It’s amazing how one little action can change your life. In 2008 I was looking for a new job. When I say “job”, I mean a job. I knew I liked working in the event world from experiences I had in previous roles, but I didn’t think I was looking for a career move. I came across an ad for a membership manager at an association and decided to submit my resume. I applied for many jobs that week so that one didn’t stand out at the time, but I thought it was an interesting opportunity.
I received a call the next week that led to an in-person interview. Once I walked in the doors of that association and we started talking I was hooked. The interview was at the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA) to help build the membership for a trade association. Within a couple days I had an offer and had accepted it. I had no idea at the time that I had just found my career.
My first challenge was to call members who had lapsed to rejoin TSEA. I learned that TSEA had let down some of our membership in the past while others simply had forgotten to renew. The ones we had let down I listened to because I wanted to know how we could serve the community we represented better. This was going to be my long-term challenge to help rebuild the value proposition of TSEA including restarting local chapters, new committees to help drive TSEA forward, new events and educational programs such as the Red Diamond Congress and going back to our roots of why we were founded. The group that just “forgot” to renew I worked with to get them more involved in the association so they would never forget to renew again.