We continue today with Meet the Staff. There are a few new staff members, so we thought it would be a good idea to introduce or reintroduce the entire staff to STC members. This will also give those going to the Summit a way to get to know the people you’ll be seeing all over the place running things, so feel free to come up and say hi. We’ll post one every week or so for the next few months. You’re welcome to pose questions for the staffer as well, and we’ll try our best to answer.
What’s your name and title?
Elaine Gilliam, Meetings Manager
What is your area of expertise?
Planning and producing successful meetings.
Titles are one thing—what do you actually *do* at STC?
Contract negotiations, meeting logistics (this includes communicating our technical specifications to the facilities and service providers), service provider selection, on-site management, menu planning, budget preparation, invoice reconciliation, customer service, and duties as assigned!
What have you done in previous jobs that prepared you for this job?
I worked at Xerox Corporation in a position that supported the major account marketing initiatives. I was on a team of 12 people, located in four facilities across the country. The objective of these facilities was to introduce the newest Xerox products to major account decision-makers. My responsibilities included reading and understanding the technical specifications of the products, testing the operating instructions, and becoming the subject matter expert for those products. I would demonstrate and explain the products to the customer, customizing the demo based on their level of involvement. The people who actually used the products wanted to know how it worked. The higher-level executives just wanted to know that it would work with their application.
For 13 years, I worked with a trade association for the printing industry. I started as the registrar and moved up to director of meetings and expositions. With this association, I negotiated annual contracts for 50 one-day exhibit events, traveled to the sites, and provided on-site logistics management. In addition, this association hosted an annual three-day exposition and conference, a three-day education conference, and a two-and-a-half-day annual meeting that included a board of directors meeting. For all of these events I negotiated the contracts, selected service providers, and handled all the pre-event planning and on-site logistics management, which included coordinating the activities of the service providers. I also provided exhibit sales and service support for the exposition.
Before coming to STC I was the director of convention operations with American Diabetes Association, National Office. My responsibilities were the same as those I had at the trade association but on a much larger scale. ADA’s annual exposition and conference had an attendance of between 15,000 and 20,000 doctors, nurses, researchers, diabetes educators, and students. The exposition required approximately 100,000 square feet of exhibit space for 275 exhibiting companies. Over the three-day event, there were about 300 education sessions offered. Due to the size of the event and number of hotels required for sleeping rooms we were limited to a few cities in the United States—San Francisco (Moscone Center), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania Convention Center), Orlando (Orange County Convention Center), and Chicago (McCormick Place). Holding conferences and expositions at these types of facilities gave me a great deal of experience with labor unions.
I earned my Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) certificate in 1996. I have maintained my certification by continuing my career as a meeting planner, attending educational conferences, learning about current trends through online web seminars and reading the industry magazines, being active in my industry’s professional association, and networking with other meeting planners.
Care to tell us a bit about your family/pets/etc.?
I’ve lived in my current home for just over three years. My lawn and I are struggling to find plants that will grow successfully. My neighbors’ trees shade my yard so I look for plants that like that kind of light. To date I’ve done best with forsythia, camellias, and, of course, hostas. Other suggestions would be appreciated.
What do you do when you’re not hard at work for STC?
Going to the beach, burying my feet in warm sand, hearing the “woosh” and “ahh” of the waves and the caw of sea gulls is very therapeutic for me. If that’s not possible, I like to go to the movies. I really like the whole movie experience—the big screen, the smell of popcorn, the shared experience with the rest of the audience. I go to be purely entertained so you won’t find me in line for a scary, supernatural, big explosion, shoot ‘em up. I enjoy reading—real books with paper pages. Beyond that I’m a bit of a TV junkie. I don’t like many of the reality shows, but I’m hooked on Top Chef and CBS’s Big Brother. Should I also mention that I’m a fan of Dr. Who, Warehouse 13, and Eureka?
Can you tell us about an odd talent or skill you’re particularly proud of?
If I had an “odd” talent or skill I would be particularly proud of it! I do have a talent, but it’s not odd. I make really good chocolate chip cookies.
Any final thoughts or comments?
There are so many that I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll just end here!