Author: houdenis

    Showered in kindness.

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    Ahhhh, April another busy month and was showered with wonderful kind people.  

    Continued to work on my client projects/programs for the fall and wrapped up the classes for the Winter session at College LaSalle. Had another opportunity to organize a graduation ceremony for the online only students.

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    Industry networking events are trickling in more and more. This is a GREAT sign it basically means that the events industry is slowly and steadily coming back to life!! I said it before and will say it again this is nice getting back to the “norm” of things.  ❤ ❤ 

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    Speaking of the “norm” we went out with friends to see and relive our youth by hear local bands playing homage the greatest hits of the 70’s and 80’s era…..

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    An we (hubby and I) wrapped up the month with a well-deserved wonderful vacation… Very much  needed, got worn down with all the last-minute running around  and fires to put out. I did not realize how much February and March took a toll on me. I felt I needed some me time and a vacation was a great remedy.  Booked a last minute (10day) get away to the Dominican Republic in Puerto Plata. OMG what a lovely resort kudos to the support staff. It was EXACTLY what the doctor ordered, time for us to do nothing and regenerate the juices. Honestly did not want to come back….

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    See you in May …

    Activities Galore

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    Crazy month of activities –  the saying in Italian is;  ‘Marzo e Pazzo’ 

    This month there was all kinds of mixed stuff from industry event celebrations to having family over for Easter including going out to celebrate friends …

    What I am saying it is almost a back to normal back to regular kind of routine month before you know what happened….

    Started with my speaker series for my students (at College Lasalle) that began with people from all industries coming to inspire the classes. From:  Customer Service Management to Entrepreneurship to how being a well-balanced Manager is. Some speakers where online and some came to campus in person. The students LOVED LOVED this experience.

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    Too boot they also participated in Business Week event which is an annual networking event organized by the school to help up-and-coming Business Graduates students find their places in the Business World … FUN FUN FUN.

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    I also worked and executed some client programs in between the industry events. It was jammed packed for the month of March.

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    Then Easter came, we had a wonder family gathering to celebrate. With a mix of outing with friends

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    Ouffff it flew by we are already welcoming the month of April – let’s see what next month will bring see you all then…

    Recognition – thanks for the nod

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    February is known for the month of love. Well, I got exactly that a lot of love from all levels personally and professionally speaking.

    I was invited to take part on a panel discussion at an annual conference called: National Business Tourism Day for the province of Quebec. This was a great honor, and it was great to see people in our beloved industry. I of course was honored and humbled to be asked. I know I say that a lot, you need to understand that it is a REAL honor to be thought of.

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    Happy Saint Valentine’s ♥ Wishing you all lots and lots of love at all levels…

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    Speaking of love let me redirect you to my classes at Lasalle College. Why you ask? Well, I wanted to share the love that speakers had when I invited the to come inspire some of my students.  I call it my speaker series for the month of February. What it means is that I ask several business owners from different backgrounds to come to speak and share their real-life experiences with the students. It is a great change of pace from the regular class format. I loved to see the inspiration that is created in their eyes… my moto =  Aspire to Inspire.

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    On the social side of things, I did catchup with some of my POWER WOMEN friends. We went to a tea house instead of the regular restaurant. It was a nice change of pace and delish…

    Also, was invited to a grand opening of a Museum here in Laval it is right next to the Cosmodrome. It’s all about biodiversity and humanity … love the great advances we’re doing in general.  The diversity of things is becoming more and more relevant – love love it.

    That is all for now – see next month.

    NEW HORIZONS

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    Happy new year happy everyone!! Wishing you all a new year of new hopes, projects, and wonderful adventures.

    I continued to work on my clients’ holiday parties…yes, holiday parties in January. At times these decisions are made like this simply because in December can be a very intensely busy month for some people and some corporations. And why not January is generally a quieter calmer time and one can REALLY enjoy the festivities.

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    Lasalle College’s winter session also began. I started off with a medium load of classes during the day and then BOOM it intensified with several more due to lack of teachers … so in other words I have a total of ten classes. It is intense for me never had so many in my 14years of teaching. Alas, the one program that I really wanted to start did not due to lack of student enrolment. Yes, I’m speaking of my beloved Event Management program.  However, having said all this it’s very welcoming change of pace because I’m now giving classes in: Customer Service – Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Management, all related to the Business Management Program which I love. And is a great fit for me too. Yes, it is different from Event Planning however it is all about the business world and I know a thing or two about that.

    With all this newness going on I feel the NEED for a break = vacation. It’s become desperate. But I digress….

