The Art of Event Mastery and Courageous Conversations with Jaime Stoffer | Episode 113

The Art of Event Mastery and Courageous Conversations with Jaime Stoffer | Episode 113
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Ever wondered how the pros navigate the whirlwind of trade shows? In an episode that pulls back the curtain on this bustling industry, Jaime Stoffer and I swap tales from the trenches, including a cash-handling escapade in Orlando that's as cautionary as it is captivating. We wrestle with the big questions: How do you strike a balance between profit and logistics? What's the secret to handling unexpected challenges? Get ready to absorb Jaime's rich insights from her healthcare leadership and marketing experience, which illuminate the behind-the-scenes drama and strategy of event management.

If you've ever shrunk from a tough conversation or felt tongue-tied at the podium, this is the heart-to-heart you've been waiting for. This episode isn't just about recounting struggles; it's about conquering them. I open up about the transformative journey to becoming the go-to person for navigating difficult discussions—a skill that's supercharged my career and can do the same for yours. Discover the power of authenticity in public speaking, and why hitting the record button on yourself might just be the game-changer you need to polish your communication prowess.

Finally, we're thrilled to share the latest happenings at Voices for Voices. Tune in to hear about our bi-weekly Facebook roundups and the much-anticipated A Brand New Day Gala. Your support means the world to our 501(c)(3), and we're inviting you to be part of the positive change. Jamie's presence over two episodes has been invaluable, and we encourage you to connect with her for potential future collaborations. So, buckle up for a ride through the trade show gauntlet, the art of speaking with confidence, and the communal spirit that fuels Voices for Voices—it's an episode packed with stories, strategies, and sincere thanks.

Chapters
0:00 Trade Show Cash and Carry Dilemma
13:29 Skills for Tough Conversations & Speaking
18:30 Practice and Overcoming Obstacles in Public Speaking
28:04 2024 Roundup and Voices Updates

#eventprofs #publicspeaking #tvshow #podcast #tradeshowtips #effectivecommunication #careergrowth #communicationskills #professionaldevelopment #podcastlife #Japan #Tokyo #Osaka #Singapore #Malaysia #Australia #Sydney #Melbourne #Brisbane #KualaLumpur

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder, executive director, Voices for Voices, Justin Allen Hayes. Voices for Voices is the number one ranked podcast and TV show where people turn to for advice expert advice on mental health, recovery and career advancement intelligence. Our Voices for Voices podcast is all about teaching you insanely actionable techniques to help you prosper, to grow yourself, to grow your worth and your personal brand. So if you are a high-chiever or know somebody who is and who would benefit and wants more out of life, whether mentally, physically or spiritually, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast right now, as you'll find all Voices for Voices content across our social media platforms and, as you can see, the Voices for Voices podcast publishes episodes. That focuses on case studies, real-life examples, actionable tips and in-the-trenches reports and interviews from subscribers like you. So, again, if that sounds like something that you it makes you, I'll be able to. If that sounds like something that you or somebody you know could help grow personally or professionally, then please join me and subscribe to the Voices for Voices TV Show and podcast. But not only that follow us on Facebook, Instagram X, TikTok we're really trying as well as our YouTube channel.

Speaker 1: 2:01

We're really trying to put out as much actionable content as possible, and so what we're gonna do for this episode is we're actually gonna pick up and this is part two from a previous episode that we filmed but our conversation was still going and we had some areas we wanted to still share with you and to help out, so we wanted to bring this second episode. So this second episode, or part two, is with our in-studio guest, Jamie Stoffer. She is a healthcare professional. She's from Canton, Ohio, and she has a diverse set of skills that includes leadership, marketing, clinical education and product development. Jamie has a solid educational foundation, with an MBA from Walsh University and a doctorate in physical therapy, also from Walsh University. She's known for building effective teams, executing marketing strategies and fostering key industry relationships.

Speaker 2: 3:14

So again, thank you for joining us. Absolutely Thank you for having me. I'm glad we're able to continue the conversation.

