MPISCC Intercom Jan/Feb2014

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Designed and Edited by Alvalyn Lundgren | Alvalyn Creative VOLUME 107 | January/February 2014

INTERCOM

Los Angeles… Poised to Welcome the World by Bryan Quinan, CMP | Milken Institute

On a gloriously sunny October day in Southern California, more than 180 meeting planner and supplier members, new members and prospects

gathered on the Viennese Terrace at the historic Langham Hotel in Pasadena. (See photo gallery on page 8).

The networking reception featured several delectable bite-size food stations and a bar. Sponsorship support for the recep-tion and lunch was also provided by Visit Sonoma County. Hilton Hotels, DoubleTree Santa Rosa and Vintner’s Inn provided raffle giveaways and had tabletop displays full of information about their unique destinations. The hotel even provided hand massages and a yoga demonstration courtesy of their amazing spa services.

When members and guests adjourned to the ballroom for lunch they were greeted by a stunning country chic theme provided by the Langham’s event and banquet services team. Long round tables alternated throughout the setting and made for intimate table discussions before the program began.

Once he took the stage, LA Tourism CEO, Ernest Wooden, Jr. gave a commanding presentation about the state of the

group meeting business in Los Angeles County, what the future holds for the downtown Convention Center and his goals to expand awareness of our industry through the LA Tourism bureau.

The Bureau is engaged in several goals under Wooden’s guidance. With offices around the world in 10 cities includ-ing Shanghai, Beijing, London, Frankfurt, Brazil, Buenos Aires and Dubai, it is building towards a projected 50 million visitors annually by 2020. That represents $32 billion in revenue to the city & county, and over 300,000 jobs.

Some of the other work at LA Tourism on behalf of their 1200 member organizations includes a partnership to fill the Convention Center with more citywide events. The Bureau represents over 170 hotel properties in the county.

More than just a meeting or group business referral, the Bureau also works with Los Angeles World Airports develop-ing non-stop direct international flight business for the newly renovated Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX. New direct flight routes on American Airlines from Buenos Aires, for example can bring up to $650 million in revenue to the city and county.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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Meeting Professionals International | Southern California Chapter

MPISCC Officers & Directors 2013-2014

PresidentDavid Anderson, CMP

Eventive Group 562-438-4834

President ElectBeverly Laing, CMP, CTC The Promotional Edge

310-837-1201

Immediate Past PresidentLarissa Schultz, CMP, MHA

LJS Meeting Strategies310-519-0795

Vice President of Communications Paulette E. Fontanez, CMP

PIHRA310-416-1210 x811

Vice President of Education/ProgramsAmy Zelinsky, CMP

A to Z Special Events818-646-3445

Vice President of FinanceMariles Krok, CMP

Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board424-731-7781

Vice President of Leadership DevelopmentNicole Newman

SearchWide951-640-3745

Vice President of MembershipJoe Marcy, CMP

Westin Long Beach310-748-3075

Directors

Member Advocacy Jane Mato, CMPThe Line Hotel213-368-3010

Strategic Sponsorship Geraldine Gatehouse

IMEX America760-519-3227

Professional Development Shelley Grey, CMP

Trust Company of the West213-244-0579

Monthly Programs Russell Harris, CMP

Russell Harris Event Group818-760-6779

Public Relations and MediaShannon Keany, CMP

Keany Events, Inc.714-655-2366

Special Education Joe MartinBDI Events

323-692-0802

Special Events Bryan Quinan, CMP

Milken Institute310-570-4638

Member Recruitment Akemi Shapiro

Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach 805-652-5118

Fundraising and Strategic Sponsorship Jason Soporito

Plan-it Interactive310-642-0929

Marketing, Publications and Advertising Emily Swan

House of Blues Sunset Strip323-848-5151

Awards and Recognition DeShawn Wynn, CMP, CMM Wynning Touch Event Design

323-691-2005

Executive DirectorDebbie Hawkins, CAE, CMP

805-449-9111

LA Tourism continued from page 1

Wooden provided some interesting statistics about group business in LA County. They have already booked 183 definite groups through 2020. There were 23 citywide conventions in 2012 with 307,000 attendees. In 2013 there were 35 similar events with more than 335,000 attendees and $440 million in revenue, averaging 2.7 nights. Which means that the average attendee spends $600 per person per day. The hotel oc-cupancy rate in Los Angeles has been the highest this year (91.8%) since 1987. 89.4% of area hotels are sold out almost every night.

