From Awkward to Dangerous: 6 Planners Share #MyStory

It’s hard to find a meeting professional who hasn’t been a victim of or witnessed sexual harassment, though not everyone is ready to share their experiences. Six meeting professionals tell their stories of sexual harassment to shine a light on the effects of effects of unwanted advances in at conferences and events, and at the office.

#MyStory

—Anonymous

#MyStory

I had just started working for an incentive planning company in Chicago. I was young, recently divorced, and I had a toddler. The president of the company called me into his office and said, ‘We have some important clients coming into town, and we’d like you to take them to a Bulls game. The job is to go with them in the limo, see that they have a good time, take them out on the town. You don’t go into the game; wait in the limo, and when they’re done with the game, entertain them.’ I said, ‘Why me? Downtown Chicago with a bunch of guys I don’t know in a limo? Don’t you have salespeople whose job it is to do this kind of thing?’ I was a meeting planner. He said, ‘Because you’re young and attractive and you’re the kind of person they’d like to be entertained by.’ I asked, ‘What if I say no?’ When he replied that I’d lose my job, I said, ‘I’ll save you the trouble’ and walked out.

—Lisa Palmieri, vice president, global enterprise solutions, Meetings & Incentives Worldwide

#MyStory

—Sandy Biback, owner, Imagination+Meeting Planners, and founder, Meeting Planners Against Human Trafficking

RELATED READING: Click here for the complete package from our #MeetingsToo coverage.

#MyStory

—Anonymous

#MyStory

—Debi Scholar, GLP, GTP, CMM, DES, SSGB, CTE, global cross-divisional category leader/director, virtual meetings, division category congress and events, Novartis

#MyStory

—Anonymous

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