    Speaking of vacations hubby and I did take some staycation, we took a day off and we did a couples massage including a water therapy treatment. Did us a lot of good. Got to relaxed and disconnect. It’s been an INTENSE November through January for me. Even though I was in Florida for the month of November, but truth be told it was intense. At times I worked 14hour days most of that period with all the logistical prepping for the upcoming client programs….

    I will share that it was an experiment for me. Wanted to see if I can do all this in a remote setting and I am happy to report YES it can be done. (it wasn’t easy but I did it I managed it). Which only means to me that I will do this again and maybe for longer time periods.

    That is all for now again HAPPY NEW YEAR to all – with tons of healthy vibes first and the rest will come…

    Warp speed kinda month

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    Hello everyone, Happy Holidays – I will tell you that this month I did not see pass by. BAM no break for the entire month… the day after we arrived from Florida it started FULL THROTTLE!!

    I hit the ground running with the two – 10th year anniversary company event within that week. All the logistical work that I did in Florida came to fruition.

    Sunday, I arrived from Florida and Monday I executed (with my team) the first event. Once that was done then we prepared for the second event for the same client on that coming Friday. Yes, it was intense but very successful!!

    It’s very satisfying when people actually give you confidence to do facilitate their celebrations even though it was complicated all along the way and by complicated, I mean the indecisiveness of one’s client. What can you do, it happens, and it is part of our jobs as planners to reassure them. I completely empathize that sometimes they have to put a lot of faith in you and your team. What is important is holding their hand all the way through it with confidence.

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    Speaking of confidence that same Friday I had a client’s annual Holiday staff dinner party finished one and off to the second one. Talk about double booking!! Thank God it was at different time during the day. All done and completed without a hitch.

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    Then (the day after) Saturday came and BOOM – COP 15 started. After months of organizing, sourcing, and executing it was time to be in place and make it happen. As of December 3rd, all the way to December 20th my team and I worked 12 – 13-hour days nonstop. What an experience and fantastical conference!! One needs to understand or take in consideration that we, collectively, had only six months to organize it.  When normally it takes at least a good two years to properly put things together.  This massive conference consisted of basically 15,000 attendees on a daily basis, coming from all over the world. The United Nations was the machine / brainchild behind all this. And WOW kudos to them, they are one fantastic well-oiled machine. From the perspective of a planner, I was uber concerned about how everything was to come together with only 6months to do it.  I didn’t know how it was going to be possible?!? Well,  I was blown away by the entire organization and operation!!  The UN team that I was working with and all the volunteers – wow wow wow wow – how impressive!! Hats off, I was floored and learned so much it opened my eyes to the aspect of things. Meaning it’s an EXTREMELY very well-oiled machine. Yes, there where some hiccups, but considering all the logistics in this conference, OMG OMG it was awesome and what a dream team of volunteers!!! The superb attitudes of everyone was all that made the difference. Not to mention how much I learnt and the great people I met along the way!! Humble and Grateful to have been given this once in a lifetime opportunity. MIC DROPPED!!

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    And yes, yes of course somehow (exhausted and all) with the GRAND help of awesome hubby, spent time and hosted my brother and his kids for the holidays – god we love them!!!

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    See you next year!!

    A month full of trials and tribulations

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    Why you may ask, well, this was the month my husband and I decided to see if we can do a whole month down south specifically in Florida.  To basically test it out and see how if would be possible for us to do so and me to actually work remotely.

    The verdict is in and YES it was!! Overall, it gave us a glimpse of what our retirement days could be (hopefully). I am not completely sold on this idea, however I feel we need to try this a few more times before final decision would be made. But overall, it did pan out. Even though I did have TONS of logistical work on my upcoming client events, then adding to it my online classes …  

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    I will not lie I did have my reservations as to if it was even possible to juggle all this. I surprised myself, it worked out!! I was able to work the entire month without a hitch. You know it is good to have an open enough mind to at least try this. (it’s good have an open spirit) If one does not try one will never know what the outcomes can be, right? God willing, we may become future snowbirds!?!

    Don’t get me wrong while in Florida we did the usual beach-bumming things, including, visits with friends, spent a few days exploring other parts of the northwest coast together. Some of these friends are located in Fort Myers area. This is the area that was hit with the devastating tornadoes and horrible storms. OMG the damages was so horrible that we could not go to the usual beaches close by. These storms contaminated those beaches so much that we were shut down to the public and forced us to travel a few hours further to reach proper safe beaches. What a shame, we where told it will take the authorities a few years to properly decontaminate those affected beaches.   

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    Having said all this I will state the camaraderie between neighbors in that area was wonderful. Devastation does bring people together. Many homes where utterly destroyed to the point of no recognition… what a huge loss to those property owners.

    That is all for now, see you all next month – ciao for now.