 Hey friends, it's Leanne and I had the great great pleasure of sitting down with one of my favorite people in the world And certainly one of my favorite people in the industry Jennifer spear with clean slate strategies I've had the great privilege of working with Jennifer over the last couple years with meetings mean business Canada And we decided just to film one of our tea time conversations So you could be a fly on the wall So we're talking a lot about a lot of different things today including working from home during COVID-19 What a pivot looks like in our industry. We're also talking a little bit about meetings means business Canada and what we're up to lately So I've condensed our one hour and 20 minute tea time chat into 30 minutes So hopefully it's something that you can listen to in the background while you're working and Yeah, here is Jennifer spear with clean slate strategies So, yeah, I'm on with the lovely Jennifer spear who's Airborne as we speak. I don't even know how she got Wi-Fi up there, but well, I'm just on my way to see you Leanne So I had a girls weekend this past weekend Four of us went to a Soyuz and and drink wine and two of my girlfriends have long dark hair very similar to you Jennifer yours has more body and vibrancy, but anyways, so they've got this long dark hair and they're like oh I got three gray hairs coming in. What do I do? Do I pick them out and first after I called them more swear word alert, you know after I called them? Like do not even talk to me about your three gray hairs. Like I will throw punch you right here In the middle of the winery like I was so upset because they were like You've gotten through this far in COVID and You haven't had a few gray hairs like if you've only got three you can name them Yeah name them like by my husband's name each one of them talked about that a lot too about how a Normal experience like this girls weekend and going to a winery by the way we got into all the wineries We wanted to get to We just had to wait a little bit longer So instead of just strolling right up and you know Chugging back a bunch of tasters You had to check in and you had to give your phone number for contact tracing and that's that's I'm going to call it here That's what I see the trend being especially in the meetings industry And so we were talking so they're like well, why do you think that you your industry should get exceptions? Which was awesome because I was able to say We are professionals. We've been doing contact tracing for decades like meeting planners What do you think a registration list is that is the the beginnings of contact tracing? So I think contact tracing like a we've got it down pat I know meeting planners are making it more better and more robust, but Dude, if you ever need to know how to contact trace call Meeting planner like they've been doing this forever. Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with you And I think they're you know, there's some stuff that of course we're annoyed with and But there's some really good stuff that's going to come out of this that's going to change the industry for the better It's going to change all public venues for the better Right in terms of cleanliness and hygiene and who knows maybe it means reduce colds and flus too, right? When we put all this stuff into place And we just had a blast making that video You know wandering around downtown, toronto and this was just before well, we had actually we were filming it In october I think and then all the editing and everything that we were doing because we added animation and stuff to it It was finally ready to go live at the beginning of march And then this happened and I thought hmm might not Be appropriate like it might not be the right tone right now Because I was talking about change and and taking advantage of change And right when everything was changing and people were getting sick and scared and nervous So I was ready to launch my video my new website and instead I did it really quietly waited until we were ready And which I figured was sometime in april we were like Okay, let's get on with this that I was able to bring it out because we were ready to have that conversation about what's next Right. Yeah as opposed to the freak out what's now you know That's such a tough call because there are people And it's my personality type when it hit and yeah, the first 12 hours sucked like absolutely sucked but There are a lot of optimists out there that Probably could have used that change message even from the get go the people who are either Optimists or the people who are Futurist thinkers versus people who think historically like and and I'm sure you made the right call But but you hear that a lot you hear people going. Um, oh, I wonder if it's too soon to launch In fact the video I did just a few weeks ago with kebec city They did the virtual fam in june and that's the one question They kept asking themselves when they were preparing for this is Are we being offensive? Is it too soon to do something like this or meeting planners even interested and You know, we don't want to rush people into taking the next step when they're not ready blah blah blah But there are people who are ready. Um, they had 80 planners on a virtual fam. They were ready Um, I would have loved your video that first week It may have been the message I needed to snap me out of the depression to go, you know Shake, you know, this is change, but then that means another great change is coming Like there's people who need that messaging. I think regardless of the timing of it I've always always been a night owl The other mug that I was using earlier that I'm not using now it says it turns out I'm not an afternoon person either I've always been a night person always You know the day starts at noon and but through this though And I've told this to you for the last four months or or whatever it's been I've been getting up every single morning Every single morning, uh to join a writing group and it's been fantastic. I absolutely love it Like and you're still doing it Yeah, yeah, still doing it and the person who coordinated it took august off But the rest of us still wanted to meet so we're still getting up And and writing every day. It's fabulous. And so we were on zoom We talk for about 15 minutes Then we turn our cameras off when we all write for an hour and then we come back on and talk again