Jackie Stone

I've been in the events and meetings industry for about 10 years, though my career started in radio where I spent 12 years doing national sales, promotions, and event management for stations in West Michigan. I organized everything from weekend remotes at car dealerships to major summer events where we'd give away jet skis and host big beach parties. I fell into events without really knowing it was a full career path I could pursue. I transitioned to the Grand Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau as an executive assistant, then grew into an events manager role where I hosted familiarization tours and brought meeting planners to experience our city. When COVID hit and most of the staff was let go, a woman from our board of directors who ran a third-party planning and DMC company brought me on to learn virtual conferences, and that's where I am today. My main area of expertise is conference planning and execution, managing all the moving parts of scheduling ballrooms, breakout rooms, and assisting clients who want to host large conferences but don't know where to start. I also handle several incentive trips each year, coordinating different excursions like golf outings and kayaking. One of my most notable achievements was bringing 300 people to a remote island in northern Michigan that's only accessible by ferry, with no cars allowed. We managed flights into a tiny three-gate airport, a fleet of motor coaches, U-Hauls for luggage, ferry boats, and about 40 staff members. When a flight got delayed until 10 PM and the ferries had stopped running, we arranged for the mail carrier boat to bring guests to the island at 2 in the morning. It was a planes, trains, and automobiles situation with coaches, boats, and horse-drawn carriages, but we got everybody on and off the island successfully.