I PASSED

I am now a Certified Meeting Professional!

I am fortunate to work for a company and have a boss that supports my involvement with the professional organization MPI, Meeting Professionals International. I have been a member of this organization for 4 years and have served on the Tennessee board for 2. In July I will start my 3rd year of service on the board. I will be changing positions from Director of Professional Development to Director of Monthly Meetings.

Within MPI, I became familiar with CMP, Certified Meeting Professional. I decided about 3 years ago that I would sit for this exam at some point in the future. It's been a goal of mine each year and FINALLY last year in August I submitted my application, was accepted, submitted my exam registration and started studying. The exam was in Atlanta in January of this year. It was a yucky exam, just like those of the college days using scan trons. I hated the thought of studying for this test. There were 3 huge books to study and an entire list of definitions to memorize and I am NOT a great test taker. I had anxiety about this for weeks, more so after taking the exam and waiting for the stinkin' results.

This test is similar to the CPA or Bar exam. So it's very well respected within my industry. After taking the exam I knew I would be waiting 6-8 weeks for the results. Well the six weeks came and went and for two weeks I made the anxious trip to the mailbox.  FINALLY, on February 27th the letter came. I had ran inside to start dinner and Mark came in from the mailbox waving the letter. I was a nervous wreck. I calmly laid it on the counter and continued prepping dinner. Mark wanted to open it and I would NOT let him. I thought, I took the test and I will be the first person to see my results. So I finally got up the courage to open it and PASS was written across the top. WOOHOO!!! I started screaming and crying. I jumped on Mark almost knocking him to the floor. But man what a relief that was. I felt confident I had passed but I still somewhat doubted myself. I don't know how many times I prayed about this and how many times I reviewed those test questions over in my head. Whew, now it's over and I just have to keep up with the continuing education.

Katie Rogers, CMP (Doesn't that looks nice?) 

Look What We've Done

The pictures below are from a few company events I've either coordinated or assisted.

Left: Centerpieces at sales incentive awards banquet

Top Right: Stage set for National Sales meeting

Middle Right: Stage set for sales incentive awards banquet

Bottom Right: Jungle decor totally transformed this boring hotel ballroom



Top Left: Vespa giveaway and green men (play off The Blue Man Group)

Middle Left: Marketing team gingerbread house making outing

Bottom Left: Titans Cheerleader appearance for company college football kickoff party

Top Middle: Stage set for National Sales Meeting

Center Middle: Room set for customer dinner and song writing session

Bottom Middle: Exotic race car experience for customer meeting at the Las Vegas Super Speedway

Top Right: Alligator promotion in trade show booth

Middle Right: Globetrotters promotion in trade show booth

Bottom Right: Movie Premier and Impersonators in trade show booth

I have to say we've done some pretty creative and fun things!

Can I have your job?

This is a question I get asked A LOT! I'm sure the traveling and fun things I get to do often seems extravagant. Most of the time it is but it's not always roses.

So several, probably most, of you know that I'm a planner. That goes for my professional AND personal life (sorry Mark).

This goes waaaaaay back to elementary and high school days. At least I come by it honest, right? I plan my wardrobe for the week, our meal plans, vacations, our budget, parties, date nights, showers, and our weekends (which Mark loves to hate sometimes). I'll have to say he has gotten me to lax a bit and just go with the flow, which is so very hard for me sometimes. I like to put together the details and come up with the ideas to make things work. This is very handy for my career as a Meeting Professional.

The responsibilities of my job include planning and executing our National Sales Meeting, incentive trips, holiday parties, customer meetings, national tradeshows, charitable events, department parties, investor relations events, etc. The tasks associated with planning these events are: contracting/selecting exhibit space, staffing, ordering booth furnishings/electrical, pre- and post-show marketing campaigns, organizing offsite client meeting/outings/dinners, securing hotel rooms, executive speaker travel, meeting room assignments, food and beverage selection, arranging transportation, coordinating agendas, printed materials (agendas, name badges, welcome letters), excursion selection/coordination/appointments, theme/decor selection, award procurement, prize/gift selection.

This one may sound the most elaborate; site visits; this means me traveling to a destination, checking out the surrounding areas, seeing the popular destinations, testing excursions/things to do, touring restaurants and hotels, envisioning that unique experience, etc.

There are some not so glamorous things too like maintaining our budgets, which require more accounting than I thought I would ever do, administrative tasks, long meetings, long hours on your feet and really just some stupid people I have to deal with.

So to answer your question.....sorry folks, my job is NOT available. I love what I do and most of the time it is lots of fun! Who knew when I was in nursing school (BLAH!!!!) 10 years ago I'd be doing this!?!!?  I guess that had to be God and boy am I sure glad he put me exactly where I needed to be, doing exactly what I should be. He's brilliant, ya know!

