Kara Ferguson, 33, works in Chicago as meeting planner for the American Society of Anesthesiologists. As a 2018 40 Under 40 honoree, Ferguson discusses her passion for the events industry.
What I do: I am responsible for managing the logistical components and execution of meetings and exhibits. Through managing these multifaceted meetings, memorable and valuable experiences for attendees are created. How I got here: I am very passionate about the meetings industry so I decided to pursue a degree in the field. I earned a Master’s of Science in Hospitality Management from Roosevelt University (Chicago) and began my career as a meetings coordinator for an association management company, moved on to special events and currently a meeting planner for the society. Impressive Stats: Prior to the implementation of an automated registration system at the Association of Legal Administrators, I manually processed registrations for more than 2,500 attendees and exhibitors for annual conferences. Specific improvement I’ve made: I took the lead in streamlining the registration process/procedures and even trained a few colleagues on the registration system. Later, along with IT, I assisted with the development of creating an automated online registration system.
