Ask Me Anything Series: Suppliers On Stage

Ask Me Anything Series: Suppliers On Stage

Date: Wednesday, September 20th, 2023
Time: 12:00 PM – 3:00PM
Location: The Westin Ottawa, 11 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1N 9H4

Do you have a burning question – do you want to know why things are the way they are, but don’t know who to ask? Join this session for an open, honest discussion with key industry supplier representatives about anything and everything! No topic is off limits! This will be a two-way audience interactive session with audience members engaging in lively conversation with the panelists.  You don’t want to miss this continuation of our excellent series premiered at last year’s CIC Conference!

Learning Objectives:

• Identify challenges and how to overcome them
• Discover what is and is not negotiable when it comes to business events
• Explore the connections and gaps between planner and supplier processes

Agenda:

11:00AM – 12:00PM: Middle Mingle (For those attending both the MPI morning session and the PCMA Panel session)
12:00PM – 1:00PM: Lunch
1:00PM – 2:45PM: Panel Session
3:00PM: Event close

Moderated by: 

Heather Cleat is the Chief Operating Officer at Say Something Communications, an international conference planning and event management solutions company. She has worked in the conference management industry for more than 22 years, and it is definitely her calling. Heather thrives on the  problem solving, the relationship building, the organization, the negotiation, the time management, and even the stress. She finds the development and delivery of a successful event very rewarding. Heather is a natural puzzle solver and can successfully maneuver through the hectic pace and the often-chaotic moments of events towards collaborative success. Heather enjoys hanging out at the campground, volunteering, travelling, spending time with friends and family, and helping others with anything and everything.

Meet Your Panelists:

Jamal Jordan has been in the hospitality industry for over 25 years. For over a year now Jamal has embraced his role as Director of Field Sales in Canada for Hyatt Hotels, helping event professionals and travel managers in all segments find venue’s that fit the needs for themselves and their customers.

Jamal started his career in housekeeping and worked his way up through all facets of operations and sales. He has worked in hotel chains such as Marriott, Accor along with Hilton and continues to work with many different brands of hotels with Hyatt in select service, boutique, full service and Luxury Resort. He is also engaged with PCMA’s Canada East chapter as Co-Chair for the Community Engagement and Inclusion committee, collaborating with other industry professional on the betterment of DE&I initiatives.

Jamal is handy with home renovation projects and is also an active member of his community, where he and his family volunteer at a homeless shelter.

Tracy Campbell has worked in the tourism industry, more specifically in sales, hospitality, and events, for now 20 years. She has a passion for traveling and meeting new people, and she is an absolute foodie. She studied in Tourism and Travel at La Cité collégiale and has a certificate in Event Management.

Early in her career, she worked for Reservation Outaouais, a local inbound travel agency managing the tour groups. This experience allowed her to build relationships with many partners and suppliers including hotels, venues, restaurants, attractions, and to learn more about what the region has to offer. She also worked at several hotels in the Gatineau-Ottawa region such as the Hilton Lac-Leamy, the Fairmont Château Laurier and the Four Point by Sheraton as well as venues like the Ottawa Convention Centre (now known as the Shaw Centre), the Canadian Museum of History, and the Canadian War Museum.

Tracy has always been very proud of the organizations she represented in the Gatineau-Ottawa region. Since September 2021, she gets to use her experience and knowledge with the DMO team at Outaouais Tourism as the destination’s Business Events Representative. Her motto is work hard, play hard and her DNA is exactly like their hashtag #OutaouaisFun!

Don Leddy has been an event professional for most of his working life.

While initially aiming for a career in the utilities sector with a number of years spent in both Cable and Hydro, Don realized his communication skills were better suited to a life in sales.

His first adventure with a small consumer show cemented his love for live events.  Transitioning from there, Don moved on to help organize some of the biggest trade shows in Canada working at Reed Exhibitions.

As his skillset expanded, the Association world called, where he helped launch Ontario Trucking Associations annual Truck show.  Moving over to the Packaging Association of Canada allowed Don to use his experience in rebuilding PAC’s Biennial PACex which was decimated after the SARS Epidemic.

From there, Don moved to Exhibition Place where he has enjoyed the last 16 years serving some of Canada’s most interesting events.  From the G8/G20 Media Centre to Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and pretty much any type of event you can think of, Don has worked on it.  During this time, he realized the power (& good) of volunteering and has served on numerous events industry committees and boards.

Over the past few years he has taken a strong interest in sustainability within the events world and happy to share his learnings (feel free to ask him!)

There’s more to life than work of course, and that portion of Don’s life involves as much travel as possible, spending time with family and friends and of course his dogs!

Mark Millar has been in the industry for over 30 years in various roles taking each role and giving it his personal twist, most recently as Director of Sales for Bespoke Audio Visual. Mark likes to add a touch of levity to all conferences as he feels it makes everyone smile, even if just for a moment during those stressful times. He believes that if your job is enjoyable then your events will be successful. In his personal life, he loves dogs and good espresso!

Fees:

Member Early: $95
Member Regular: $115
Non-Member Early: $115
Non-Member Regular: $130
Student/Faculty Early:$95
Student/Faculty Regular: $115
Table of Eight Early: $680
Table of Eight Regular: $825

To purchase a table of eight, please reach out to your Chapter Secretariat at [email protected].

REGISTER NOW

Lunch Host and Production Partner:

Venue Partner: