Michael:<\/strong> It\u2019s everything from the handling of a guest from the pre-handling of the arrival and (making sure) their experience is easier.\u00a0 I see a lot of times they think somebody can just go out here and make decisions at the hotel or whatever, but it\u2019s making sure all of the finer points of details are handled.<\/p>\nI was specifically contacted by an individual (from Japan) I met last year at one of the protocol conferences and he wanted assistance in how to handle guests from start to finish and I say the Japanese are probably the best people on how they treat their guests, but you\u2019re running into situations where it\u2019s not just what you think the guest wants, you (need to) anticipate and work everything for the guest, but also for your seniors, or your bosses or whoever you\u2019re working with.\u00a0 You need background bio\u2019s, how the meeting going to be done, proper seating at meetings, proper seating at dinners, how to handle a business lunch, receiving lines and you know it\u2019s just endless all the way through to what I consider as doing the thank you notes at the end. So that\u2019s just kind of a general overview that I\u2019m thinking people really need this type training.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m seeing it more. It\u2019s actually come across now inside of our company where we\u2019re teaching the up and comers, what we consider high potential people, to be well-versed in how to handle these type situations because you see a lot of generations that think when they go to a reception or an event that it\u2019s party time.\u00a0 And you\u2019re actually there on company time or you\u2019re there doing business. \u00a0And these guys think it\u2019s great to see (if they can) drink every bottle of liquor or every bottle of beer I\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n
You know, and to me as a professional and I try to get across to other people I teach, I just don\u2019t think that when in event work it\u2019s proper to be drinking and doing certain things. You\u2019re there to represent the company. You\u2019re there to put out image. You\u2019re there to do business work.\u00a0 And you just need to be very professional. After the events over you know you can always go to your room and have a beer and watch the ballgame.<\/p>\n
Todd:<\/strong> So you\u2019re a big believer in taking all these finer points that you\u2019ve learned and you\u2019ve accumulated over the years and using that to train those folks who may not have the experience that you have.<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Yeah, it used to be what I consider the old way of learning etiquette.\u00a0 You know when your grandmother smacked you in the back of the head for not saying \u201cYes Sir\u201d and \u201cYes Ma-am,\u201d but you\u2019re taking it to higher levels. We\u2019ve actually started some very unique training courses in these areas because it is becoming a consistent issue and if you actually go back several years and look there was a an article in USA Today, I believe it was the front page of the business section on Bill Swanson who is the Chairman of Raytheon who I used to work for and he reiterates in there along with four other CEO\u2019s of how they evaluate people at lunches, dinners, receptions on company travel for either being hired or moving up to other positions in the company. And it\u2019s very interesting to read how they looked at these people. There is finesse on how people look at some of this stuff when they\u2019re at these events.<\/p>\nTodd:<\/strong> You\u2019re also known as the \u201cAmbassador of Certifications,\u201d so in addition to protocol, apparently you are a pretty good at getting certified. Why is certification important to you?<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Well, you look at it from different areas; I started out working on my Certified Manager of Exhibitions, and received that and then some people said, \u201cWell Mike, you\u2019re starting to do a lot of events so you need to go and get the CMP- Certified Meeting Professional\u201d, which is under the Convention industry Council and it\u2019s considered kind of the number one standard certification to obtain.<\/p>\nAnd I put in about a year\u2019s worth of study on that; (I) learned a lot (and) met a lot of great people because you\u2019re in study groups.\u00a0 After that, I went through the Certified Meeting Manager which is under MPI which started more as an International Certification out of Europe for meeting professionals, and you know just kept going from there. \u00a0I went to IAEE and got the CEM which is the Certified Exhibition Manager which is like a tradeshow organizer and by doing that, I got to see what the organizers go through when they\u2019re trying to work with me as an Exhibit Manager and then I got the Certifications in Protocol. So I have the Certification Protocol, Etiquette and Civility.<\/p>\n
But you know there\u2019s so many different ones out here I just think that individuals need to be looking at being a real well-rounded individual so that when they take things to their boss, and I always tell them to try and put in for at least 40 hours of training a year and bring something back that the company or your boss can see that you\u2019re using.<\/p>\n
You know you\u2019re taught by so many professionals out here.\u00a0 You\u2019re at so many of these meetings. \u00a0I set around with people at night and we\u2019re discussing things (and) would you believe that every now and then something unique and interesting comes out of that? And just like I mentioned at the start of this, (after) talking with individuals in Japan, we\u2019re now putting some very detailed check lists together of how you handle a customer from start to finish.\u00a0 Including how we want the driver of the cars to be briefed what they do every day, \u00a0how they handle the individual, \u00a0so the more I think an individual can show themselves as a top level professional (it) just helps you keep moving up in the corporation with more responsibility.<\/p>\n
