Monday, November 21, 2016

November 2016 Newsletter

Convention is Coming!
5 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid


  1. Not coming with an open mind. Sure, we all have our way. Maybe we’ve done something in a particular fashion for decades. It just works. And we don’t want to reinvent the wheel. But we can’t let fear of change hold us back from moving forward.
  2. Not listening. Aristotle said the greatest art is listening, and we learned in last year’s closing speech from Dr. Rick Rigsby that we immediately forget 50% of what we just heard, and of the remaining 50%, we forget 38% within 24 hours. Let’s not be a statistic and retain only 12% of the knowledge we could have gained at the Convention.
  3. Not exchanging business cards. It’s easy to be guilty of this. Go to a round table, get great ideas and write them down, but fail to get the contact information for those people we’ve just had an intense one-hour discussion with. Build your network. You and the colleague you just met can each be one another’s sounding board – so connect!
  4. Doing whatever you want, whenever you want. If you travel with a group of representatives from your Fair, use that to your advantage. Sometimes, you may want to be in two places at once, and a colleague can take great notes and learn from a session while you aren’t there. Take others’ schedules into consideration and meet as a staff before you leave, highlighting workshops and roundtables to divide and conquer.
  5. Letting your ideas sit dormant. So many amazing ideas are shared at the convention – but sometimes those ideas sit jotted in a forgotten notebook for eternity. Pick a day after you return to sit down, look through your notes and make actionable plans to implement ideas. Mark this day on your calendar, phone or even ask Siri to remind you.


Mark your calendar: YPI events at Convention
Time flies! It is hard to believe that the Convention is later this month. We know you have busy schedules with meetings, workshops, roundtables and more – but we’d love for you to carve out a little time for YPI festivities. So, grab your schedule and pencil us in!
  • Monday, Nov. 28 (3 – 4:45 pm, Paris Versailles 3 & 4) - Mixing, Mingling & Merriment with fellow YPI’s at our meeting and happy hour
  • Monday, Nov. 28 (9:30 pm-ish, Le Centrale) – Come when you can, leave when you’re ready. We’ll be informally gathering for conversation (and cocktails, if you choose) at the “circle bar” at Paris; it’s near the elevators.
  • Tuesday, Nov. 29 (2:30 – 4 pm, Paris Versailles 3 & 4) - Ment-A-Minute – Join us for a fast-paced mixer with mentors that provides a great opportunity for young leaders to network with career mentors, which includes a number of well-established fair executives, as well as fellow young professionals in the fair industry.
  • Tuesday, Nov. 29 (7:30 pm, TopGolf*) - TopGolfSponsored by YPI, but open to everyone. TopGolf is a four-level entertainment venue with interactive golf games. It features climate-controlled hitting bays. Players hit golf balls containing computer microchips that track each shot’s accuracy and distance while also awarding points for hitting targets on the outfield.
  • Wednesday, Nov. 30 (2 – 3 pm, Bally’s Skyview 1) Finding Balance: Enhancing Fair Traditions with the Flair of Today workshop - Come join this group of long-time fair managers and their new co-workers, as they share ideas and examples of how they have worked together balancing honored traditions with modern enhancements.
  • Wednesday, Nov. 30 (9:30 pm-ish, Le Centrale) – It’s your last chance to gather with fellow YPIs before you head home. Swing by at your leisure to chat with fellow young pros at the “circle bar” at Paris. 
*Pre-registration required
 


Input needed: how to blend your fair's history with today's trends

The YPI needs your help by submitting questions and discussion topics for our Convention workshop! The workshop (Finding Balance: Enhancing Fair Traditions with the Flair of Today) will be held Wednesday, November 30th at 2 pm. The idea is bridge the gap between old and new, how we've ALWAYS done it and moving forward, or simply welcoming the next generation and their fresh perspective. Our panel of seasoned professionals and industry newbies will be taking your questions and sharing ideas and ways to make these transitions seamless. What do you want to know about? What are your questions? What struggles are you facing right now? Post your questions and comments on our Facebook post or on the Igniter message board and we'll make sure they are discussed during this panel presentation!