So now that I've explained a little about what I do, my next few posts will be a follow-up to this one.

Cutting the Cake

This past weekend we went to the wedding of a coworker of ours. It was a beautiful wedding and I wish the happy couple the very best!!

While at the wedding I started thinking about the history of cutting the cake. So, for those of you interested, check it out.....

Matt and Susanna Spell



Of course this made me think of Mark and I cutting our cake.

Mmmm, wish I had a piece RIGHT NOW!

The tradition may have its roots as far back as the Roman Empire. The groom would eat part of a loaf of barley bread baked especially for the nuptials and break the rest over his bride's head. REALLY!?!?  Glad we don't do that anymore.  History tells us that breaking the bread symbolized the breaking of the bride's virginal state and the subsequent dominance of the groom over her. As wedding cakes evolved into the larger, more modern version, it became physically impractical to properly break the cake over the bride's head. The tradition disappeared fairly quickly in some places, but there were still reports of breaking an oatcake or other breakable cakes over the bride's head in Scotland, in the 19th century. It's reported that in Northern Scotland, friends of the bride would put a napkin over her head and then proceed to pour a basket of bread over her. It's hard to say why some traditions endure and some do not, but the obvious male chauvinistic bent of this particular tradition probably leads to its early demise.

Wedding cakes take center stage in the traditional cake cutting ceremony, symbolically the first task that bride and groom perform jointly as husband and wife. This is one tradition that most of us have witnessed many times. The first piece of cake is cut by the bride with the "help" of the groom. This task originally was delegated exclusively to the bride. She cut the cake for sharing with her guests. Distributing pieces of cake to one's guests is a tradition that also dates back to the Roman Empire and continues today. Following the tradition of breaking the bread over the bride's head, guests would scramble for crumbs that fell to the ground. Presumably, the consumption of such pieces ensured fertility. However, as numbers of wedding party guests grew, so did the size of the wedding cake, making the distribution process impossible for the bride to undertake on her own. Cake cutting became more difficult with early multi tier cakes, because the icing had to be hard enough to support the cake's own weight. This, of necessity, made cutting the cake a joint project. After the cake cutting ceremony, the couple proceeds to feed one other from the first slice. This provides another lovely piece of symbolism, the mutual commitment of bride and groom to provide for one another.

 

All I can is that I'm sure glad we don't break bread over our heads and that we get to enjoy the yummy wedding cakes today!!!

Photo 22: Treees

I'm loving this Spring weather, blooms and fresh air!

I want to plant some of these trees in my yard like NOW!

Date Box

While we're still talking about Valentine's Day, I wanted to share the gift I gave Mark. We decided NOT to do gifts but I couldn't resist. I found this idea on Pinterest and had to execute. So we exchanged cards and then I gave this gift......

Mark was so defensive, thinking he was a slacker for staying true to our agreement of no gifts, not spending unnecessary dollars and being satisfied with our homemade meal and movie night. I told him I only spent 99 cents on the box so this was a very cheap gift and was pretty much a gift to us both.

So let me back up and recap a Christmas gift I put in Mark's stocking. It too was a Pinterest idea. I got a deck of cards and on each card wrote a reason I loved him. Again, that cost pennies.

So when I said my Valentine's Day gift cost next to nothing he asked "is this another one of your thrifty Pinterest ideas?"  He was on to me. :)  I had come up with almost 50 date ideas and included them all in this box. I love to be on the go and sometimes Mark isn't too fond of my ideas and just wants a lazy day at home. The dates range from breakfast at the Pfunky Griddle to a weekend getaway. Some include our favorites places and things to do while others will be us trying something new. Whenever we want, we can draw from this box. I was so excited for Mark to read all of the suggestions in the box but instead he decided to only look a couple and let the rest be a surprise. How can he do that, I would be busting at the seams??  I'll probably forget most of them too, so it will be a surprise for me too! 

We actually just drew our first one this past weekend and it was "City Saver Lunch Date - pick anywhere for lunch as long as we have a City Saver Coupon"  See, I added our savings in there too! :)  We went to Razz's and had a horrible experience but it was still fun since it was our first date drawn and we spent that time together. I'll continue to blog about our date experiences.

LifePoint's Romance and Roses 2012

Our church hosts this banquet, er, party, Romance and Roses, for married or engaged couples every year around Valentine's Day. It's a night full of comedy, good food, friends and great quality time with your spouse. We went with our small group this year and had a blast. Mom and dad were supposed to go with us but couldn't make it. Mom, you'll HAVE to come next year!

My, we are cheeeesing.