Todd: <\/strong>Always improving is what it sounds like to me.<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Always improving. Don\u2019t just kind of become stagnate because there\u2019s so much new stuff out there in technology and you\u2019re always going to find out something.<\/p>\nTodd:<\/strong> I know that you were instrumental in helping save money at the Dubai Air Show which just sounds so exotic to me to just to think about going there. Can you tell us more about what you did?<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Something that came up unique in Dubai several years ago is (that) they have a permanent exhibition hall at their permanent chalet – you know a place with dining room, meeting rooms, a nice balcony or whatever to watch the air show while you\u2019re entertaining guests. You know, the temp does get a little hot down at the UAE like 120 during the summer\u2026<\/p>\nTodd:<\/strong> Just a little bit sure<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Yeah just a little bit \u2026 so I talked to my designers and then I went to talk to the organizers and I said \u201cHey, I come to your show. I build this interior. Now I have to tear it out. \u00a0What If I built an interior and left it?\u201d They said, \u201cWell, you know Mike, we\u2019ve never had that come up.\u201d And I said, \u201cWell, let\u2019s put our heads together here. \u00a0If I leave my interior, you probably got a pretty good chance that I\u2019m coming back.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t come back, you got something you can market to somebody else and maybe we can both recoup some of our money.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0So we came up with a very unique design of using aluminum AGAM material so that it doesn\u2019t warp or bend and then for some of the bigger areas, because of how the AGAM is made now, we\u2019re using the new cloth graphics with the rubber seals in them. And so all we have to do is pull those off after the show is over.\u00a0 When we go back this year, because the Dubai show is in November, we\u2019ll put up new graphics, we\u2019ll change the carpet, we\u2019ll put in the ceiling tiles, we\u2019ll change the astroturf out on the deck and it will save me about $125 thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Todd:<\/strong> WOW!<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Then we went and said, \u201cHey let\u2019s design a very unique exhibit because transportation cost, labor and everything is getting expensive.\u201d So we designed an exhibit with the same AGAM so you\u2019re using like a little 3 by 3 aluminum post to build our exhibit and when we got through with the show\u2026 we\u2019ll take it all down put it in a few little boxes and it is sitting in the middle of my floor in the chalet.<\/p>\nSo I do not have to ship it in or out.<\/p>\n
Todd: <\/strong>It\u2019s just waiting for you<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> And then last December when I went to the Middle East Business Show, which is at the same venue, I was able to go down with my team with some dollys, \u00a0get the exhibit out, set it up, finish the show, put it back into the exhibit and storeit in the chalet this year. And by the way, that saved me $80 thousand dollars.\u00a0 So the bosses like it when you can show that and using this new material allows me to put up graphics basically any size I want but most of my graphics are probably two meters, three meters tall (and) three to four meters wide but they\u2019re billboards, and it catches people\u2019s attention and they stop and talk to us instead of seeing all this small product display.<\/p>\nTodd:<\/strong> That is fantastic and that is another reason why you were \u201cExhibit Marketer of the Year.\u201d One last question before I let you go if I could. \u00a0What would you say to someone who is hesitant about nominating an event marketer like yourself for this award?<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Well, I don\u2019t think anybody should be hesitant. I mean, I think it\u2019s a great program. \u00a0I mean The Expo Group was nice enough (that) they also make a donation (to) my favorite charity which was to my grandson\u2019s charity.<\/p>\nI think individuals need to be keeping as much data on themselves. The hardest thing that you can do is, as they say, write your own obituary.\u00a0 Well, write down everything positive you\u2019re doing during the year for a boss. If he\u2019s also tracking and keeping up with his people and wanting to impress and motivate them, he should be writing and submitting things like this.\u00a0 And then, even if they don\u2019t win, you know once it\u2019s announced or whatever, take the package back to the individual and say, \u201cHey I just wanted you to know that I submitted you for this, here\u2019s the data I used on it and oh by the way I\u2019m using this for your performance review this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Todd:<\/strong> Yeah, that information should be collected any way for your performance review so it\u2019s out there and like you said, it doesn\u2019t hurt to keep track yourself of what you\u2019ve accomplished, and then find somebody in your company or find a client or someone that works closely with you and see if you can get them to nominate you.\u00a0 We certainly would appreciate that and we need as many good nominations as we can get.<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> Yes, yes I definitely, wholeheartedly say everybody out there should be submitting their top people for this or trying to motivate them or get them trained to the point that they can submit them. That they\u2019re doing something fantastic for their group.\u00a0<\/p>\nTodd: <\/strong>Absolutely, Michael D. Lynn, thank you so much for your time today, I do appreciate you joining us on the Exposure Podcast.<\/p>\nMichael:<\/strong> No problem Todd, great pleasure!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Michael D. Lynn\u00a0accepts a slightly oversized\u00a0check from April Hurley From our recent podcast, here’s a transcript of an interview with 2014 The Expo Group’s Exhibit Marketer of the Year Winner,[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[40,41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/theexpogroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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