Speaker 1: 3:19

Absolutely so for our listeners and our viewers. The end of our first part of our talk with Jamie was around trade shows and some of the stories and the hiccups and different things some fun, some not fun that occur. So we're just going to start there and pick up and wanted to share one other area that, as Jamie was speaking, I wanted to share as an example, because looking back on this example it's funny, but at the time it really wasn't funny, so I'll jump right in. So the organization I worked for we had a trade show and it was in Las Vegas, and so we went through the whole show and the end of the show. We, as well as I'm sure many other organizations do, we have what let's call it like a cash and carry program. So we were basically selling the product off of our shelves and so we were making dog leashes and harnesses and in those types of products, and so our booth was made up of those products different colors, different styles and the reason well, two reasons why we did that is one, obviously is to make money as an organization. That's kind of the goal to continue on. But secondly, we were going to be shipping the rest of the booth back to our warehouse that we stored till the next next time. So it kind of helped us out twofold and as a first-time trade show manager again not my skill set by far I gained a ton of experience, some good, some interesting, and this is one of the interesting areas. So, again, cash and carry program at the end, and so the goal is to sell all the product that we have and so, again, to make money as well as have less going back on the truck from Vegas back to Ohio.

Speaker 1: 5:48

So end of the show comes and a customer comes up and they show us the areas that they wanted to purchase, the different colors, different styles. So our accounting department, they pulled out the price list and, due to the volume that this customer was going to purchase, they were given, I guess, an additional discount on top of what they're already going to get. So they were working through the numbers and so, as this is going on and I'm seeing the numbers kind of add up, understanding that's cash and carry, so there's gun, at some point there's gonna be some type of a cash transaction. So at the end of the day this customer had purchased over $10,000 of product and so good for good for the organization getting on both of those fronts. But the issue that was starting to kind of bubble to the top of my mind is well, I'm the trade show manager, so I'm kind of in control of the money and this show.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Again, I think I said Vegas, but this one was in Orlando, so, my bad, there he is, it's not in North East Ohio. So and the show comes and this individual comes, and they just have their purse just normally, and so we go into the con we had a conference room at our booth and go in and and this individual literally pulled out like $10,000 or they might have been 10, 10 or 10 thousand, five hundred or 11, but it was at least 10,000. We saw the rubber bands around in that. So as this is happening, I'm thinking how, like, how am I gonna how am I gonna be able to get this back to Ohio?

Speaker 1: 7:56

I'm in Orlando. Our organization didn't have a bank down in Orlando, even though we had been at this show for many, many years 30, 40, 50 years it was. It was a ton of time and so nobody thought it'd be a good idea to open up a bank account so that we, we could just have that transaction and then we could all get on the plane safely and not worried about being mugged or worse to happen. So transaction happens, have the cash and I'm the trade show manager, and so everybody's looking at me like, okay, justin, you're gonna transport the money back. It would. This is, we're gonna fly out. It was on a Saturday, so, and then we weren't gonna go back to work in the office until Monday, and then at that point they would our accounting department, they would take it to the bank and they would, they would handle transaction. So I had to transport on my person over you know ten thousand dollars, you know, through security, and I didn't have TSA pre-check at the time. So I had to go through and hope that you know as as as my belongings, I'm not gonna put it in a check bag. So I have to have to go through the you know scanner and in all that, made it through the security checkpoint, made it through the plane ride and then when I got home, I put it in my safe for the two days and until the until it to work came up.

Speaker 1: 9:39

And so now, looking back, it's, it's, it's funny, it's like, oh, it's like one of these, like these funny stories. But at the time I was absolutely terrified because I I was thinking well, there's probably a lot of people that know that these types of transactions are happening and these people not like these people, but individuals could, could know that there's individuals from organizations are having these transactions, they could be having flights end up in the same spot and they could do, you know cast, you know they could, you know, rob, try to rob me, like, either at the airport or, you know, on the airplane or when I'm going to. You know, I'm at baggage claim waiting to get my bags back in Cleveland anyway. So, super long-winded story and and I'll close it by by saying this, that what Jamie was mentioning in the first episode and social touch on now as well, as you're gonna find some things that you like and some things that you probably don't like, and in a job and you know if you're playing a team sport, there might be a play like the have run or an area that you know, depending on what, what sport.

Speaker 1: 11:02

If you know the goal, you're a forward or defender, whatever that may be, and and so for me, at that point, that was something I didn't like. I I was always open to learning new things and wanting to gain more and more experience, but that experience with the money by itself, that, even when we got back to our home office, I brought up, you know, to my leadership about yeah, you know maybe we should think about.

Speaker 1: 11:34

But, having have an account and you know down, you know the trade show cities we have and they were, they were against it and I'm like, okay, yeah, there's, there's maybe a small chance of being mugged with that money, but I was like that's, that's not good for kind of work work or employee safety, I guess, to call it. So I was completely uncomfortable and if it wasn't me, somebody else have been doing them for the 40 or 50 years prior and that was one thing. I knew that if I caught wind of that and another job that that probably wouldn't be something that I'd like to do. So maybe Jamie can maybe dovetail somehow off of that. You talked about the transferable skills, finding things that you like to do, things that you might not like to do, and then you talked about when you're interviewing for a trade show type of role, that flexibility and being able to pivot are big things for those types of roles.

