July 2016 Profile 7
A day in the life
Event manager at The International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology , Lorraine Reese , tells AEM about her career
How did your career path lead you to your current role ? During the final year of my Maths and Computer Science degree at the University of York I co-organised the 13th British Juggling Convention , a fourday festival for over 1,000 people with shows , workshops , a parade , camping and all sorts . I loved doing it so much - even combined with revising for final exams - that I decided to do events management as a career , something I ’ d never even thought , or heard of before .
After graduating I started at a corporate events management agency where I stayed almost three years before making the move to the association sector , for which I discovered a real passion . I enjoyed over seven years at the Royal Aeronautical Society where I spent the last 3.5 years as head of the Conference & Events Department , before moving to the Institute for Small Business and
Entrepreneurship ( ISBE ) as head of business and events .
After nearly five years at ISBE I began my current role at the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology ( ISUOG ), whose annual Congress attracts 2,000-3,000 attendees .
What takes up the biggest slice of your working day ? No two days are the same , so one day it may be talking to sponsors and exhibitors , another day it may be planning our 2017 educational courses and another day it may be talking to venues and destinations or our Bids Committee about our 2019 or 2020 congress . Every day is packed and involves working on several years and multiple events at any one time .
How has the role differed from your expectations ? I knew ISUOG was an international
society when I started working here but I ’ ve been surprised at just how truly international it is . The 20 board members come from 13 countries and our membership covers 128 countries ; when we live stream our courses we regularly have delegates participating online from 50 + countries . This brings certain challenges but also fantastic opportunities , which have been great to explore .
What is the biggest challenge and what is the biggest reward ? Fitting everything into each day and week . There ’ s so much to do it ’ s a challenge to confine everything to a working week and not let it take over evenings and weekends . The biggest rewards are working with my fantastic colleagues , being onsite as everything runs smoothly and seeing the positive feedback from delegates , speakers and sponsors after a successful event .