008

Give Me 5

Interview with Brandy Lewis, CMP Director, Business Development, Meeting Logistics Management,

A 10-year industry veteran, Brandy Lewis, CMP work-ed in hotels and in  meeting planning before assuming her position as Director, Business Development for Meeting Logistics Management, an Atlanta-based company that provides meeting logistics services to medical and healthcare professional clients.

Q: How many meetings a year does your company handle?

A: About 150 on average. They range in size anywhere from 20 to 1,000 attendees; some are large medical symposia, some are smaller advisory boards.

Q: What challenges lie ahead for the meetings industry for 2008?

A: I just came back from a pharmaceutical meeting planners conference last week, and consolidation and strategic meeting management are the biggest challenges ahead.
Corporations and associations are trying to consolidate their efforts to create cost savings, rather than each department planning its own. Consolidation is beneficial for meeting planners in the long term, but in the short term it could mean a reduction in jobs.

Q: How do you see the role of the meeting planner changing?

A: I don’t see the role changing, even with consolidation. The day-to-day role is the same; however, we’re seeing the beginning of green meetings. We all want to do what’s best for the environment, but now green meetings are  being mandated by our clients.

Q: What is your favorite personal timesaver? Professional tool?

A: E-mail management—I live and die by this. I only read e-mails at certain times of the day. For me that’s every hour, as we’re a big e-mail organization. And when you open an e-mail, take an action. Read and reply or file or delete it. It saves time!
 My BlackBerry is my favorite tool. It really helps to stay in tune with what’s going on. You live in the moment; you don’t feel you’re missing an opportunity. Things don’t fall through the cracks when you’re at one meeting and planning your next one; you’re not in a hotel room on e-mail when you should be in the meeting room.

Q: What’s the #1 tip you can share with your fellow planners?

A: Communication is the #1 aspect that will make or break a meeting. Communicate with your vendors, your clients, your attendees—whoever your stakeholders are. Even the smallest changes should be communicated, as they could snowball into a larger problem if the changes aren't addressed immediately. C.K.