People 4-1-2000

> Meetings & Conventions: People April 2000

EDITED BY AMY DREW TEITLER

As president of her own independent meeting, convention and event planning firm, Atlanta-based 701 Productions, Lori Harrison credits her entrepreneurial spirit to her mother. “She was an O.R. nurse, but always did something else on the side,” she says. “She is retired now and makes custom wedding dresses and headpieces.” Harrison’s company is 5 years old, but she has been in the meeting planning industry for 17 years and also serves as vice president of education and programs for the Society of Corporate Meeting Professionals.

When you became a planner, what surprised you most about the job?
Because I came from the visitor’s bureau side, I thought planners had these huge budgets and staffs, and I’d think, “Why don’t they just get their stuff together? We need it!” Once I came to the planning side, I realized very quickly that it wasn’t nearly as easy as I had thought.

How do you deal with the stress and pressure of being a meeting planner?
I enjoy gardening. Gardening is most definitely like meditation for me. If I’m on site somewhere, I like to try to find books about the area and what plants grow there. Then I read them when I’m back in my hotel room. Even in the winter, I go through the gardening catalogs and think about the things I’d like to plant in the spring. That’s a stress-reliever.

Is there a place you have visited where you would consider living?
I think I could live in London. It is just so pretty, and I love the sense of history. It seems so regal, and the gardens there are just beautiful. Even areas that are not in the best part of town are still quaint.

What celebrity would make the best planning partner and why?
I guess I should probably say Oprah Winfrey. I actually worked with her in Charleston, S.C. I was the events services manager at the convention center there during Hurricane Hugo. She brought her show down and did a remote from our building about the storm. She just seemed like she really had it together. But I’d rather have Denzel Washington.

A.D.T.

PLANNERS

GIVER MAKES MOVE TO PLANNER SIDE AT SNAME
After 14 years on the hotel side of the industry, Susan M. Giver has been hired as exhibition manager for the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in Jersey City, N.J. Giver most recently served as national sales director of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.

JAFFE, CMP, JOINS TEAM AT CYGNUS CORP.
Oren Jaffe, CMP, has been named director of meeting services for Cygnus Corp., a communications and consulting firm based in Rockville, Md. Previously, he served as director of meeting services at Infrastructure Defense Inc., a high-tech firm in the Washington, D.C., area.

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