Speaker 2: 12:39

Absolutely. And trade show coordinators a thankless position for all of those that have those positions out there, but one of their high skill sets is to be able to pivot an organization. But that brings up another issue. I think that is important to address. In regards to handling conflict or handling an issue in regards to a position, it's not necessarily going to be a matter of if. It's going to be a matter of when you encounter something within one of your positions that you don't necessarily agree with. Hopefully it is met with open minds that they're able to come to a resolution. But the manner in which you approach and bring that up as well as trying to position solutions which I think the second part, is the most important part of that conversation the manner in which that's done is a skill in and of itself. And so often whenever I'm talking individuals and I, you know, you know if you're a people person, you know if you can handle those kind of conversations or if you handle conflict well, you're able to smooth over tough conversations well. Those kind of skill sets are the kind of things that I say are strengths and sales individuals, because they're able to handle tough personalities, they're able to handle those kind of conflicts. So we go back to kind of those transferable skills. That is one of those things that, from the healthcare perspective, you're going to encounter patients that are difficult. That is just the nature of the position and if you find that someone puts somebody on your schedule because you just deal with them better, it's because you have a skill. You've got a skill and ability to handle difficult personalities and difficult conversations, which is great and it's unique. So leverage that and so that kind of goes back to you're going to run into that, no matter what position you have, and being able to position yourself and putting yourself at the forefront to be able to handle those kinds of things will help you to rise Ultimately, because there's every position has a situation where it is a really, really difficult customer or it's a really difficult personality within the team and you'll find yourself and I'm getting paired with that situation because they know that you can handle it and it's a great quality to have.

Speaker 2: 14:50

It can be a little cumbersome on your side but it's a great quality to have because you're able to then translate all across. The next time a situation comes up, you'll find yourself being the go to person or the difficult problem that you can't quite figure out. But you know you've got to go getter on your team that will figure out a way. Every single time I've got a difficult problem, that's the first person I'm going to, or the first person that comes to my mind of you know so and so is going to do a really good job of this, because they're a go-getter and I know they're going to figure out a way they can think out of the box.

Speaker 2: 15:18

So it kind of all comes back to things that we do in our day to day that we don't realize is a transferable skill. We just kind of handle it, we just do it. Well, take a step back and look at what that is. When are people contacting you, when is your name coming up in the conversation? And if it's something that you don't know either, there's two things that need to happen. You need to pay a little bit closer attention, or maybe you need to change your circle. But understanding when your name is coming up, those are your strengths, those are your skills that you are strong in, and what people are thinking of you. And so look at possibilities and dotted lines to additional career paths and directions that you can take. That and expand upon that.

Speaker 1: 15:59

Yeah, so you come across as a person very comfortable speaking in settings, and one of the things that is most scary, I guess individuals is public speaking. So how, how do you handle that? How do you get past? I want to call it the fog of presenting, because I remember back in my earlier days I was like, oh my gosh, I like presenting, I lose my train of thought, I have to have all these aids no cards and I'm finally at a point now where I don't need that as much. So I'm just curious as, like a fellow person that does a fair amount of speaking to clients, speaking to many different individuals wearing different hats, how can an individual get comfortable with that? And, I guess, how did that come? Was it just like a natural thing? Okay, I know I'm going to have to do this thing and so I'm going to. Here's how I'm going to prepare for it, or any thoughts or tips?

Speaker 2: 17:21

Yeah, I have a couple things on that, but first off I want to start. By no means am I an expert, and there's obviously opportunities for me to improve. I talk with my hands like crazy, so I know that's one on mine.

Speaker 1: 17:30

Oh, me too, I'm not so indisible.

Speaker 2: 17:34

But how I figured that out was I started watching myself, watching videos of myself recording. I am doing an education, I'm recording and I'm watching it back and I'm realizing that I have an extremely expressive face and I talk with my hands a lot. So there's things like that that you start to kind of cue in on what you are doing and what areas to which you can improve. Some of the things that I do recommend is figuring out what works for you. Early on in my career, I had an individual that was very much when I'm scripted, would script everything out and would ask me to read from that. I found that I don't work while scripting. I read it and it sounds like I'm reading a page out of a book and not natural and authentic, and so I didn't like that. However, I do like compiling ideas and bullet points, and so for me, it was thinking through what I'm going to talk on, thinking through some of the highlights of what potential conversation could go negative and positive in ways to which I address it.

