Archives: Podcasts

Today, we have the honor of speaking to Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, as impersonated by Randy Otto. Randy has been playing Winston Churchill for the last forty-seven years, and he is phenomenal! In this episode, you will learn about history. You will hear the great quotes of Sir Winston Churchill, and you will also get some great leadership advice. We know you are going to love this show! Today, we have the honor of speaking to Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, as impersonated by Randy Otto. Randy has been playing Winston Churchill for the last forty-seven years, and he is phenomenal! In this episode, you will learn about history. You will hear the great quotes of Sir Winston Churchill, and you will also get some great leadership advice. We know you are going to love this show! Randy Otto’s background Randy Otto’s British history professor did a spot-on..

Today, we are happy to be speaking to a well-known world traveler, Sabrina Meyers, from the Hot Hospitality Exchange. Sabrina has worked in different parts of the world, from Singapore to Sydney to London. Now, she is based in Germany. Currently, Sabrina is focusing on social media. In this episode, you will learn about influencer marketing, how to use social media, create content, and create online visibility. Be sure to join us today to hear Sabrina’s fascinating story and learn how to best leverage social media for your online visibility. Sabrina Meyers’s background Sabrina Meyers was born in Singapore. She grew up having more exposure to the hospitality industry than the events industry. From a young age, she often traveled with her father, who was a university professor. He used to travel across Southeast Asia, giving conferences on engineering. Hotel management Sabrina loved hotels, so after leaving school,..

We have the great pleasure of speaking to yet another icon in our industry today, Elliott Ferguson. He is the President and CEO of Destination DC and the current national chair of the board of directors of the U.S. Travel Association. In this episode, we will be talking about three main topics. We will discuss how DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations) can help business owners navigate the current situation and what will come after the pandemic. We will also talk about diversity, equality, and inclusion and the leading role Elliott has taken in that area. Finally, we will look at Elliot’s role as the chair of U.S. Travel and what will be coming next for our industry. We hope you will enjoy our fascinating conversation with Elliott as much as we did! Elliott Ferguson’s bio Elliott Ferguson serves as President and CEO of Destination DC, the official destination marketing organization for Washington, DC. A 30-year..

Today we are thrilled to be speaking with the poster-child of entrepreneurship, Jill Garcia. Jill is the President and Owner of The Hutton Group. She bought the company just before the pandemic and is optimistically looking to the future. Jill has been in the industry for the last thirty years, and she has a fabulously inspiring story to share with us today. We know that you will enjoy listening to Jill's story of resilience! Jill Garcia’s bio: Jill Garcia is the President and Owner of The Hutton Group - Inspired Meetings & Events, a twenty-five-year-old, woman-owned-and-operated full-service meeting planning company headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. From large-scale events to focused incentive programs, she has planned meetings for groups ranging from 10 to 10,000 attendees. Her meeting planning expertise encompasses all major markets globally to include association, corporate, and SMERF clientele. She can provide..

Today, we have the great pleasure of talking to Jeff Fugate. Jeff is an icon in our industry and a rock star in sales and marketing. He never gets tired of learning, questioning the future, and making changes. In this episode, Jeff talks about the amazing pivot he did in 2020. Join us today to hear Jeff’s fascinating and inspiring story of resilience. We know you’re going to enjoy our conversation! Jeff Fugate’s bio: Jeff is the Owner and Chief Queso Officer of Empty Bowl Queso. After 30 years in Sales and Leadership, he ventured out on his own to give everyone in the world the opportunity to experience good queso. He lives in Leesburg, VA, with his wife, two kids, and a menagerie of pets. Jeff’s background Jeff has been passionate about sales and marketing for a very long time. He started his career in the sales and marketing space in Kinko’s Organization. He spent much of his time focusing on sales..

We are happy to be speaking to Ori Lahav today. Ori is the Vice-President of Clients and Operations for the Kenes Group and is also the current President of IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers). He has a wealth of career experience, even having worked on the startup of an electric car. In this episode, Ori will be talking about pandemic leadership, virtual events, and event marketing. We know that you are going to enjoy our conversation with Ori, so stay tuned! Ori Lahav’s bio: Ori Lahav joined the Kenes Group in 2013 as AVP Marketing, bringing more than 15 years of marketing experience to the management team. Ori’s expertise includes implementing marketing strategies, above the line marketing/below the line marketing, and leading digital campaigns in online/social media channels. He began his career in the communications industry, where he held marketing positions at internet, voice,..

We are happy to be speaking to Roger Rickard today. Roger is an icon of advocacy in our industry. In this episode, Roger talks about what we can do as business owners, in terms of advocacy, particularly in these challenging times and also over the long term. Roger Rickard’s bio Roger Rickard is the Founder and President of Voices in Advocacy® and author of 7 Actions of Highly Effective Advocates. He has more than 30 years of experience as an advocacy professional, speaker, trainer, consultant, and author. As a recognized expert in advocacy engagement and grassroots activation, Roger works with a wide cross-section of organizations from diverse industries. His vibrant personality and a good sense of humor make for engaging and interactive programming that is packaged and delivered in an easy to understand, easy to apply format combining his education, experience, and enthusiasm to drive advocacy success. Roger is a proud..

We are delighted to be speaking to Heather Mason today. Heather has tons of energy and lots of great ideas. She created her company, Caspian Agency, in 2005, and today, she is a rockstar, planning all the meetings and events for some of the world’s major foundations. In this episode, Heather talks to us about how our industry needs revolution, not evolution, and that women need to learn the mantra, “men, money, and materials.” We hope you enjoy our amazing conversation with Heather Mason today! Heather Mason’s bio Heather Mason founded Caspian in 2005 to produce conferences for the innovative and social good business space. Caspian’s social enterprise clients include the Skoll Foundation, the Omidyar Network, New America, Code for America, Rockefeller Foundation, Endeavor Global, Impact 2030, The Philanthropy Workshop, and Sunnylands. Caspian has also worked with brands including HarperCollins, Vanity Fair, and..

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking to another icon in our industry, Ed Rigsbee, of Rigsbee Research. Ed has spent his entire career helping associations and societies to recruit and maintain their members and increase their revenue. He has written five books: one of them on soccer, one on member recruitment, and three of them on strategic alliances, and he has also written more than 2,500 articles. In this episode, Ed shares his story and talks to us about providing value and the amazing community he started, called The Cigar Peg. It is very important right now for associations to provide value, so we’re sure that you will enjoy our conversation with Ed. Ed Rigsbee bio: Ed Rigsbee, (CSP) Certified Speaking Professional, (CAE) Certified Association Executive, is the ROI Guy. He is obsessed with helping individuals and organizations to both receive and give more return on investment (ROI) in everything that they do...

We are delighted to be speaking today with Joel Block, a rock star in the worlds of speaking, finance, and real estate! Joel has a background as a venture capitalist, a CPA, and in real estate. He is also an entrepreneur and a board member of the National Speakers Association. In this episode, we focus on what will be coming up in 2021. We discuss the changes and trends that Joel foresees and who he thinks will own the assets in the future. We hope that you will enjoy this very interesting and thought-provoking conversation and benefit from Joel’s knowledge as much as we did! Joel Block’s bio Joel Block’s CPA experience started in 1985 at PriceWaterhouse, where he first got exposed to the syndication business as a team member doing tax returns for 500 real estate limited partnership syndications. While he did not love the tax work, he was fascinated by the partnership agreements. Futurist and money business..