Despite the good news for hotel tourism, Wooden noted that overall group busi-ness in the county was down. Some of the reasons he gave included: recent cuts in government spending, restrictions on government travel, savvy business travel-ers booking around the block and some groups sending fewer people now.

New LA hotel development includes 10 hotels currently under construction. That represents 2,500 new rooms plus more than 4,500 rooms at 25 proposed or

planned properties. Due to the demand for sleeping rooms and meeting space these additional hotels will not affect current partner hotels within the city.

Turning to the Downtown area, Wooden mentioned the new Hyatt Regency with 25,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Anticipa-tion is growing for the $1 billion Wilshire Grand tower. The brand new hotel will be the tallest building west of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower with 900 rooms on 73 floors.

Wooden wrapped up his presentation with a Q&A session with the audience. Questions were asked about the future of the Convention Center, Downtown retail development and Metro line extensions to Santa Monica and the Westside.

Wooden reminded everyone that now was the time for the industry to share one voice about the value of tourism and travel. Despite the size of our economic impact, government still doesn’t see the impor-tance of the industry in Los Angeles. It is critical that we establish more part-nerships with other industries to create more awareness.

www.discoverlosangeles.com/tourism/meeting-professionalshttp://on.mktw.net/1e47KL7http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/words-from-wooden-sept-2013

LA TOURISM RESOURCES

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INTERCOM | Volume 107 January/February 2014

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I’m sure you’ve heard that eating a well-rounded breakfast

can have a dramatic effect on your energy level, focus and

caloric consumption throughout the day. You have probably

also heard that starting a savings and retirement plan early

in life can have a dramatic effect on the amount of funds

available to you in your golden years. In both of these cases,

something small that you do on a daily basis can have a huge

impact on your short-term and long-term experience.

Like many of you, I joined the meeting and events industry by

chance. I fell into it…or rather, it fell into me. Either way, only

a small percentage of us specifically sought out to become

professionals in this field, yet here we all are, planning meet-

ings and events. I only point this out because what I happened

across — this industry — has the capacity to change your life,

the lives of those you serve, and the world.

Commuting to work 45 minutes or more each day, getting

bogged down with short lead times and an excessive amount

of conference calls can easily separate you from the ultimate

impact and effect you are working towards, but mind you,

what we do is nothing short of a miracle. Our planning and

organizational skills, when paired with clear and concise goals

and objectives, facilitate every type of human interaction

imaginable, from laughter and learning, to sharing and con-

necting. You should be so proud and excited to make these

interactions possible. The moment might not hit you until the

program you are working on has actually come to fruition, but

as long as you realize at some point the power and potency

of your role, then you are in the right place. To my opening

example, the seemingly mundane decisions you make on a

daily basis has a huge impact on the final outcome of your

programs you plan, and subsequently, changing the world.

One of my goals this year is to help our members understand

our value in this industry, and the larger economy. There are

many tools and resources out there to help put concrete data

and datum on this very quantifiable characteristic of what

we do as professionals. I am overwhelmed with the excessive

amount of information I receive daily from email newsletters,

industry publications and websites. However, MPI Global pub-

lishes the annual Business Barometer, the Convention Indus-

try Council publishes The Economic Significance of Meetings

to the U.S. Economy, and even the daily email newsletter by

Northstar Media, Meeting News, keeps us knowledgeable

about what is happening in our industry on a regular basis.

To circle back to my opening statements, I want you to know

that our day-to-day tasks may on the surface seem

inconsequential or easy to refute as simple to-do list items,

but trust me, what you are doing is nothing less than chang-

ing the world. Use the resources mentioned above to start

investigating your worth. Read industry publications from

the perspective of the work you do and what you have to con-

tribute to the conversation. Believe in and know your power

as a meeting professional, and you will be seen as an intel-

ligent contributor to a process that is as old as being human:

meeting up.

Please expect to see a lot more in the coming months from

our chapter leadership to support these ideas and my ultimate

desire for you to see yourself as the incredibly valuable profes-

sional that you are.

