Mollie Plotkin, owner of Mollie Plotkin GroupPhoto: Courtesy of Mollie Plotkin Group
How she got her start: In 2004, Mollie Plotkin was looking to create a unique experience for someone she was working with at the time in the financial services sector. "When I asked a friend, 'Who owns an agency where I can be connected with alumni athletes, sportscasters, or journalists for private client events?' I was shocked the answer was, 'There isn’t one,'" Plotkin says. "The next day, I started a company that did exactly that."
Soon after, Plotkin signed two Philadelphia personalities and found two events for them to appear and keynote. And a few weeks later, the Philadelphia Eagles headed to the 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.
"The Eagles didn’t win, but my business took off," she says. "Businesses wanted to bring the excitement of sports to their audiences, clients, and employees and deliver keynotes that were memorable, engaging, and valuable. Since then, we’ve expanded to represent talent in every possible category, but we will always have a strong niche in the world of sports."
What sets her company apart: Plotkin says her agency approaches every event with a team mentality. "Whether we’re your partner in creating a memorable meeting, or [a] meeting planner's secret weapon in securing the perfect keynote speaker for their client, we’re in this with you," she explains. "From the hiring client side, we’ll never submit a speaker suggestion unless we’re 100% sure they are a great fit for your needs. We’d rather lose business than do bad business."
On the keynote speaker side, Plotkin adds that her agency spends time learning about the speaker, their keynote, goals, and objectives. "It’s been reported back to us over and over again, the concierge-like services we offer our talent are second to none," she says.
Plotkin celebrates an event with NBA personality and music artist Christian Crosby (left) and best-selling author Alex Banayan (right).Photo: Courtesy of Mollie Plotkin Group
What innovation means to her: To Plotkin, innovation means creativity and understanding the people you serve. "It’s making sure that you and your business have a clear understanding of the people you work for, what challenges they are facing, what their objectives are in creating an event, and creating ideas that are unique, memorable, and valuable to them," she says. "It’s about challenging yourself to never become complacent. Each event is unique, and that means embracing emerging technology, themes, and formats so that your audience leaves with valuable insight, memories, and inspiration."
Memorable moments: Plotkin recalls when the agency brought three keynote speakers to a day of programming for a large creative agency. "Our challenge was, 'How do we inspire creativity to the people who are creative for a living?'" she remembers. "I proposed three of my keynote speakers and had them work together to create keynotes and presentations that segued into each other. Three speakers, with different topics and backgrounds, all tailored their events to piggy back into the next. It was something the client, and audience, had never experienced before, and it was magic."
Her biggest hope for the events industry: Plotkin hopes the industry sees more collaboration and teamwork. "It’s still too common for me and my colleagues to work with a 'whisper down the lane' mindset," she says. "One person asks for information and pricing, then passes it to a team member, who then re-packages it for the client, who then presents it to their decision maker. If the hospitality industry would embrace a 'let’s get every decision maker for this event on a 30-minute Zoom call to hear their thoughts,' speaker suggestions would be more efficient, decisions could be made quicker, and we’d greatly streamline the process."
This feature is sponsored by 6Connex, your all-in-one event technology to manage and host successful events at scale and in any format—in-person, hybrid, virtual, or webinars.
