What’s my next?

Today I ran across this pin from e4 2018 where the theme was “What’s your next?” Pretty fitting as I step into the next stage of my career.

Unfortunately, the pandemic was disastrous for the events industry and for me professionally as well. I retained my job for most of 2020 as we worked to determine what events would look like when they returned and the protocols that would support them (socially distanced seating, masks, new food service styles, etc.); however, as we all know it just went on and on and eventually I, like many of my fellow employees and industry peers, was furloughed and then laid off. Disastrous doesn’t begin to describe what the pandemic did to our industry and I’m simply one of many faced with the question of “Now what?” or “What’s my next?”

I updated my resume and began searching through the jobs posted. Jobs where I was either wildly over-qualified (funeral home coordinator?) or didn’t have the experience they were looking for (no, I have not planned a user conference for 5,000 people). I had lost a job that I loved. Where I had the luxury to let my creativity run free much of the time. Where the goal was to deliver an event that was forward thinking (you know, going back to the “next” thing). It’s hard to go from that to a job you know from the job description alone that you won’t love it. I have spent the last weeks struggling with the debate of whether to go freelance and ideally find enough projects to keep paying my bills and ideally rebuilding my savings or to go after a job where I will likely be bored or frustrated but have a regular paycheck.

So back to “what’s your next?” Jeff Fugate, then one of the company execs and now busy exploring his “next” by way of his own Queso company – Empty Bowl Queso, is the one who suggested “next” as the conference theme that year. He was always great at keeping us future focused and moving on to the next thing whether that was a decision or new topic on the agenda. The content for that event was fitting then and is fitting now

So, what is my next?

My own company. Cultivate Event Design & Consulting, LLC. Where I’m hoping I can find work doing the things I love. Building connection opportunities into events. Taking a strategic view of an event and designing it so that all stakeholders benefit. Conceiving and delivering creative elements that carry a theme throughout the event. Exploring how I can work in virtual events. Using my organizational skills to deliver successful events.

What’s my next? That’s what I’m working on. Stay tuned.