Speaker 2: 18:30

The other thing is just practice. It truly is. Even on the way over here, it's like talking to myself in the car. It's practice, it's just a matter of like. Oh, yeah, I need to touch on that skill or oh, I need to touch on this, and we may not even cover it in this conversation, but it is kind of getting you in that mindset and essentially getting the wheels working in regards to what you are thinking about. But something I always tell people is, in terms of true public speaking, you're speaking in front of individuals practice, practice, practice and record yourself and watch it back.

Speaker 2: 18:58

What you think you look like and sound like is different, so areas for you to improve upon. But at the end of the day, I will say don't get caught up on the small things. If you stumble on a word, you cough. It's normal. You're human, it is okay. I guarantee that I was bothering you much more than your audience members, that I haven't even given it a second thought. So a lot of us just don't get stuck in your own head.

Speaker 1: 19:23

And that's huge. That's like a big thing. It's one thing to be. I mean, I find myself stuck in my head, sometimes so much that it's like where's the day go? I can't do this one thing after my daughter falls asleep because I have these other things I got to sort out myself and I'm like, oh, my gosh, and it's like, let's try. Oh, is it TV on? Yeah, let's try turning it off.

Speaker 1: 19:53

And then work through those things and first some of the my mental history and mental illness. Those are just things that just have to and don't have to have a mental illness to do it, but again, just finding things that might be impeding what's going on. Like, okay, at this time I'd like to do one or two things, small things, but I'm not finding that I'm able to Like what's going on, like is my phone on or all those things. And so, again in a transferable skill, because if you're in a meeting you have to focus in, and if you have a speaking part and you're expected to share information or answer questions being caught up in your head about, well, where are we going to go for dinner? Or like a meal?

Speaker 2: 20:42

Let's try and figure out what works for you, and one of my other favorite phrases is analysis, paralysis. Sometimes, when we look at all of the options and all of the things going on and we're so high level, we get ourselves stuck and we can't make a decision. And it's sometimes the 10,000 foot view is not the best view, and when you need to make a decision timely it's focusing in on what you're gut is saying and looking at those two things or looking at those two options and trying to figure out where you want to go. But all of that comes with kind of introspection and understanding, like what is my style and what works for me? It is not going to be the same thing that works for you, and understanding that that's okay. Everyone is unique in that way. But the quicker that you identify what that is, the more you can implement in your day to day and you'll be able to benefit from it.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Absolutely being okay. Not being everything to everyone. That's one thing I have to tell myself. There's certain things that the mind can only do so many things before it gets exhausted. And I might do some work, but it's a shoddy work because I'm just trying to get that next check mark done on this thing that I was probably way told tomorrow, if it's not something that's super pressing, but just being okay with that and kind of to your point about that 30,000 foot view if you're cough or if I mess up a word on a teleprompter, that not to be so caught on in that aspect where an individual or an audience they might just say, oh OK, you're human, human, yep, and I think that's big to just accept it to be OK.

Speaker 1: 22:34

And it doesn't have to be this whole, like you don't have to go on some elaborate retreat and all these things to find out these things. It can just be OK. I like to do this, I want to do this more. What are the things that are impeding that? If saving money and the finances are good and not going bankrupt and just kind of at a bare minimum, like yeah, maybe I give it a try, maybe I start a podcast, maybe I reach out to somebody that has one and to see if I can maybe be a guest on it. What's the worst that happens?

Speaker 2: 23:10

Nothing, absolutely Giving it a try, and it's one of those things that you feel incredibly uncomfortable about doing it and it's not necessarily going against some of your personal values and beliefs, but the uncomfortableness is you not feeling comfortable Probably means you should do it.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:26

Means that you need to take that step and that's looking at strictly, as it's checking all the boxes of your own personal values, ethics and everything. It's not making you uncomfortable in that aspect, but it's more so it's making you uncomfortable because you're afraid that you're not good enough or you're afraid that you're not able to tackle that. Do it. That means that you're going outside of your box of comfort, which is so incredibly important. And it kind of goes back to. I always tell people whenever they're looking at jobs and looking to apply for jobs, they'll look down through the job description and they'll say, well, I don't meet this bullet point, good, if you meet 100% of those bullet points, the job you're overqualified, oh, great, you found an area to which you can grow and so kind of pushing those limits and understanding. So if you don't meet that bullet point, the next step is what can you do to learn about that? Is there a course? Is there somebody you know? Is there somebody in your network? Is there something you can do to expand your knowledge on that? Even going into the interview process and being authentic of it's not my greatest strength, that's OK to say. You don't have to go and interview and say I'm going to ace every single one of these bullet points. I know at 110% it's not my strongest area. However, from the time that I received the phone call to the point that I did this interview, I took this course on this. I thought this aspect was interesting. Now I just showed initiative.