Right and I can do this on my own I recognize that But I won't and I haven't so it's just been fabulous And there's something to that in terms of that that shared kind of energy But also the accountability and being with people and going through the same crap with everybody else. It's been great So if you're writing for an hour almost an hour every single business hour a full hour So How long does it take to write a book like are you done? Are you even close to being done? Do you have the intro written like where are you in the process? Well, um I'll I'll say that the woman who's organizing this she started writing every day in april Every day by may she was giving it to an editor And june it was being published like she Got it out. Now. It was her fifth book. She's a machine She had a structure. She knew exactly what she was doing For me my concept for my book had changed completely because of covet, right? So I'm talking about change and up until now it's always been hypothetical Like what if you could no longer work the way you've always worked like what if and now I can't ask those questions anymore Because guess what? So it's changed and so I'm redoing interviews and and things like that But some of the folks in the group they've got a great structure. They're following it and You know, they're going to be done their book like this month Um, and then you've got all the the extra stuff like the editors and the designers and and stuff like that So for me, I've been less structured. I've only been able to write that hour a day like It's been so, you know, crazy with doing number of things But I would say I've got all the pieces written. I now have to bring it together. So being You know, kind of true to myself being a little unscripted. I went without structure Wrote and the structure is coming out of the writing which has been great for me Whereas other people have to have this structure in place and they wrote won't write a word until they know where it's going, right? And some, you know Are are writing not just the structure, but they're writing chapter one then chapter two then chapter three And it doesn't even occur to them to skip ahead if they've got interest in writing chapter 10 first And so I resist structure so much that I find them fascinating They find me a little bit odd and and but we're working together. It's been great I'm very lucky. I'm in a massive loft office and I have Literally put kitchen counters in on this whole side any who I have literally Three whiteboards side by side with post-it notes all over them for different projects. I'm working on So I even had one at one point for my volunteerism at mnbc like I had that whiteboard going because I had to visualize You know where I saw my role and what strengths I bring to my role and blah blah blah blah But I but that's Everything I do gets whiteboarded everything. I do like the hockey parents think I'm crazy because I bring a whiteboard to hockey practice and I board something like I could not do Unscripted but I see that like but then I've also heard you speak Like there's so much value in doing things unscripted and there's a freedom there and a creativity there and blah blah blah And you can say it better than I can so Like do you despise people like me that can't make the switch? Like how does that work? Oh, no, I find you interesting. Um For me it's a good word. Thank you for using that word to describe me and not the other word that I know you're thinking No, I I do and and people like you for sure in the color-coded spreadsheets and everything else now. I do appreciate structure I just Can't be forced into it. Otherwise I resist like I and I know that about myself I will resist But I still do need order. I mean I when I'm designing a keynote or an event or something There's a lot of work and a lot of structures when I talk about being unscripted. It's not winging it, right? I am so prepared like so prepared Uh, it's about being so prepared that when something goes wrong you can go off the script and and be able to On in the moment, right? And that's what happened to all of us during covid, right? That you had to be able to say, okay. Well, we can't do that anymore Right, I can move forward and I'm a firm believer in that we all teach what we need to learn and So even though I talk about being unscripted I am just like I just can't wait for us to go back to the way it was I'm not afraid of the pivot word and I've had to do it too They said it's called imposter syndrome and I've really suffered from imposter syndrome Mostly because of my age and pivoting at my age is different than Pivoting when you're in your 20s or in your 30s, you know and and and you may disagree But that is that's been my struggle right now is I am close to 50 years old And I'm trying to make what I feel is this massive Pivot and every single day that is the one thing that holds me back is who do you think you are? Like you should be selling jam at the farmers market, right? I had someone ask me that I'm like, oh, I feel I feel like there's more in me than just selling jam at a farmers market, but I've never made jam And that would make me feel like an imposter because who am I to sell jam at a farmers market? But I would say like as a as a speaker And now writing a book I face it every single day, right in terms of who the hell do you think you are, right? But a colleague of mine She said and I and I loved it that you can only feel imposter Syndrome if you are already accomplished Right because if you're not and you don't care You're not going to feel that right and it's because you care so deeply that that's why you're feeling it It's because you are accomplished in these other areas that you're like, huh You know, you feel like you need more and you don't like you already you got this like you you are already so there You know and when you start you're gonna fail and that's okay And then you do it again and you fail a little bit less, but you still fail and I'm like, oh good So now I have this year of failure Already lined up scheduled. It's on my white board Of course Right because the pivot can be so big that the first The beginning stages of the pivot. It's not going to be Like oprah win-free status. It's gonna be when oprah was trying to get a job at the You know her first radio station or her first tv station and it's like, uh great now i'm back to that and so anyways Look for