Future Leaders: Grooming Greatness

More and more associations have realized that the worker bees in the tradeshow industry of today – those just getting their feet wet and learning the ropes from the bottom up – are tomorrow's leaders. As a result, the associations are launching, or have launched, programs to support the newbies on their way up the corporate ladder.

Tradeshow Week Senior Editor Rachel Wimberly spoke with four association executives about the importance of having a future leaders program and what the associations hope to achieve by offering one.

The Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events saw the need early on and started its program, the Future Leaders Institute, in 1995, according to Michelle AuBuchon, IAEE's director of learning experiences.

“IAEE decided to take an active role in identifying leadership within the membership,” AuBuchon said.

Even though the institute kicked off in 1995, she added, the program didn't run in successive years – taking a break until 1998, reappearing in 2000 and then completely falling off the radar until it was resurrected last year.

“We had a group of people who had participated in the past and said they had really gotten a lot out of it,” AuBuchon said. “They went to the (IAEE) board and asked to bring it back.”

Prospective institute attendees go through an application process where they are asked to write a personal statement about how they see the future of the industry and their place in it, she added.

The maximum number of people allowed in the three-day program is 30, AuBuchon said, in order to maintain an intimate learning experience for the attendees. Twenty-two people attended the August 2008 program, the first year it was renamed the Robert L. Krakoff Future Leaders Institute in honor of the tradeshow industry veteran who passed away last year.

“It's full immersion once they get together,” AuBuchon said. “They have icebreakers, interactive team-building, as well as goal-setting.”

At the institute, the attendees were asked to pick five personal and professional goals they wanted to achieve, she added, and then they will meet up again at Expo! Expo! IAEE's Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Dec. 9-11 at the Miami Beach (Fla.) Convention Center, with the intention of having at least one from each side completed.

Another activity undertaken at the institute, AuBuchon said, involved attendees being asked to choose a leader from history they admired, and then, throughout the sessions, they were expected to offer solutions as if they were that person.

“They had to be thinking, 'how would that person handle situations?'” she said.

The overall goal of the program, AuBuchon added, is to “develop them into leaders.”

The American Society of Assn. Executives & The Center for Assn. Leadership asks for a substantial commitment from the attendees who are chosen to take part in its Leadership Academy.

According to Steffanie Feuer, ASAE's development and partnership coordinator, 25 people are picked by a selection committee. The two-year program they commit to requires at least three in-person events each year, as well as a series of online programs.

The decision to launch the Leadership Academy this past August, said Ron McNally, ASAE's chief volunteer relations officer, was “really driven by workforce realities of the boomers going away and the young professionals coming up.”

The academy was funded with a $300,000 grant from American Express and, out of 53 who applied, 25 students were chosen to participate, Feuer said.

It was a blind-application process because, she added, “we didn't want it to become a 'who-you-know' process.”

The curriculum for the academy was developed with the assistance of people working in the nonprofit and association worlds, Feuer said, as well as others within the ASAE organization. “The overall goal is to make sure the 25 students really understand nonprofits and associations,” she added.

Besides ASAE's in-person events the students will attend – such as the Great Ideas Conference, Future Leaders Conference and ASAE & The Center's Annual Meeting & Exposition – they also will have monthly online meetings, webinars and classes about different leadership topics, she added.

Another goal for the academy, Feuer said, was to attract additional funding so more students could be involved each year. “The biggest challenge (of putting everything together) was saying no to people who wanted the opportunity,” she added.

Margit Weisgal has been in her post heading up the Trade Show Exhibitors Assn. for just a few short months, but she's already made some big changes – including creating the first Emerging Leaders Conference, which will be held Feb. 26-March 1 in Nashville, Tenn.

“This is part of changing the face of TSEA to be more responsive to what our membership needs,” Weisgal said. “The people who really need us the most are the new people.”

Two tracks will be available, one for exhibit managers and one for suppliers, she added.

The purpose of the Exhibit Manager Track, Weisgal said, is threefold:

• to help participants enhance their skills and abilities to communicate more effectively and confidently, both internally and externally

• to obtain executive-level support prior to and during shows and events by developing insight into each internal customer's specific business improvement goals and needs

• to make recommendations and decisions that contribute to their internal customers' success

The Supplier Track will offer all the skills of the exhibit manager track, she added, plus knowledge and understanding of the suppliers' role in working with exhibiting companies.

Weisgal said she felt there was a need in the tradeshow industry for the conference, adding, “if you look around, how often do you see a beginner's guide (to the industry)? This is their time to improve themselves from a professional perspective.”

Besides the conference, she said, also on tap is an e-learning center that will have “Trade Show 101” podcasts that she called “perfect for a commute.”

Weisgal said preregistration numbers for the event were tracking well. Only 25 applications will be accepted for each track, and she predicted it would sell out. “We've gotten so many calls and so much interest,” she added. “I think people will get out of it exactly what we expected. From the exhibit manager side, that they have made a leap for what they will do for their companies. And on the supplier side, that they will get an education.”

According to Susan Salem Euritt, executive director of the Professional Convention Management Assn.'s Education Foundation, the organization's all about students and giving them the support they need to become future leaders.

There are PCMA student chapters scattered throughout North America, she added, and a lot of the students come to the association's annual meeting, aptly called “Convening Leaders,” on tap Jan. 11-14 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, to take part in the Student Union Program, specifically geared toward them.

According to PCMA, the goal of the preconference program is for students “to develop and enhance contacts with industry professionals, hone their networking skills and discover how to find and keep their first job, next job and perfect job.”

In addition, Euritt said, the upcoming meeting also will be the second time a career fair will be available where students can meet with representatives from Disney, Experient, Hilton Hotels, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, to name a few. “Students are all really excited,” she added. “It's their very first step toward becoming a future leader.”

Students are groomed in other ways, too, including attending a PCMA Leadership Conference and letting the people there, who have typically been in the business a while, Euritt said, know how to communicate with the students.

Also, Euritt added, PCMA publishes a textbook focused on meeting planning that is used by a number of universities. She said PCMA was more about starting to work on the student's leadership skills when they were still in school as opposed to when they already had entered the workplace, though they haven't ruled the latter out. “We're trying to develop that relationship,” Euritt added. “We're working towards starting a future leaders program.”

For now, she said, students are eligible for two future leader scholarships, and some students are invited to attend the Leadership Conference. At the conference, the students do a “reverse mentorship” that allows them to sit down and talk with more experienced people in the industry about their own attitudes and goals.

“It was really cool,” Euritt said. “It helped us learn from that generation.”