Q: You’re the new Meeting Coordinator at CV. What do you hope to accomplish in your new role?
A: I must say we have a great team where everyone appreciates and complements each other. I aim to work proactively and cooperatively work with each one of them to make CV more successful. My goal is to efficiently and effectively coordinate Virtual Meetings by providing all the technical support/assistance to our clients and team members.
Q: What business skills or talents do you need to be a great meeting coordinator?
A: I would say a Meeting Coordinator must know how to work well under pressure and should be able to respond quickly and calmly to last minute changes. It is a tough job to manage six to seven meetings virtually at the same time.
Additionally, I believe to manage the meetings efficiently, excellent planning and time management skills are very important. One has to be in constant touch with all the moderators throughout.
Last, but not the least, in my opinion a meeting coordinator must have strong people skills and should be able to get along with a wide variety of personalities.
Q: What client concerns have you been able to address since you started (or in your previous role?)
A: It has not been an easy job and definitely not virtually as this is entirely a new world which people are not used to. Initially when the government allowed condominiums to hold their meetings virtually, there was a flood of meetings where I was, in addition to coordinating the meetings, also moderating them.
I remember a meeting where about ten unit owners (mostly elderly) were not able to get into their virtual Annual General Meeting. I was getting back to back calls while moderating a meeting. I very calmly helped each one and made sure that all of them were able to get into the meeting. Even the property manager was facing technical issues. Later, after the meeting my efforts were highly appreciated by all the board members, unit owners and by the property manager as well.
Q: Finish this thought – One thing I believe I do really well is …
A: Manage time.
Q: What have you learned about yourself during the pandemic?
A: The pandemic has made me realize that I’m good at multi-tasking. I have definitely learned that my drive to succeed is not affected by obstacles, I have used this as an opportunity to help me grow, network and learn a lot about the virtual world. I have updated myself by learning a lot of technical things which really help me coordinate the virtual meetings, which I strongly believe are here to stay. This has helped me get a long way in making these meetings a success. With each day I learn something new and keep updating myself with the new technology.
I strongly believe that a lot of things can be done without paper, for example paper proxies, our work notes etc. We can definitely use our laptops/desktops/phones etc. thereby saving paper and contributing a little to save the environment.
Also, I have learned to try and find one positive thing a day – everyone has the ability to shine and preserve through this time. It’s a matter of believing in yourself and keeping the end in mind.
Q: What’s your favourite part about being a meeting coordinator for virtual meetings?
A: I love that I have a direct means to create a new experience for people and facilitate a happy environment. Seeing everyone connecting virtually does boost my morale. Executing the meeting in itself is a great feeling, knowing that you helped a group of unit owners hold their meetings while sitting at home is exciting.