Speaker 2: 24:44

So that tells me, if I'm on the other side of the fence and interviewing that candidate, that if they don't know something, they're going to go out of their way to try to find something. They're going to do their research, they're going to try to find things like that. So you always hear research the company and things like that. But there's individual bullet points and skills of where they're going to hone in on those as well, because there's opportunity for you to expand and if you're reading through job description, you're saying, yep, do all this today and you want to apply to it. Great, it's probably going to be more of a lateral move. It's necessarily going to be expanding upon what you're doing and that's OK too. You don't necessarily have to have an advancement of climbing the ladder. Lateral moves are great. Sometimes it's just getting into that company and not getting that experience New leadership. So there's a lot of things you can gain even from lateral moves.

Speaker 1: 25:26

Excellent, so we're coming to the end.

Speaker 2: 25:30

It's a kind of like faster, faster, faster. It's a faster.

Speaker 1: 25:33

second, I'm pretty sure. What haven't we covered? Is there something in those conversations yeah, on your ride over? Or anything that we did? I think we covered that we will share.

Speaker 2: 25:47

One of the big things I see in regards to the questions of we talk about identifying transferable skills and people especially that are making the leap from one career to a completely different career path. We mentioned on the first episode about networking and the ability to kind of expand. Something that I think is invaluable and so important is any time you're applying, you always have your two to three top jobs. You're like I really want this position. Go look up that company. Go find who works there. There is someone within your degrees of freedom that works at that company. Guarantee it. Have a conversation with them. Is the hiring manager listed? Contact them and work yourself down.

Speaker 2: 26:26

Don't necessarily wait for that HR person to call you. There is opportunities for you to get your name out there and get in front of those individuals before you get the call from HR. But also it gives you multiple pathways to get to that hiring manager. So if I know somebody, they can refer me internally and I'm applying online HR. Sometimes some companies Amazon's a perfect example there is a separate link for application if I have an internal referral than if I have an external referral. So there's things like that that you want to take advantage of. So that would be my other big thing in regards to, if you're changing career paths, identify who works at that particular company and ways to which you can get referrals and it doesn't necessarily have to be somebody that you know, it can be someone you don't know. Be proactive, reach out, have those phone conversations and get to know the company. You've got an opportunity, a unique opportunity, to get to understand the culture of a company and leadership of a company before you even get into it, by just talking to current employees.

Speaker 1: 27:19

Absolutely, and oftentimes there is a little bit of time to do that from the applying and getting that. Call back, jamie. Thank you so much for sticking around for two episodes. I really wanted to cover these topics and share anecdotes and everything that covers invaluable to anybody on the workforce spectrum.

Speaker 2: 27:50

Thanks for having me Absolutely Anytime.

Speaker 1: 27:52

Absolutely so. Just a programming announcement Now that we're in our third season, we're well over 100 episodes, so thank you for the love and support. We've received, donations. We are 501C3 organizations. You can find a donation link in the description. And lastly, for 2024, we are starting a bi-weekly roundup on our Facebook page where we're going to talk about different current events, hot topics that are affecting our community and issues that might be affecting not only our community of Northeast Ohio, but maybe other jurisdictions, other states, and sometimes those issues are global and they're still affecting us. So be on the lookout for the 2024 bi-weekly roundup Voices for Voices Facebook page.

Speaker 1: 28:51

Again, thank you for letting us come into your homes and your ears to bring the third season, and our fourth annual Ebranio Day Gala will be held in the month of October, a date to be announced soon. So again, thank you to Jamie for sticking around for two episodes and we really hope that a lot of this content is really helpful. I believe you can reach out to her on. Linkedin is the main avenue for that, so that would be helpful. If you enjoy the content and interaction Again not looking for a transaction-based relationship You'll get to get to know what she does and potentially down the road, be able to work together. So until next time, I am Justin Allen Hayes, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, and we hope you have a great day and be a voice for you or somebody in need.