 One of the best things to come out of 2020 for me has been the development of some great friendships with industry colleagues. And one of those friends I interviewed on my t-time chat last week, she's Joanne Henry, my colleague from conference direct. Joanne and I have a lot in common, we both try and love on our clients as much as possible through content through events and through resources. And we're also trying to keep our families sane during this crazy time. So I wanted to sit with Joanne, wanted to talk about some of the things that she's working on, not only for conference direct, but some of her projects as well. So here's our t-time chat recorded just last week. I hope you enjoy my time with Joanne. Absolutely. I'm excited because I've been using this time to create and get creative and kind of figure out some stuff. And I've got like lots of different ideas brewing. And it was actually during this creative time that a light bulb went off. And I kind of figured out kind of what I want to do next or in tandem with conference direct. And it was really during this creative time that I figured it out. And I think that's one thing we don't necessarily give ourselves the time to just sit down, clear your mind and, you know, put pen to paper and get creative with your thoughts. And I think people, you know, by nature have lots of ideas. You know, when you're running around doing whatever or when you're working, you know, you might go off on, you know, tangent. But I think if you actually give yourself that time to create and clear everything else off the desk, I think it's really powerful. You and I never had the time to do this. We were, we both have busy businesses. And then of course, when the pandemic hit, it was busy canceling all of our business. But our businesses have now slowed almost to a standstill. And so we do find ourselves with these creative pockets of time. And it's been such an incredible blessing. And that'll be the one thing that I take away from this crazy year called 2020 is I've had the time to really get back to almost who I was as a kid. Like I was so creative as a kid. And adulthood hit. And those creative opportunities just didn't present themselves the way that they did when I was a younger person. Absolutely. And you do, you do find yourself like, you know, you get caught up in your job, your, you know, your work, your family, all your other commitments. And I don't think we give ourselves time to, you know, sit with our ideas. And actually, you know, again, I mentioned it kind of put pen to paper and spend some time, you know, thinking those thoughts, creative thoughts out. And I think you definitely need time to do that. We give, you know, hopefully give time to exercise and do all sorts of different things. But I don't think we necessarily give our time for that. It's sort of our creative side of our brain, if you will. I recall what just kind of when we started this, I had heard or read somewhere I think was on a podcast. Again, podcasting I have I'm listening to such great podcasts right now. And, but there was a group of authors, people that were writing a book, but just could never find time to actually sit down and write the book. They actually have a group, a zoom call where they actually spend a few hours working on their book. So they know that at least once a week, they're going to work on writing their book for a couple hours. And actually, I'm one of our industry colleagues is in one of those groups. I don't know if you know Jennifer spear from unscripted. And anyway, I don't. So maybe you fix it up from you and not a podcast. Well, maybe maybe but but I, you know, I think those groups do exist and now we know why and I and I'll be honest, it was Jennifer's group that compelled me to reach out to you about our little morning ritual. And Joanne, here's something that you and I have to be beat we need to cherish this time, even when our businesses get busy again, because I think if we just go back to how life was before, we're going to lose this hour together and we're going to lose that opportunity to be creative and explore that side. And I think if we still maintain this hour together, it will feed us well it'll serve us well sorry in our businesses, because I feel so energized and when you have one idea you have another and another and another and it just all of a sudden like I think our businesses will benefit if we maintain the integrity of our little great. Yeah, you can't after having gone through coven. And this time you can't go back to the regular way. You've everyone has learned something from this time. And I think, you know, you can't not be changed for having gone through this in some shape way or form. I was working in it's called the Pomodero technique. So it's like 2020 20 some on minute intervals, and then you break and I was finding myself very productive. And that time went by really quickly and you know my iPhone was off my you know I have notifications, because you know I tend to sometimes be a bit like a squirrel so it like goes off and then, you know, like all over. Better, better with that focused. So I've heard about Pomodoro technique john Maxwell if any of you read john Maxwell he swears by it. I only tried it once in my professional career it was a few years back. I found the 20 minutes was too short. What do what do you do at the end of the 20 minutes and you feel you're still going do you still. You know, but then I take a break after after I think it's after three or four Pomoderos. You take a break. So, whether and that could be just you know making yourself a tea, or, you know, going outside to get some fresh air or, you know, what have you just do something, you know, toss in a load of laundry. But you are during that time focus but then you do absolutely have to take a break. It's funny when you were talking about pride and prejudice because you've got mail there's a line and you've got mail where she she talks about like I loved her life in New York like just the fall the bookstore. And she's like I just want a little life or a small life. And there's something about that that really resonated with me and it's still, I, yes, it still stays with me. So because the book she's reading and you've got mail with the rose in it is pride and prejudice. That's one of the fights that they have is is because Tom Hanks character doesn't understand why she's right and prejudice. Do they get together in the end. Well that's interesting. This is so full. Yeah, I think I might watch it this weekend just to catch up with Meg and Tom. It's interesting. I think any parent who has children in sports and going through coven there's the parents. I think there's three classes of parents, just making this up but there's classes there's a, there's a class like you who is genuinely interested in the progress of your child and now you've been denied that opportunity by coven. And then there's the parent who yells at their kid, this maybe not in tennis or maybe in tennis. Yeah. And so that parent, he's, he's losing his mind because he can't be in the arena, banging on the glass and yelling at his kid. So I don't feel sorry for those parents. There's a parent like me, who can really do without the sport drama and so I'm loving coven. If I don't want to go I don't have to go my husband will take the kid and drop him off at the propane tank. And so yeah, for I think coven is affecting sporting parents in some way shape or