At your service,

David Anderson, CMP

The Power of Your Role David Anderson, CMP 2013-2014 MPISCC President

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FOR MPISCC MEMBERS

Insider T ps Carry On! Renew Your Membership Today!

Continue enjoying the programs, events, connections, advocacy and opportunities that come only with your MPI membership. Renewing is easy: complete the form athttp://mpiscc.org/membership/join-renew-now/.

Incentives for Students & Emerging Leaders!

Students may request complimentary registration for our regular monthly programs, and may attend up to 2 chapter programs before being asked to become a member. The regular student member rate for monthly programs is $20. Sponsorships are being generously provided by chapter members, and are limited to 3/year/student. To find out more, contact Sacha Tani at [email protected]

NEW Volunteer Leadership Opportunity

Local Area Coordinators assist with chapter and member communication, creating energy and promoting chapter events, programs and initiatives (e.g., carpooling); coordinating their region’s events (such as the After 5 gath-erings); encouraging non-member participation in regional and chapter events with the intent of facilitating networking between all (member and nonmember) industry profession-als within the geographic area; new member outreach and recruitment; and as available and interested, assist as a liaison/ambassador of one of these geographic regions:

Las VegasVentura (Santa Barbara to the San Fernando Valley)Inland Empire (Palm Springs, Ontario)Long BeachDowntownSouth BayWest LA

If you are interested in volunteering as a Local Area Coordinator, please contact Joe Marcy, CMP, Vice President of Membership: [email protected].

NOMINATE ASHININGSTAR

WHO DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO’S MAKING A DIFFERENCE?

Each month, the MPISCC Board of Directors recognizes Shining Stars: committee members who have made significant contributions to the chapter during the year. Nominations can be submitted by any active member and must be submitted by the last day of every month.

To nominate an exceptional MPISCC volun-teer, visit http://mpiscc.org/membership/member-care/

GOT

MPISCCMAILINGLABELS?CONNECTION ENHANCEMENT MADE EASY!

MPISCC mailing labels are available for purchase, and are a great way to add an additional means of contact and connection, share news and promote events.

Members: $250Non Members: $400

Order via www. mpiscc.org/files/MailingLabelRequestForm.pdf

New Member Orientation October 2013

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5

Ionce had a client poach one of our key staff to work for

them. We had trained the staff member over the course of

the year, corrected their actions and work where the client

requested, and basically groomed them for the position.

We had in essence become a recruiter and customized trainer

for this client. So, when this happened, I felt it was only fair

to receive financial compensation for performing this service.

When I approached the client with this, they asked if I had any

contractual paperwork to back me up, and I told them I did

not. I just felt it was the right thing to do. My business was

going to be adversely impacted, was much smaller than theirs

and the benefit to them was to have someone proven and

tested. The chance of turnover was small in hiring a known

entity, and we all know how valuable that is.

Still, there was nothing in our contract at that time which

would have specified any compensation in the case of the

client hiring our staff. However, in this case, I was fortunate

to be working with an organization which puts its values

squarely in line with its day-to-day operations, and they agreed

wholeheartedly to make this a win-win. A small amount of fi-

nancial compensation for an out-of-scope service seemed a

very reasonable way to do it.

I still have an excellent relationship with the organization to

this day.

And I learned to include a non-solicitation clause in our agree-

ment from then on. I wanted to set the expectation with our

clients that we were not working on their event to also parade

a stellar list of trained candidates for their hiring pleasure.

Unfortunately though, it just happened again. And sadly I had

used an old template of our contract which did not have the

non-solicitation clause. So when the client called me shortly

after their event to let me know that they were hiring away

the project manager, I rushed to the contract, and was devas-

tated to see that the clause was missing.

I told them what had happened before in this situation and

how it had become a win-win in the end. I thought this would

not be a problem, as they are a massive organization with a

budget in the tens of millions if not hundreds, and we had

just produced a fundraiser, which beat their $1M goal by

$300,000. To ask for an incredibly small amount of compen-

sation seemed more than reasonable to positively address the

situation and move on.

I was met with a stonewall. “Was there anything in the con-

tract stating that we agreed not to do this?” No, there wasn’t.

In that case, they said the best they could offer were the

resumes of the candidates they had by-passed. Their HR de-

partment had been looking to fill the position for over a year,

and they had plenty they could send to me.

And it should be mentioned that the staff member leaving our

company had just signed a contract to manage registration for

another event with us. While I can understand that sometimes

an offer is something you cannot turn down, we are back to

ethics. Should these discussions have happened behind my

back, or in concert with me to find the best exit possible?

So it may not be right, but it is legal.

INDUSTRY TRENDS

In Word and Deed Do we really need ethics when we have contracts? by Heather Mason | President, A Caspian Production

Should these discussions have happened behind my back, or in concert with me to find the best exit possible?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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DESIGN & EDITORIAL

Managing Editor/Design DirectorAlvalyn LundgrenAlvalyn [email protected]

Contributing EditorPaulette E. Fontanez, CMP

ContributorsDahlia El Gazzar, CMPHeather MasonBryan Quinan, CMPJayne SandersKristy Spraggon

Photographer: Alvalyn Lundgren

INTERCOM is published six times a year by Meeting Professionals International–Southern California Chapter, a nonprofit professional association of meeting planners and suppliers. ©2013-14

Article contributions and editorial guidelines requests should be sent to Alvalyn Lundgren, Managing Editor, at [email protected].

Advertising Information www.mpiscc.org/marketplace/ advertising-kit/

www.mpiscc.org275 East Hillcrest Drive, Suite 215

Thousand Oaks, CA 91360Phone: 805-449-9111

Fax: 805-557-1133

MPISCC MISSION STATEMENTMPISCC will be recognized as the leading local

membership community that is committed to shaping and defining the meetings and

event industry in Southern California.

So it got me thinking. I push knowledge

of contract law with fervor to my staff

and contractors. I tell them how impor-

tant it is that every detail is spelled out

in writing so that all expectations are set,

and rules are made. But in my zeal to talk

about contracts and their importance,

have I forgotten that ethics should not be

substituted for the written word?

No, I did not have a non-solicitation

agreement, but the bigger question

is, did I need to? Should I have to tell

clients that providing a service and

working hard for 8–10 months out of

the year, often out of scope and over

hours, to get the job done – does not

also mean they get to pick our best staff

to take home at the end? Must that be

something I need to include in a contract?

Or can we assume that there are ethics to

guide that decision?

I have immense respect for the client

who came to the table with me and

realized that they had reaped a significant

financial savings by hiring a ready-made,

trained and proven project manager.

They got it. They didn’t need a contract

to let them know that this was an out-of-

scope service provided by our company.

But this other one? No, they don’t get it.

If it’s not in the contract, you can do

it, that’s it. When contracts are seen

as the absolving factor for any unethical

decision – do ethics count?

So, have you ever had this happen to

you? What’s your opinion on whether a

client can hire your staff?

INDUSTRY TRENDS continued

2014MONTHxMONTH JANUARY

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I was on a walk recently when a lively dog bounded up to me and decided I should play ball with him. The thing is, I don’t do ‘ball,’ especially with wet, slobber-covered tennis balls. But he was very persistent and continued to drop and throw it at me as I walked on. I couldn’t help but laugh. This went on and on and on until I found him so cute (he did resemble Lassie) I had no choice but to throw the gooey ball.

“An appointment to catch up with someone is an opportunity to open up a relationship, but I don’t define the type of opportunity I expect from (it).”

Gentle persistence in a playful way can be a far more effective way to get the sale. Make sure your meeting or pitching style is more “Lassie” than pit bull.

I have noticed that so many people can get so focused on what outcome they are going to get from a meeting or pitch that they miss the opportunity to just “catch up” with people. They are so aggressive about having an agenda that they fail to connect.

How about instead of going to meet a potential client with an attachment to what you expect from the meeting, such as potential business or a sale, you instead just went to “catch up” and get to know each other?

For me, the appointment to catch up with someone is an opportunity to open up a relationship, but I don’t define the type of opportunity I expect from the relationship. It could be that instead of getting a sale, I get a learning experience, a friend, a mentor, or a sale. Or I may get nothing. Instead I may give to them in the way of mentoring, coaching or learning.

