Ciara Feely, Hotel Conference Sales Specialist, Conference Converter & FindaConferenceVenue.com, Ireland

GENERAL

Q: How would you describe your job?
I help hotels WIN BIG in the conference/meetings market. I show them how to win more market share from their competitors by thinking like their clients. When you understand your business from your client’s point of view, everything changes.

Q: What advice would you offer to all soon to be working in marketing in the meetings industry?

  • Ask your clients the right questions
  • Write down their answers
  • Find out what their problems and challenges are
  • Focus your marketing around those

Q: How to develop talent and how to help people grow to the next level?
Match the personality of the person to their role; ensure they are passionate about what they do. Constantly invest in up-skilling and find a mentor. Every time I have invested in myself, it’s paid off within a few months.

Q: What are you most excited about at the moment?
The way the conference market is changing. It’s becoming so much more participant centric – focusing on involving the participant, them sharing their expertise and experience and learning from each other. Conferences are about building better communities and helping people build better relationships and I love that.

Q: Your advice/suggestion for turning a boring event into a memorable one?
Make the invitation a WOW experience, if it’s boring or standard, they will expect the event to be that too. Don’t set the room theatre or classroom. Mix it up a little so when people walk in to the room, they know they are about to experience something different. They will stay more engaged that way.

BACKGROUND

Q: What gets you out of bed in the morning?
For the last year; earning an extra hour of quite time to spend writing my book on how to Stop Selling and Win More. Literally, most of the time my 5 year old twin boys get me out!

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In our new home, living a lot more self sufficiently, working 15 hours a week (most weeks!). While still being able to reach a lot more people, making an impact on how they work with clients and how they win more business. The last time I was asked this question was in a job interview by my then boss. I answered her; that I’d like to have her job. I was offered it 3 years later. So here’s hoping this one is realised!

CROSSOVER

Q: What kind of knowledge will participants of Conventa Crossover gain from listening to your lecture?
It won’t be a lecture! I’ll deliver a fun workshop and people will walk away with the following knowledge:

  • How to WIN more market share from their competitors by focusing on 5 key steps
  • How to stand out and sound different
  • 3 key areas to get right in writing proposals that WIN.

Q: What do you expect from Conventa Crossover?
I expect to meet people who are as curious & passionate about the conference industry as I am. I know I will learn brilliant tips from the line up of fellow speakers. And I can’t wait to come back and experience Slovenia. I haven’t been back since our honeymoon exactly 10 years ago when I experienced the best welcome ever to a country. I’ll tell you that story when I meet you there.

Crossover Event 2016 (1)Join meeting planners, meeting providers, congress destinations and professionals working in tourism and marketing at Conventa Crossover conference, international conference dedicated to the future of MICE and travel marketing.

When & where: 29 – 30 August 2016 in Hotel Lev, Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

“We are absolutely delighted that so many speakers have announced their presence already at this stage, and we know that there are many more to come,” says Conventa Crossover founder Gorazd Čad

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