Future Proofing Your Career: Staying Relevant in the Age of Automation

I am a participant.
I am a planner.
I am a supplier.

100 employees
Raised $22 million
Founded in 2011

A marketplace for event spaces that
meets the unique needs of today’s planner.

5,000 customers creating
3+ million events with
400+ million participants

I am a participant.
I am a planner.
I am a believer.
I am a supplier.

We are connecting the hospitality
industry through effortless
group management solutions
that create successful
face-to-face events.

1. Understand the way technology has impacted our
careers
2. Discover opportunities to advance our professional
development
3. Examine strategies to manage these changes
@danberger | @HSMAI_SD
Learning Objectives

careers
development
@danberger | #MPIWC
Learning Objective #1

P2P DISCUSSION
How has your profession
changed over the past
decade or two?

Information Symmetry
Planners rely on their networks and online
research to learn about destinations
before speaking to sales reps.
Information Asymmetry
Planners used to rely on hotel sales
professionals for research and
information.
Pre-Event: Destination Sourcing

Pre-Event: Event Marketing
Permission Marketing
Marketers deliver anticipated, personal,
and relevant messages to people who
actually want to get them thanks to new
advertising technology.
Traditional Marketing
Marketers used to buy email lists, mail
invitations, and add everyone to their
newsletters.

Pre-Event: Networking
Online
Participants have access to fellow
attendees and technology matches
people thanks to algorithms.
On Site
People let serendipity and networking
sessions do all of the work.

An Afterthought
There was no real software built for
planners or event goers.
Integrated
Planners think about what objectives they
are trying to achieve and use the
technology that fits best.
Pre-Event: Technology

Online Collaboration
Information is centralized online for
efficient stakeholder communication.
Offline Redundancy
Back-and-forth calls, emails, and faxes to
coordinate events and communicate
changes.
Pre-Event: Working Together

During-Event: Educating Attendees
Participants
Speakers have a dialogue with
participants. They use technology to
engage them and apply adult learning
best practices.
Attendees
Presenters spoke at attendees.

During-Event: Physically Attending
Attending in the Flesh
The only way to attend an event
was to physically be there.
Virtual Attendance
Live-streaming is free and is used to build
future attendance.

During-Event: Disseminating Information
The Mobile App
Real-time information is distributed
digitally through an app, social, and email.
The Event Guide
Information, including the schedule
and attendee list, was distributed
through physical collateral.

Continuous and Regular Feedback
Attendees provide feedback real-time
through social media channels/surveys
and planners react accordingly.
One-time Evaluations
Attendees would complete a survey
at the end of a meeting.
During-Event: Feedback

Post-Event: Event Lifespan
Events were Finite
The life of an event was limited to its
allocated time.
Events are Evergreen
The lifespan of an event extends past its
allocated time. People connect and share
online afterwards.

Post-Event: Event ROI
ROI is Measurable
Events are considered a marketing
product. Their impact can be measured
thanks to software and hardware
products.
ROI was an Unknown
Event and meeting spending went
into a marketing black hole.

Post-Event: Sharing Information
Information is Shared
Content is distributed far and wide by
speakers. It is amplified by participants
through live tweeting, live streaming, and
social media posting.
Information was Withheld
Content was held closely by
speakers.

careers
development
Learning Objective #2 & 3

KEY THOUGHT
If so much has changed,
what are the advances that
will shape the next 20
years?

Where machines could replace humans—and where they can’t (yet). McKinsey.

Internet Trends 2017 Report. Meeker, Mary.

Sapiens. Hariri, Yuval Noah.

OBSERVATION
We are becoming
increasingly reliant on
technology to do
traditional work.

KEY THOUGHT
What can we do prepare?

Case Study: The Farmer
How to Win with Automation (Hint: It’s Not Chasing Efficiency)
● In 1900, 30 million people in the
United States were farmers.
● By 1990 that number had fallen to
under 3 million even... as the
population more than tripled.
● 90% of American agriculture
workers lost their jobs, mostly due
to automation.
● Yet somehow, the 20th century
was an era of unprecedented
prosperity.

Automation
● Starts with a baseline of
what a human can do.
● Deploys computers to chip
away at these tasks.
Augmentation
● Starts with what humans
do today.
● Figures out how that work
could be deepened with
technology.
Automation vs. Augmentation
Adapted from Beyond Automation, HBR, 2015

Automation + Augmentation =
Human-centered Automation
The use of automation to enhance the capabilities of humans...
and compensate for the limitations of human operators.
Introducing Human-centered Automation

P2P DISCUSSION
When you have certain
symptoms, do you Google
or call your doctor?

Doctors that have the world’s
medical knowledge at their
fingertips and the technology to
help them be more effective can
devote more of their mental
energy to understanding the
patient as a person, not just a
medical diagnosis.
This will change how doctors will
interact with patients.
Redesigning Jobs -- Example: Doctor
How to Win with Automation (Hint: It’s Not Chasing Efficiency)

AV techs Learning partners
Caterers Experience curators
Meeting planners Business event strategists
What Do Redesigned Jobs Look Like In Hospitality?
Hotel sales people Meeting consultants

The 5 Career Choices You
Can Make Right Now

Step Narrowly (focus)
Find a specialty within
your profession that
wouldn’t be economical to
automate.
Step In (embrace)
Monitor and modify the
work of machines.
Step Forward (lead)
Take part in constructing
the next generation of
computing and AI tools.
Step Aside (accept)
Put your other
intelligences (e.g. EQ) to
work.
Step Up (grow)
Let the technology do the
things that are beneath
you and be more strategic.
Five Options for Career Advancement

Step Up (grow)
Let the technology do the
Step Forward
Step In
work of machines.
Step Narrowly
automate.
Step Aside
Put your other
work.

