I have just received your June 2007 issue of mice.net and felt compelled to write to you. Naturally, being an editor myself I always read the editor’s letter of any magazine I pick up. Having just read your Editor’s Letter, I have to say that I couldn’t agree more with your opinion on the value of hard-working event coordinators and conference managers versus the low salaries on offer.
In addition to working in publishing I am also an event stylist (freelance) and have recently been perusing the jobs on offer in the event industry. As recently as last weekend I was shocked to see a number of event management positions with well-known and high profile businesses advertised with salaries one could earn working in a retail store! These industries (both publishing and events) demand a huge commitment from their legion of employees, including long hours and weekends away from loved ones. And all this in addition to the delivery of creative ideas, innovative approaches, unique events ... and creative uses of small budgets!
Is it any wonder that some businesses have a hard time keeping the staff? What’s more, many businesses waste tens of thousands of dollars every year on training new and existing staff due to high turnover rates. I know that good staff are hard to come by and am sure that ‘retaining’ the people who further a business’s success should be seen as worth a financial investment wherever possible.
Thank you for your thought-provoking letter.
- NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD
You have probably gotten this same response from about 100 readers about how to keep your overseas phone calls down – but here we go anyway. The one thing that I never leave home without is my notebook computer – this is for many reasons but one of the biggest is the fact I have skype installed on it. I too was stung with a $150 phone call home, and ever since I now resort to the VoIP technology. For about $16 dollars you can buy enough credit on skype to call home for hours – the calls are about 2c per minute (to a land line). The nice thing about having the credit means you don’t have to rely on the other person having skype installed or even having a computer as you can call any ordinary phone.
The one limitation of skype is you need to have an internet connection. Sure sometimes the cost of internet in the hotel is a bit extreme, but when compared to a $150 call home, well worth it! I hope this helps.
- Jason Thomas, Senior event manager, QUT Events
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