Classic Hotels For Spectacular Meetings

PLANNER PROFILE

KIMBERLY SMITH-TANN
ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST
BY CHRIS J. WALKER

Initially, Smith, Ozman & Joseph’s, a meeting and event planning firm in New Jersey close to Philadelphia, focused on large-scale meetings, conferences and conventions. However, recently the 10-year-old company has re-branded itself as “Association Management Specialists.” Kimberly Smith-Tann, president & CEO explained from her office. “My perspective is not just one of a meeting and event planner. I have worked with organizations to help them raise money, to provide executive management services, help them structure their trade shows, etc. We’re realizing (her and silent partners) that we’re more than just meeting planners and we can offer full service association management.”

Coinciding with her company’s new orientation that began in early 2007 is educating new and potential clients about the differences between them and other meeting and event planners. Although not solely inclined to only work with corporations, trade associations and non-profit organizations, the company precludes itself from weddings and occasionally coordinates reunions (negotiates contracts mostly). Yet, religious groups, fraternal associations and universities are additionally part of their mix of clients. Essentially, Smith-Tann is concerned with having “a good fit” and remaining true to her company’s mandate.

An important aspect of that is focusing on the multi-cultural market and creating awareness of what the New Jersey-based professionals offer. “There’s so much potential in that segment,” Smith-Tann noted, “we’re going to make a concerted effort and emphasis on getting more of that business. We’re an African-American-owned business and the majority of our clients (90%) come from people of color. Also, in 10 years we’ve done very little marketing or advertising. But now we’re going to be more aggressive about it with a different spin.” Companies Smith-Tann and her group have worked for previously and also currently include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hopkins and LaSalle Universities and Coca Cola.

Needless to say, the forward-thinking meeting and event planning company has coordinated numerous monumental functions. One that Smith-Tann remembers well is a medical association conference in Washington, D.C. at its convention center. It drew 7,000 attendees from 73 countries staying at 14 different hotels and raised over two million dollars. “That may not have been our biggest, but it stands out in my mind, because it was such a huge blowout,” she proudly cited. The president &CEO also does events out of the country, but pointed out that cost, logistics and lack of familiarization with the players and resources abroad make them somewhat of a rarity.

Smith-Tann is a native of Kansas City, Missouri and earned her B.S. in Speech and M.S. in Education at the University of Central Missouri. She is a member of the National Coalition of Meeting and Event Planners, American Society of Association Executives, Meeting Professionals International, Professional Convention Management Association, International Society of Association Executives, along with the Center for Association Leadership, the International Association for Exhibition Management and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She commented, “I have a passion for professionalism and I was hired in to this company to run the fund-raising, which I believe drives everything.” Since then, Smith, Ozman & Joseph’s has grown tremendously and the president & CEO thrives on the challenges. One of them is finding good talent and she is actively looking for a well-qualified assistant.

In closing she said, “The best thing about this job is that we get to see a beginning and an end. There is always closure, and we have an adage ‘that you don’t have to be sick to get better.’ There is nothing that is flawless and we’re always thinking about how we can improve things.”

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