Lynn Lawson

I've been in event management for over 30 years, in some way, shape, or form since college. My journey started back in 7th grade when I decided I wanted to be a flight attendant - this was back in the TWA days when flight attendants wore long gloves and always had a nice little dress on. I wanted to travel the world, and as I got closer to college and got my degree, I still wanted to travel but discovered when I went to flight school that I was scared to death to fly, so I decided to work on the ground instead. I started out working with companies planning their meetings and events, beginning with just hotel rooms and airline tickets, and it grew from there. I went to work for Northwest Orient Airlines, first to be a flight attendant which I hated, and then to work on the ground, and then went straight into working with large companies to book their events and meetings and hotels and flights. There's no typical day for me - today I might be working on sourcing or BEOs or the execution of speakers and conference layouts, tomorrow I might be on a plane to look at a venue or heading to a conference. Every day is different, and I think that's why people stay in this industry that love it, because they love being on a different path every day. I've weathered through incredible challenges, from running a conference during 9-11 when no one could get there and I had to rent vehicles and U-Hauls to drive doctors back to Cleveland, New York, Indiana, and Salt Lake City, to navigating COVID and economic downturns. I wouldn't be doing this for so long if I didn't love what I do - people change their careers an average of 7 times in a lifetime, but if you really love what you do, you tweak the position, you tweak your expectations and outcomes, and you grow. I've been blessed to travel everywhere, even through having children and marriage, and I've traveled the world just like I wanted to do when I was in seventh grade in my small Iowa town.