form, like the kids again knock on one unless they cancel the season the kids are still playing, like which is the most important tennis exactly that's the most important, but there's parents who are losing their minds right now, whether it's you because he can't see your kid and support him, or the hockey dad that can't yell it is. Yeah, both of you are in trouble. Yeah. One of the event, one of the programs that I started with my colleague Carolyn pool I'm not sure if many of you out there know Carolyn, but two years ago we launched what we call a sank a set five to seven cocktails networking. And we partnered with a downtown Toronto hotel so we partnered you know what the Ritz Carlton was hosted us first. You know we did with intercontinental four seasons. Shamela, you name it. Every hotel we pretty much partnered with. And we would get together with a number of, I want to say event professionals but it actually went beyond just event professionals. There and client or someone really interesting that they knew or maybe someone in their company, or just centers of influence and I just back step it was for women so it was a networking event for women. And, and a hotel would host us as I mentioned. And so it was their sales team, you know it was a great opportunity for the hotel to put their best foot forward wasn't necessarily about the food and the cocktails. It was really about coming together and networking but all the hotels that we partner with are just so amazing and they all wanted to just do a great job for for Carolyn and myself and and our, our guests. And it was a really great time like people looked forward to it. There was one time when we actually just took a hiatus because it was the summer and we know people go away. Other people emailing us asking us if they were still on the guest list. And it's like, absolutely, we've just taken a hiatus. And so, you know, there is some women that would come the same, the, we'd see them almost religiously every month and then others that would kind of come in and go when, you know, based on their own personal and professional calendar. There was a really nice group of women. And there was a lot of terrific conversations and connections that were made beyond just sort of our event world if you will. And then when coven hits. Obviously we couldn't meet in person. So we kind of discussed you know what can we do like should we take this virtual. We contemplated it because the you know that virtual cocktail reception was was was was being done quite a bit, but but we thought you know what we have something really special here. And now that it's virtual, our guests don't have to be from the downtown Toronto area, our hotels that host us have to be from downtown Toronto. So, you know, our guest list so we reached out to many of our global sales partners with conference direct and and the response has been very positive and a number of them have hosted us. We still, you know, having obviously most of our clients and I guess are from the greater Toronto area but not everybody we've actually extended invitations to some folks in the states and others across Canada. And, and it's interesting because the hotel partners, they're, they love the idea but they didn't quite get the, the concept, like, virtually, and they have all walked away going oh my gosh that was like the nicest like the best two hours that they've spent. And we've had, you know, some topics, like, last week we did our November Sanka set, and we did it. We called it a night of luxury, and we had the founder Christine Carlton of the September, which is Canada's first luxury online shoe boutique. It's now a lifestyle online high end lifestyle boutique. It's a phenomenal woman, so it's the September. And to compliment that we had our partners from four seasons hotels in Rosewood. And we just kind of made a kind of a fun thinking of luxury. And this month in October we did wellness mental wellness and well being, and we had the highest host us, and talked about their relationship with headspace, which is an after mental wellness and, and, and words just as they could be mental wellness and well being and meditation, meditation, yeah. And we had Linda Hilton, who you know, who is a Hilton. So she's our Hilton wrap, our global sales wrap and she's just a character and a half, and to have, you know, a member of the Hilton, literally a member of the Hilton family, you know, share some some secret tidbits about her family was kind of fun. And so we've, we've, we've had some fun with it so we're pleased that we've carried it through. We're going to take a hiatus for December because that's such a busy time but we'll be back in the new year. I miss travel. I miss travel I miss, like many of you out there who are event professionals. So if it's lining up in customs or, you know, checking in at Air Canada, or checking in the hotel, I miss the process, the people, the process. And so I was talking to Michael Welsh, many of you know from a corner said, you know, Michael I just want to bring the hotels to people like let's just have some fun with it. Let's have some entertainment, some education but really entertainment. Let's not overthink it. And let's, you know, kind of do a conference direct journey across Canada showcasing your beautiful hotels. So we just did the first one, which I land your part of, which we started on your side of the country and the left coast. I'm here with Victoria, and we had the concierge from the Empress, the tea concierge from the Empress talk about tea, and you talk about like how interesting for an hour, we talked about tea, like who knew. And everyone was engaged, right it wasn't just me because I know everyone was engaged it was awesome. So much fun. I'm pretty confident that, you know, with the great news of the vaccines coming out Moderna just said that their vaccine is like 9495% effective. The, the, the Pfizer. I think by, I personally think this time next year we will be traveling again. And we will be doing meetings. We will be not, you know, the huge conventions, but definitely will be getting back to normal once the vaccine is widely available. And that they say that like by next summer it should be widely available. I think people will want to get back to some sense of normalcy. I think there's that I think that that whole idea of revenge spending revenge travel revenge meetings, what have you I think that's that's going to be a real thing. And, you know, maybe someone might not jump on a cruise ship tomorrow or, you know, want to go to the, you know, the other side of the world. But I definitely think that people will want to travel. Okay, Joanne, my ignorance. I've never heard that term before revenge travel what is revenge spending so. So what, so this is really interesting so back in, I want to say spring. When China was coming out of the first their first wave of COVID. And, you know, stores were starting to reopen. Hermes and Louis Vuitton in Shanghai and some of the big Chinese cities had their biggest, biggest days, like, like, like a few like millions of dollars worth of sales at like people just wanted they were pent up and wanted to spend. I think North America we've been been hard hit, but I think I think people will want to go out and spend money. And I think travel is one of those things what that looks like, not sure yet. But I know, you know, I'll be the first and I'll be the first person at the airport once I have a vaccine.