Today time certainly seems relative to me. I’m back home and my travels of last week seem like a lifetime ago. Isn’t that always the way it is? So much happens when we’re out of town, it seems like a parallel universe, not quite like the one we’re in when at home in our usual routine. And since I’ve already been facilitating in San Diego and speaking in Las Vegas just since the New Year, well it’s already been a full year with New Year’s Eve feeling like a lifetime ago. This whole musical team building journey started as a Nashville based team building program – an outgrowth and synthesis of my work as a songwriter and my passion for education and communication. While it’s been several years since I embarked on my journey to help integrate creativity in the corporate world, it feels like only yesterday – sort of time bending the other way.

Since my return from the PCMA conference last week I’ve realized that I’ve been building my own team; of friends, mentors, colleagues, consultants, and learning so much along the way. There’s a generous spirit of idea sharing among the event professionals I’ve been lucky enough to get to know, not to mention it’s fun connecting with talented, successful, passionate people. So here are some of the great resources I now consider to be my friends, or great friends I now consider to be resources. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to find out more about these people.

Midori Connolly’s company is Pulse Staging & Events. Her cutting edge company, is truly that; cutting edge. Midori is passionate about everything she does, advocating for sustainability in the meetings industry, sharing her vast knowledge of social media and tech tools, and delivering a remarkable product to her clients. Michael McCurry, event guru extraordinaire, is always willing to share ideas and advice and he knows everything and everybody, seriously! Mike makes me feel comfortable when I’m asking questions about things I probably should know, he’s always willing to answer. Joan Eisenstodt has reminded me of something I know, but often lack the courage to act on – that courage and honesty are vital and worth voicing. If you follow Joan’s twitter or facebook postings, you’ll see her views on everything from the event business to politics to religion. She doesn’t worry that voicing ‘real opinions’ will hurt her business. In fact, her honesty and strong positions encourage people to invite her expertise on all aspects of the event industry. I’ve mentioned  both Jeff Hurt and Jessica Levin in recent posts, so I won’t elaborate again, but you need to know about them too!

The problem with short lists is that there are other great resources I’ve not included. But if you get started with the people mentioned above, you’ll find your professional and personal life richer for it.

Billy Kirsch

About Billy Kirsch

Billy is a Grammy & Emmy nominated, CMA & ACM award winning songwriter with numerous Top 10 hits to his credit. His team building programs and keynote speaking presentations help people tap into their creative abilities to become more innovative and engaged in their work. Clients include Fortune 100 companies and organizations throughout the world.