Tricks of the Trade Show - Donna Jervis-Miller - Speaking of Events - Episode # 016

Speaking of Events

Donna Jarvis-Miller is the Director of Membership Operations & Events / Conference Manager at American Public Human Services Association. Donna has a passion for trade shows, and she uses that passion to create memorable moments for the people showing up to these events. Donna joins host Kerri Garbis to talk about how both of their last names are easily mixed up and their passion for events! Takeaways Planning events takes a lot of time and people don’t realize that. There are plenty of pieces that need to fall into place to make it work. During COVID, it became a challenge to represent the same feelings of a trade show through virtual means. Venders weren’t sure how to manage their booths because they are used to face to face interactions and engagement went down. Trade shows are not just about the vendors, but they are also about the audience. Organizers for these have to meet the sponsors for what they want out of the event. You have to listen to the people coming to your events and hear what they want to see and these events. That way you can make it engaging and entertaining for them. Everything is done on a tight schedule with trade shows, so pushing some things around can create a bit of a mess. Sometimes the speakers at an event need to be heard and know that they are being listened to. Quote of the Show 15:52 “I think trade show organizers have to acknowledge that we have to meet our sponsors where they are. What do they want out of this versus what do we as organizers want? Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnajarvismiller/ Website: https://www.aphsa.org// Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a158d222-4beb-4c72-9569-0916e79a80f4/speaking-of-events Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-events/id1611059542 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/699re9JSEnwNXnrNLGLUkz Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BlYWtpbmdvZmV2ZW50cy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiI6PWe2o73AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en YouTube - https://youtu.be/FfKES7DRpHc