Sometimes I’m giving and sharing my skills and advice and helping people, and other times they are helping me. It comes back in different ways that may not always be

Playing BallIn business, gentle persuasion can be more effective than a hard pitch.by Kirsty Spraggon | kirstytv.com

NETWORKING TIPS

Meetings are easy in VenturaCountyWest. Only an hour from LAX, we

have meeting rooms large and small, hundreds of guest rooms for every

budget, and dozens of hotels staffed with meeting experts to help.

When the meetings are over, there are trails to hike and whales to

watch, wines to taste and golf to play. We have nearly perfect weather,

and three unique cities ready to make any meeting extraordinary.

Meet easy - meet in VenturaCountyWest.

(800) 648-2124 venturacountywest.com/meetings

Meet in

MEETEASY

tangible, but when you give freely, it does come back. It’s the law of reciprocity.

So go have a couple of coffees or drinks with potential clients and see what happens when you let go of the attachment and are just catching up for the sake of catching up and get-ting to know each other. You will see that you will always get something but it may not be what you were expecting.

Kirsty Spraggon, speaker, coach and author, shares her expertise in building relationships to assist you in increasing your sales, networks and connections for life and business success.For more info go to www.kirstyspraggon.com.au and KirstyTV.com.

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PHOTO GALLERY

Autumn Networking & Program:October 8, 2013 at The Langham Hotel, Pasadena

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EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

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MPISCC’s 2013 Annual Fundraiser, Carnival Bizarre, tallied

over $20,000.00 for the support of the Chapter’s educational

programs and partner charities: Rainbow Services, Ronald

McDonald House - Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Mission.

The venue was Create NIghtclub in Hollywood. World-class

entertainers, acrobats, magicians and a sword-swallower

accented the evening.

Auction and raffle items were provided by: Las Vegas

Convention & Visitors Authority, Los Angeles Tour-

ism & Convention Center, Santa Monica Convention &

Visitors Bureau, Visit Park City and Visit Santa Barbara.

Thank you to the many sponsors who provided goods,

services, entertainment, food, drinks and equipment:

Alvalyn Creative, Apple Graphics, BlackCar LA,

Building Blocks Social Media, Cafe Amore, Carnival

Catering, Classic Party Rentals,D Graphic Solutions,

DJ Stubbs, Heaven or Las Vegas, IML: Harnessing

Audience Insight, Intersect Beverage LLC/Azunia

Tequila, Loews Hollywood, Mark Paskell Entertain-

ment, MillerCoors, Modern Illumination, On Call

Medic/CPR Plus, Plan-It Interactive, Quest Drape,

SBE/Create Nightclub, Sensational Treats, The Ronin

Network, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Way 2 Much

Entertainment.

A very special thanks to our creative and hard-working 2013

Fundraising Committee for an amazing and successful eve-

ning: Jason Soporito, Plan-It Interactive — Director of Fun-

draising & Advertising; Morgen Hoffman, Morgen Hoffman

Events — Fundraising Event Chair; Kristin Pagdilao, Dou-

bleTree by Hilton Monrovia-Pasadena Area — Event Produc-

tion & Program; Tamera Love, NBCUniversal and Katrina

Rodriguez, American Youth Soccer Organization —Silent

Auction; Monique Rife, Sony Picture Studios/Wolfgang

Puck Catering — Sponsorship; Travis Pham,Santa Monica

CVB — CVBLiaison; and committee members: Danielle

Lafayette; Holly Davis, Cort Event Rentals and Marcelle

Moje, Site Services.

Thank you to everyone who attended. With such a stel-

lar assembly of industry professionals, Carnival Bizarre was

a prime example of how MPISCC creates opportunity to

connect and gain exposure while having an amazing time,

and all for a good cause!

2013 ANNUAL FUNDRAISER,.


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2013 Annual Fundraiser continued

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Los Angeles :: Malibu :: Orange County :: Beverly Hills :: Inland Empire :: Santa Barbara

ContemporaryCatering.com310.558.8190

Something Sacred is at Stake at Every Event

Join your MPISCC friends for friendly conversation at a

location near you.

AFTER FIVE WITH MPI

Locations have expanded!

After Five gatherings are scheduled every quarter at various locations throughout Southern California

and Nevada. Watch your email for information on upcoming conversations.

