Mahoganey Jones, CMP, DES, HMCC, 37, works in Brampton, Ontario, as an in-person and hybrid event producer at Event Specialists. As a 2017 40 Under 40 honoree, Jones discusses her passion for the events industry.
*Connect with Jones on Twitter and Instagram. What I do: I produce branded, buzzworthy educational events for associations, small businesses and entrepreneurs. I collaborate with my clients to create event experiences that do more than just inspire—they generate revenue and create change. I use event technology to make sure our events are truly experiences. How I got here: I couldn't land an event planner role so I decided to open my own event management company back in 2004. I began with business summits, fundraisers, university brand awareness events and weddings. Once I landed a pharmaceutical company as a client, I realized that my love of events combined with my kinesiology degree and interest in medical education is a true skill set. From there, my focus went to professional development education, and I began producing medical education and more professional development conferences. Impressive stats: I was tasked with supporting a national legal conference that had hit a plateau. They wanted to remain true to their conference while extending their audience. They were not open to changing the format, but wanted to add a virtual component and strive toward being a paperless conference. To ensure they truly understood the new costs, the webcast was budgeted as a pilot project to not affect the working conference budget. As a result of producing the hybrid event, the in-person attendance remained consistent; the webcast costs were covered 100 percent by registrations and turned a profit; overall attendance grew by 30 percent thanks to the virtual stream viewers; the conference saw an increase in recording sales versus publication sales (approximately a $3,000 difference); and the overall profit increased by 20 percent. A specific improvement I’ve made for clients: I've added hybrid events and digital event strategies as a core offering. By understanding how to extend meetings to additional audiences and capture content that can be used for both revenue-generating activities and member benefits, associations can position themselves as industry leaders. What I’m working on: I am producing a hybrid event that is going to make eight separate educational events available in one livestream through multiple channels. This will truly marry the face-to-face experience with a digital one, creating a national event that can be watched across the country. What I do outside of work: I sit on an Emerging Leaders Forum for our local board of trade, go on weekly adventures with my kids to learn and play, and create content for planhybridmeetings.com.