lots of my failures to show up on social media in the months ahead folks Do you know my best friend, um brunet brown? I mean we've never met she's we've never met but I know if we did she'd be my best friend And do you know what she calls the ffts? So it's the fucking first time so the fucking first time you do anything. It's horrible like it's just Horrible and you need to know that about yourself and when you try something new so she was trying I listened to her very first podcast that she was putting out And she knew she wanted to do it and she referred to the fft in that podcast because she's like This is my first one and it's not going to be good and I know that And so it's it's recognizing that Right and so as we're pivoting and we're moving forward and we're trying things online Like that's got to be our big one for everybody, right? Yeah, we like it live And so now we're trying it online and maybe the first couple are a little bit odd And maybe the first interview or two that you did on on zoom were a little bit odd and And but with each one you learn and you improve right One of the the women in my writing group she has it on a post-it note And she holds it up most days is that done is better than perfect And so sometimes you just got to get it done That is my motto you Did you take that from me? That is what I tell Everybody especially people who are trying stuff on social media And they're yeah done is better than perfect. Just get your shit out there like the world wants to hear from you They don't care if you're perfect. They just want to hear from you That's the biggest risk and that's the biggest pivot is you are forced out of the industry You're not even forced out of your job But you were forced out of the industry and you now have to find a new community of people You know you and I I think are lucky enough that yeah, we're doing some different things in our work But we're still in the same community. It's still the same Peeps and we haven't lost those people But Not everyone's that lucky. There's a lot of us who are going to have to take jobs else mark whatever that looks like I mean, I so my background I call myself a recovering corporate executive. So I was Incorporate I was VP in a national retailer And there was a restructuring. I was fired out of that And that's when I found Speaking and found this industry. I didn't even know there was such thing It's a professional speaker when I was working right and and so who knows you could get fired into your career right and in terms of What it is that you want to do and explore and you think about the amazing skills the incredible skills that you pick up in this industry right That that the rest of the world could benefit from Like I think there's there's opportunity to do all kinds of things And there's going to be jobs that we don't even know exist yet that come out of this Right, and they're going to need people with these skills. So While it may not be your preferred method It it can be It could become something great like you never know So this is the funny part. So I have been working from home for 10 years Right, I'm I'm good at it. I I enjoy it. I do Like it and then everyone else came home and started working from home and talked about, you know, gaining all this weight Well, I can do but I don't have an excuse. I was always at home. So I don't know. I was like sympathy eating. I don't know I was sympathy drinking Everyone because Everyone who moved home They're like, I'm gonna have a drink. I'm at home and I'm like Well, I'm at home. Maybe I should start drinking too It's like but we have you've always been home. So I think for me It's I don't have to pick up the kids from school and take them to hockey Like I really am Home and maybe that's what it is is we really were home Oh 3 p.m. And Although like I said, I am a hockey mom. I do sometimes start drinking at 3 p.m You would have sitting in a hockey rink But yeah, so really being grounded in that way that was harder not being able to Leave to do work because I mean I work from home, but I don't Really work from home like I work out right and in with people in front of people and now it's been a lot of me right and yeah Just working from home and and that's been harder. I have to say um, I miss I miss people as much as people drive me crazy a lot of the times I really miss them and being able to speak live and being able to see people um Is the hardest part so now I'm speaking speaking virtually, but I can't see anybody So it's just me looking at a camera. It's the hardest thing to do You don't even know if anyone's listening like you just said. I don't know if we're live, right? I hope you are and keep going And until someone like calls you and says what the hell like you just keep going prior to covet I did a working from home series on my blog um, and my big soapbox is change your scenery because Working from home. You can't stand up go to the water cooler Suck ideas off of other people or talk about bachelor. Whatever it is that you do come back to your desk refreshed So it was always change of scenery. So go to a coffee shop Go to a restaurant go to a hotel overnight to do your business plan retreat Uh get on a plane. Um, you know go to all these places and so Now that soapbox has been knocked down because I can't I I can't just Go to a coffee shop. I couldn't for months. I that's been that's been my biggest struggle is You know, is it the plane I miss or is it just the change of scenery I miss? But I have stayed in two different hotels so far Okay so one was for work and uh, it was in Quebec and The hotel had only opened the week prior and this was just recently. This was in july It had only opened a week prior And so it was Basically empty. There was not a lot of people there um, they had done a really good job, but it was almost Almost over the top in terms of the the current attention to covid So, you know, the plexiglass at the front desk But then when you went to check in they had these little kitchen tongs that they used to pass you the hotel key like it was a little bit odd in the hole in the um Elevator only two people allowed but they put the footprints in the stickers on the floor so you knew where to stand You had to wear your mask, of course in the hallways. There were seals on the door But it was good and you felt safe and protected. Yeah Yeah On saturday, I stayed at one with my husband