For information or to host an After Five, contact Christine Hartman: [email protected]

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You hear it every day, don’t you? Everybody in our industry wants to

go paperless. They want to ditch their event binders. They want to use their iPads. And some just want to be more in the know about the apps out there that will make their sanity come back. We can all use some of that. Here are my 6 top fapaperless solutions to check out:

1. Evernote [Basic: $0. Premium: $5/month]

Think of Evernote as your brain. You tend to want to store all types of information and data; documents, spreadsheets, photos, videos, audio, web pages. Some-times you want to share the information with your teams, a select few or just for yourself. Evernote has an amazing capa-bility of being accessible from wherever

you are; iPad, desktop, or a browser. All your information is synced, searchable (even words within images), and orga-nized to your liking.

Evernote also has what they call the Trunk. There you have several other solu-tions and apps that play nice with Ever-note, from printers, scanners, to apps that organize your expenses, and what you like to read in just one spot.

2. Penultimate [Free]

For those people that still like to doodle, sketch, and take notes by hand, there is an app for that. Penultimate is your note-book on your iPad. You can take notes, insert photos and jot down callouts, and so much more. Best thing is that you are able to share your notes with the people

you want to see your fabulous handwrit-ing, or pass it right back to Evernote. Yes. Evernote. Again. You know what’s cool? Even handwritten notes, when in Ever-note, are searchable. Imagine that!

3. Adobe Reader [Free]

There are so many pdf editing apps out there, but I like this one because it does what it does really well. So imagine you are on the road and you have 60 pages of BEOs that you want to edit, comment, or initial specific areas. Don’t waste your time looking for a printer or a fax ma-chine. Just open your document in Ado-be Reader and edit the copy, put in your comments, insert your signature or your initials, and send out to your team, or drop it in Dropbox. Easy.

PAPERLESS…OR BUST!6 Helpful App and Web Solutions You Should Know!by Dahlia El Gazzar, CMP | Dahlia+

TECH TRENDS

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4. Live Minutes [Free]

Does this sound familiar: You are on a conference call with a bunch of people taking notes, or reviewing the same document. Yet everyone is writing their own comments and notes. How long does it take you to compile all those notes and THEN you have to send it back to everyone before the next call? Enter Liveminutes. Imagine a cool conference calling platform (it even calls you when your meeting is com-ing up!) that gives you the ability to have everyone on the call take notes TOGETHER. Even if you are reviewing a docu-ment, just upload it, everyone will see it on their screen, they will be able to add in their comments. And voilà. You end the conference call on a happy note since you will instantly be able to share one meeting report with everyone’s notes to all participants.

5. Bidsketch [$19/month]

You know what I dread? Proposals! They take a ton of time, formatting sometimes doesn’t work, but they are impor-tant for your business and your career. Bidsketch is a great online proposal solution that simplifies the entire proposal process. You can create sections that you can reuse for vari-ous proposals. Even customize the proposals depending on your individual needs, and insert images, videos to showcase your services or portfolio. The best part; clients love to get the digital copies and are easily impressed with their custom landing pages. It also plays nice with Salesforce, Freshbooks and Highrise. It’s a winner.

6. Cardmunch [Free]

Business cards kill a lot of trees, but we can’t live without them in this industry. Cardmunch is super simple app from LinkedIn that lets you turn business cards into connections just by taking a picture. You download the app, snap pictures of the business cards, it scans the contact info for you and boom. They are in your contacts. So next time you are at an event, instead of collecting business cards, take a picture of it instead.

Even though I’m a huge fan of going paperless, it might not be the answer for everything. If you already use the solutions mentioned above, would love to know what you think. If you found something better, I would love to hear about it.

Dahlia El Gazzar, CMP, is the founder of Dahlia+, a consulting agency with a mission to encourage planners take advantage of new and innovative event technology solutions. www.dahliaplus.com [email protected]

16


Everyone feels fear. Yes, even the bravest of heroes, even those peo-ple who run into burning buildings

when everybody else is running out of them. How do they do that? Why do they have so much more courage? How do they overcome the fear?

They don’t. They feel the fear and take action anyway.

Business people usually don’t have to run into burning buildings, but they do have fears to face. Here are some thoughts about fear and courage.

