Taylor Michel, 24, works in Washington, D.C., as meetings manager for American Gaming Association. As a 2017 40 Under 40 honoree, Michel discusses her passion for the events industry.
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What I do: I plan, manage and execute all meetings and events for the American Gaming Association. Traveling to be on-site for events and interacting with our members is one of my favorite aspects of this job. I enjoy being on a small team that is responsible for developing and managing the educational programming for our annual conference, G2E.
How I got here: I majored in geology at Trinity University but knew my passion lied in the meetings and events industry before I graduated. I worked with Colorado Oil & Gas Association on its annual conference for two years. I then relocated to Washington, D.C., and took an internship with American Geophysical Union working on its annual conference (25,000 attendees). That job led me to a full-time position at Precision Meetings & Events, where I learned a great deal and was afforded many great experiences, but realized I loved working in associations and building relationships with members.
My greatest career accomplishment: I grew up in the meetings industry and always knew I wanted to work in it. I learned early on the importance of building a strong network in our industry, which has really had an impact on my career and opened many doors for me.
Impressive stats: Within my first month at Precision Meetings & Events, I was handling our account with The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and was put in charge of recruiting, interviewing and hiring 400 students to work at the AIPAC policy conference, which was only two months away. I was tasked with staffing these students, along with 100 event professionals for over 2,000 different roles, during the three-day conference of over 15,000 attendees. I had to do all of this in an Excel spreadsheet that, when printed, was over 20 feet long in 8-point font. I was also responsible for managing all of them on-site. It was a huge responsibility for a new graduate, but an incredible experience!
A specific improvement I’ve made: The AGA has not always been in great standing with tribal casinos until our CEO came in three years ago and made it a priority to be more transparent and inclusive. Over the past nine months I have helped to increase tribal member participation at our AGA committee meetings and member events by reaching out with personal emails, calls and setting up individual meetings to get to know them better. These interactions have helped me better understand their educational needs to offer programs that target their pain points.
What I’m working on: I just wrapped up a brand-new AGA event, our Cybersecurity Summit, which happened in April. I’m also excited about the redesign I’m leading for the welcome reception at our annual conference, which is going to be focused on creating an experience that delivers more networking value and helps our first-timers get better connected with the AGA community.
What I do outside of work: As a new member of PCMA and IAEE, I love going to events and meeting new people. I love traveling. And most importantly, I love eating my way around D.C. or whatever city I find myself in.