because we went to our first party We were so excited that we it was you know about an hour away from us. So we decided we were going to stay overnight They put a bottle of hand sanitizer at the front desk and that was it It was like yeah, like it was some sort of nightmare. I'm like what the hell is going on here. Yeah We need our our planes and our airlines. We need them to come back and and so we need the travel, but it is a little bit um Scary I um I think I can do it like I I think I could I've talked to enough people that have flown recently um And I and I think I could it's going to be within canada and it's probably going to be short Uh trips at first, right? Yeah, I could do it The one that's freaking me out It's a casino Oh, yeah and I'm a card player and I can't imagine ever going back Right the the thought of touching the cards and the chips It's different for different people, right? So the the first day the patio was open I was there because I'm sick and tired of cooking, right? Like I'm like feed me I got my nails done as soon as I can but I'm not going to casino and I haven't had a massage Whereas I know other people that have and so You know what if I Had read the plot like if this was a movie plot and I had read it I wouldn't have gotten to see the movie because it would have been so unbelievable, right? Pandemic would have happened We're all walking around with masks on in our grocery stores hoarding toilet paper and trump is president I would have said I don't want Meg Ryan to play me Roberts can play you she's got the same hair. Okay, I'll take that I mean, of course the first reaction was that was shit, right? Yeah, but It was working and volunteering for meeting some businesses save me during this time Right, because if you remember like you were working with me and we were doing gmid And we we were meeting regularly and getting people and supporting them having live events and you know, we had a a meeting on March 11th, and we were still moving forward with live events in March 13th. I had to call it and say No, we we can't do this anymore and we decided to go virtual and then You know the lovely Ann new and jumped on board and gmid goes virtual But that is what saved me was diving into this volunteer work and doing something for the industry for others That took us to gmid which was april 14th And I was so busy and so focused It was such an important time and it was so great to be involved in that that I didn't have time to Be upset and lick my wounds and all of that because my business flatlined at that point, right? All events were cancelled Um So it was it was a great time for for us but it was also a great time for meetings being business because Up until that time the conversation was how can we tell our story? Then all of a sudden everyone understood everyone understood the impact of no meetings and events and no travel and And what that was going to do to the industry but also to businesses that rely on the industry and so all of a sudden it was We don't need to explain it anymore. Yeah Take care of our people now. Let's advocate to government. Um because they'll understand the impact we can talk about it Pre covid it was a lot of that old adage. We're preaching to the choir. We're preaching to the choir So how do we get our message out there? But this this is the platform right covid was is our platform to get the message out there Um, and now the message is even changing again But now we have to literally pick out business events and we need to put it on its own Thing on its own platform and we need to change the rules Just for business events because of how they are organized and the contact tracing and all of this So it's even taking The advocacy for everything in our industry and everything that that entails and now we're just picking out The small piece that is business meetings and business events Absolutely, and that's the conversation that we are having with government right now it is We're don't lump us in and nothing wrong with sporting events and concerts and festivals and everything else because I love them and I miss them But business events are different because we do know we do know who's there It's not the same as someone going to a mall like we know who's at the event We can contact them. We can keep them safe too. We can create our own bubbles, right? travel bubbles to being there and Yeah, I think we can do it safely and we just need to make sure that they understand that definition the difference in it Right, so now for for months. We didn't have any sports. So my husband was watching reruns of baseball games. I'm like, let's think about this a rerun Of a baseball game and now at the same time he can have hockey basketball golf And baseball on and he can just flick. Oh and soccer was on last night from the year Just Yeah, no, I think every husband in the country It was like that Because you're right the baseball was on rerun and it finally got to the point where I said to Sean my husband, I said Sean spoiler alert Joe hits a home run Like it's gonna happen. I can tell you So So anyway, so I ruined that one for him But yeah, like he on his lunch break. In fact, he's probably doing it right now because it's noon in Noon in my neck of the woods. He's probably watching something While having his lunch downstairs in the kitchen Guaranteed I know my friend said the same thing. She says she feels like an old man because she just sit to watch sports all after It's hard not to Find it interesting, you know, and I don't mean that in in a way that I'm being You know not caring because of course people are dealing with some horrible things But it's just what a fascinating time right now and and that's what I'm looking forward to is The university students that have to write their thesis on something You can do it regardless of your discipline. You can do a thesis on how COVID impacted your industry Um, it's changed the way we shop. It's changed the way we Get dressed now every day because we're on zoom every day Right every day from the waist up every single day But I I was never in makeup when I worked from home I was never on zoom the only days I did makeup is when I knew I had to film Right now Every day all day But tomorrow I think I have six back to back zoom Right It's exhausting. There's another study. Yes, right. These are exhausting They are but not this one. This one's been very