Everyone has both. The key difference between us and the brave hero is that the hero lets him/herself feel the fear. We however, let it paralyze us, and we try to wait it out, hoping it will go away. It won’t. Heroes know that if they let themselves feel the fear, and hold onto to it just one moment longer, they will push through to the courage on the other side. They take action in spite of the fear.

One of my favorite business magazines, Fast Company, printed an article in Sep-tember 2004 written by John McCain. In that article, McCain wrote one of the best perspectives on courage that I have ever read: Courage is the highest quality of life attainable by human beings.” It’s the moment – however brief or singular – when we are our complete, best self, when we know with an almost meta-physical certainly that we are right. One thing we can claim with complete con-fidence is that fear is indispensable to courage, that it must always be present for courage to exist. You must be afraid to have courage.

Don’t let the sensation of fear con-vince you that you’re too weak to have

courage. Fear is the opportunity for courage, not the proof of cowardice.

There it is – fear and courage are insepa-rable…an unexpected connection. If you don’t feel fear, you don’t need courage. McCain’s last sentence above is one of my favorite quotes ever (not necessarily a reflection of my politics, however).

One perspective is that fear is simply a reaction – a physical sensation – to new challenges and changes. Fear has been built into us to protect us. In the early stages of mankind, we needed fear to run away from a saber-tooth tiger or enemy. We need fear to keep us from crossing a busy highway on foot during rush hour. These sensations of fear have kept us alive and still do from time to time. But these days, most situations that people fear don’t involve life-threatening issues. They may feel like it though!

Perhaps it will help you face your fears by keeping in mind that the fear you feel is merely a physiological response and will not hurt you. It’s your body saying, “Look out, something new and different is hap-pening (or, you need to do something new or different) so be aware!”

Another point to remember is that cour-age is not a gift for a chosen few. It is a decision. We have to make a conscious choice to step up to a situation and let ourselves feel that fear and then step through it to the courage on the other side.

Several years ago, while volunteering at a horse ranch to take rides out in Mali-bu, California, a dog attacked the horse I was on and I fell off. I was hurt badly enough to keep me from riding for sev-eral months (I hate to miss riding!). I lost

my confidence and was afraid to ride the more difficult horses, which were the ones I always rode before my accident. For months I chose easier horses to ride, at the same time beating myself up for being chicken. Finally I got fed up with myself!

On the way to the ranch one day, driving my car up Pacific Coast Highway, I said out loud, “I wish I was the rider I used to be!” Something clicked. In that moment I realized I had been waiting for the fear to just go away, and that it would not be that simple. I realized I had to make the decision to push through it. That very day I pulled a spooky horse out of the pasture and used him as my trail boss horse for a ride. I told myself I rode him a million times before and I can ride him a million times again, and that the chances of a dog attacking again were very small. It was wonderful! The truth is I am a dif-ferent rider after that experience. There’s a lot of courage in ignorance…when you aren’t aware of what can happen. But I am a smarter, more alert rider, not a more timid one.

I took action. Action is the most impor-tant element of courage. Walk into what you’re afraid of – 99.9 percent of the time it will not kill you. I’ll take that .1% chance. Will you?

Jayne Sanders is a speaker, trainer, and facilitator in the areas of gender communication, strategic business or work/life planning, presentation skills, authentic leadership confidence, recruit-ing & retention of women, and selling to women. Her clients include Toyo-ta, MassMutual, Prudential, and the Mayo Clinic. [email protected]; www.jayne-sanders.com.

The Unexpected Connection: Fear and Courage

By Jayne Sanders, President | GenderSmart® Solutions

LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVES

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WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS

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STRATEGIC PARTNERS

Thank you to our strategic partners!

IN THIS ISSUE

Los Angeles… Poised to Welcome the World 1

President’s Message 3

Insider Tips 4

Industry Trends: In Word and Deed 5

MonthxMonth Event Calendar 6

Networking: Playing Ball 7

Program Highlights: October 2013 8

Photo Gallery: Carnival Bizarre 10

Tech Trends: Paperless or Bust 14

Leadership Perspectives: Fear and Courage 16

New Members 18

Our Strategic Partners 19 INTE

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