Collaborate Marketplace Recap by Kim Corcoran, CMP

Meetings Michigan recently participated in Collinson Media’s Collaborate Marketplace.  It is a fairly new event that concentrates on corporate meeting planners.  It is only in its second year and the attendance doubled from last year!  There were 300 planners and 550 suppliers at the event, so you know they must be doing something right.  They are committed to having only qualified meeting planners at the event and your appointments are pre-set with these planners.  Meetings Michigan had 27 appointments with almost all of them a great fit for our state.  In addition to the opportunity to introduce planners to the idea of meeting in Michigan, Collinson also did a great job with education and speakers.  The lineup included Lisa Ling, Steve Forbes, Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) and Jane Gentry.  Although the others have bigger names, my favorite was Jane Gentry.  I was really able to relate to her content and took home some new strategies to use in both my work and personal life.

Jane’s message was about the “whole brain” approach to communication.  We’ve all taken different learning and communication style assessments and we know where we fall.  This session talked about how we all use the four quadrants of our brain, but some of us are more dominant in one area.  For instance, I am a “yellow” (upper right) quadrant thinker.   I want to see the big picture, recognize new possibilities, integrate new ideas and concepts, invent new solutions and problem solve in intuitive ways.  If I am working with a colleague or a planner who is more of a “green” (lower left) quadrant thinker, I must adjust the way I communicate with them.  They approach problems practically, maintain a standard of consistency, read the fine print in documents, develop detailed plans and procedures, articulate plans in an orderly way and keep financial records straight.  I will have to take my “big idea” and think it through to the details before I share it with a “green” quadrant thinker.  I found this fascinating to say the least!

If you want to find out more about Jane Gentry please go to www.janegentry.com