New to the Igniter message boards? 
It's easy to get started. Click here for instructions on how to use the board. Already signed up? Log in to participate and start a topic.


Relax with us at evening social gatherings

After a long day at the Convention, it’s time for some play! Meet up with YPIers and others from the fair industry at Le Centrale (the circle bar) in Paris. We’ll be meeting there at 9:30 pm both Monday and Wednesday. Come and go as you please!

Mentor Spotlight: Kendra Wright

Kendra Wright
Saffire, President
Austin, Texas


How long have you been in the fair industry? For about 7 years, when we were contacted by a fair to do their website, and it instantly felt like "home." We knew we wanted to serve this industry, but we had no idea that it would become our family within just a few years.

What’s the best / hardest lesson you have learned in the industry? One great lesson is that fairs talk about us, and we just need to make sure we're providing great service so they're saying the right thing!

What is your favorite fair food? Funnel cake, hands down. Generally, I'm a purist - it has to be topped with powdered sugar - none of that frosting or crushed cookies. ButI had one at North Texas Fair once that was like a cherry-filled donut, and it was life changing.

What do you feel is the biggest change / challenge you have faced? I think getting into such a tight knit industry can be hard, but people are also so welcoming. When I go to IAFE, I know I'm among friends. I love walking the corridor between Bally's and Paris and know I'll be stopped 100 times, and I secretly love it! I also love sitting in Circle Bar to "get some work done" and know I'll see so many friends. I can't wait to find the equivalent places to these in San Antonio!

On a more serious note, when we first came to IAFE, there weren't any other fair website providers, and so it was an interesting trail to blaze, but so worth it! This was an industry that needed digital marketing help, and we've been so lucky to get to provide it!

What question would you ask a mentor? I would ask about balance, except that I've come to feel that balance is an illusion. I've always been so driven, sometimes at the expense of other areas of my life. It's sometimes hard to feel that I'm doing any area well! But so many friends express this feeling that I've come to terms with the fact that balance just might be the impossible dream.

If you could give one piece of advice what would that be? I would say don't be too tied to what you think you want to do. Not to sound ancient, but the internet didn't exist when I was in college. If I hadn't been open, I would have missed the opportunity to work in this industry for almost my whole career!

People will define you how you define yourself. Over 20 years ago, someone asked if I was a writer, and my slightly-exaggerated yes led me to becoming one of the earliest (and among extremely few women) webmasters, because my writing needed to go on this new thing called "the internet." Put simply, I'd "just say yes" more.
What’s the one thing during the fair you can’t live without? My sneakers, so I can experience the entire fair without my dogs barking! :)
What’s your advice on handling failure? Gosh, that's hard. I think you really just have to try and learn from it and move on. It's like dating; every bad date you go on helps you determine what you're looking for, so you can't see them as failures, no matter how painful they are!

What is your favorite quote? My favorite quote is "Leap, and the net will appear."

I first heard this when I was contemplating leaving my corporate job to start my digital marketing company, and it was so perfect. You can work really hard and try to do the right things, but at a certain point, you just have to take a leap. If you wait for the net, it's not really leaping.

Being comfortable leaping not knowing how the net will look is an acquired taste, earned by doing it many times and having things work out. I also love the concept that the world is conspiring in my favor. This belief that things are happening that are beyond our control is calming and hopeful to me.

Who is your role model/mentor? My dad has been my mentor. He was the ultimate entrepreneur, taking risks that would have caused sleepless nights for many people. When he was 40, he moved his young family to Branson, Missouri without a job or place to live.

So when I've taken risks, such as adding ticketing to our offering a few years ago, we did it extremely carefully, but we did it. And it has been amazing! Here's to leaping!

Announcements
  • VOLUNTEER for an IAFE Committee and the opportunity to learn more about the industry, make new connections, and best of all, HAVE FUN!  Check out the IAFE website for more details and an application.
  • Get SOCIAL! Tell us what you're up to! Post using #IAFEYPI. Heading to the Convention? Don't forget to use #IAFE2016. You might just get retweeted! We're on FacebookTwitter and Instagram
  • What's ON YOUR MIND? Talk to us! To tell us what you want to see featured in the YPI Newsletter, click here.