Purposeful Planning – Au Revoir & New Directions Ahead

You may have noticed that this column was quiet in the last few months, and that was not, dear readers, due to a lack of activity.

Thanks to the wonderful support of MPI Ottawa Vice-President, Communications Martha Tobin, Publications Director Laurence Lavallée, and the entire Board, Purposeful Planning has been undergoing a major renovation of sorts.

This is the last Purposeful Planning column for me. After several years of contributing this column, truth be told, I was getting bored with it. Just like it was time to ditch the avocado-coloured appliances, we decided to tear down and rebuild… In the future, Purposeful Planning may be taken up by someone else who is passionate about planning more interactive, engaging meetings or who wants to shake things up a bit, only time will tell. (Anyone interested, drop me a line!!)

But that person is no longer me.

This isn’t quite goodbye, however. I have convinced the MPI Ottawa leadership team to allow me to do something new, something a bit more daring, cutting edge, and, I believe, topical.

As of February 26 I will be doing a monthly Facebook Live session, focusing on work-life, or as I prefer to call it, “love-business” balance.

This of course mirrors my own new direction professionally. But to really understand where this is coming from, you need to remember a dear friend to many of us in the meetings industry: Jeremy Tyrrell.

Jeremy was a meeting professional who loved this business. And he passed away at too young an age of mesothelioma, cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

It was because of Jeremy that I had my own wake-up call with my health. Having successfully overcome these challenges (so far), and witnessed how many of our meetings industry colleagues are struggling with stress, I wanted to contribute insights about how to achieve better work-life balance.

The idea is that I’ll be sharing tips that are not “as the health expert” but more as one who’s been there, still is struggling at times, and is willing to open up the conversation.

We don’t know what this column will be called. In the spirit of engagement, we hope you’ll consider helping us find a new name, either by leaving a comment below or posting in the MPI Ottawa Facebook Group! And note that, while the videos will be done on the world’s most popular social media platform, they also will be posted on our MPI Ottawa site (because we know some of you aren’t on FB… and you might be less stressed than some of us as a result!).

So thanks for reading this far, folks! It’s been a blast. It’s just au revoir for now… And here’s to all new directions ahead!

Article Written By Doreen Ashton Wagner, Host & Community Leader at ForLoveAndBusiness.com.

Article Edited By Darlene Kelly-Stewart, Stonehouse Sales & Marketing Services