Planner Resilience: Robin Gathman, New Beginnings Tradeshow Advisors
Read how meeting and event planner Robin Gathman of New Beginnings Tradeshow Advisors became innovative in surviving and succeeding during the Covid-19 pandemic.
How were you able to adapt during COVID-19 when the meeting and events industry got disrupted?
As the pandemic hit I was a corporate Tradeshow and Special Events Manager. We spent most of our time working with the show managers and their teams to cancel our participation for most of the shows, with only a few rolling over to 2021. By June all participation decisions had been made for the year and I was released from corporate America. Many other companies did the same thing and released staff and added their jobs to other team members workloads.
You either love tradeshows or you don't; I do. I love educating others about the industry. I started New Beginnings Tradeshow Advisors to be able to help companies get back to face to face events without their regular staff right away. To reduce the stress that marketing and sales managers have trying to rebuild, they need someone to do some of the leg work so they can focus on their core jobs. We are here to advise, assist and/or train staff to get back to successful face to face programs.
This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where we celebrate the positivity and optimism shown by planners across the industry when navigating the turbulent waters that COVID-19 has brought the meetings and events industry. Keep an eye out as we release more stories like this over the next few months.