● You understand your business well.
● You are the consummate improver.
You have a desire to want to see
things get better.
● You don’t like redundancy or
repetitive work.
● You like to learn new things.
● You are a self-starter.
Step Up (grow) - Is it for me?

Step Up (grow) - Examples
● A meeting coordinator who has
mastered their area of expertise and
wants to conquer something new.
● A hotel sales professional who wants
to go beyond “churning and burning.”
● A revenue manager who has models
and software to do their job.
● A hotel marketer who has reached the
peak amount of impressions in their
target market.

Step Up (grow) - Ideal outcomes
● Get additional responsibility in your
current role.
● Be promoted to a new role inside
your organization.
● Switch jobs
● Make more money
● Perform your current job better.

Step Up (grow) - L&D opportunities
● Create a career path for yourself
and set goals to get there.
● Build your personal board of
advisors.
● Try new technology solutions and
master the ones you choose.

Step Up
Let the machine do the
Step Forward
Step In
work of machines.
Step Narrowly (focus)
automate.
Step Aside
Put your other
work.

● You are hyper focused on
development and networking
● You are a risk taker
● You are creative
● You are recognized for your special
skills and abilities.
Step Narrowly (focus) - Is it for me?

● A supplier professional who has an
industry niche (e.g. pharma or
financial services).
● A revenue manager with a unique
property that no software will ever
understand.
● A hotel marketer with high artistic
and creative intelligence.
Step Narrowly (focus) - Examples

Step Narrowly (focus) - Ideal outcomes
● Be known as a subject matter
expert (SME)
● Connect with people because they
are drawn to you by your
reputation
● Be respected for your unique
expertise

Step Narrowly (focus) - L&D opportunities
● Speak at a conference
● Get a certificate within and outside
the industry (PMP, HCS)
● Understand the industry and
people you serve on a deeper level
● Take more creative/art classes

Step Up
Step Forward
Step In (embrace)
work of machines.
Step Narrowly
automate.
Step Aside
Put your other
work.

Step In (embrace) - Is it for me?
● You are analytical
● You always ask why
● You enjoy puzzles and problem
solving
● You love data
● You enjoy budgeting or personal
finance

● A hotel sales person who likes to
help with forecasting.
● A marketing professional who
enjoys budgeting.
● A sales director who wants to use
their budget for new things (other
than headcount).
Step In (embrace) - Examples

Step In (embrace) - Ideal outcomes
● Develop a deeper understanding of
why things are they way they are
● Help improve your organization
and personal productivity
● Become even more technical
● Make way more money

Step In (embrace) - L&D opportunities
● Learn statistics
● Learn about information
architecture and effective
presentations
● Study visual communication and
learn graphic design to create
infographics
● Practice giving better
presentations
● Join ToastMasters

Step Up
Step Forward (lead)
Step In
work of machines.
Step Narrowly
automate.
Step Aside
Put your other
work.

Where are investors putting their money?
Investments in Artificial Intelligence

● You have always been interested in
computers.
● You want to understand how
things work.
● You are a systems thinker.
● More years in school doesn’t scare
you.
Step Forward (lead) - Is it for me?

Step Forward (lead) - Examples
● You are see opportunities from
your current role to improve
existing industry systems.
● You are in a tangential role to your
current one (e.g. sales <> revenue
management, marketing <>
analytics, sales <> sales operations)
● You have automated parts of your
job through new technology.

Step Forward (lead) - Ideal outcomes
● You’ll reach the top of your field if
you can also think outside the box,
perceive where today’s computers
fall short, and envision tools that
don’t yet exist.
● Create personal wealth (if it works
out)
● Switch careers

Step Forward (lead) - L&D opportunities
● Learn to code at
codeacademy.com
● Create models in Excel
● Attend coding meetups
● Listen to technical podcasts or
watch technical youtube talks
● Invest in crypto

Step Up
Step Forward
Step In
work of machines.
Step Narrowly
automate.
Step Aside (accept)
Put your other
work.

The Value of Soft Skills
Automation Will Make Us Rethink What a “Job” Really Is

● You are a creative person by nature
● You are a social butterfly
● You are charismatic and people are
drawn to you
● You love teaching and helping
others.
Step Aside (accept) - Is it for me?

Step Aside (accept) - Examples
● A manager who enjoys watching
people grow under them.
● A sales rep who brainstorms with
her customers.
● An event manager who goes above
and beyond to deliver the wow
factors.

Step Aside (accept) - Ideal outcomes
● Develop the people who work for
you.
● Get recognized for being an
awesome boss and mentor.
● Build lifelong relationships that go
beyond your office.

Step Aside (accept) - L&D opportunities
● Develop your soft skills
● Read the Charisma Myth, How to
Win Friends and Influence People,
or similar books
● Go to more networking events
● Learn more about the arts
● Get an MBA

Make learning a habit.
●
●
●
●
Making learning a lifelong habit.

Dan Berger
Twitter: @danberger
dan@socialtables.com

Future Proofing Your Career: Staying Relevant in the Age of Automation

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Future Proofing Your Career: Staying Relevant in the Age of Automation