Event Coordinator
I organize Seakeeper’s participation at the smaller boat shows, fishing tournaments, and dealer meetings that our Sales team attends. I make sure they have all the event displays, marketing material, and promotional material that they need and provide them with details about the event before their arrival so they know what to expect. I also attend the small regional boat shows to get everything set up and capture pictures of dock rocks and busy booth traffic, among other tasks.
Before Seakeeper, I worked at a company called Applied Market Information (AMI). AMI organizes events for the plastics industry. I would help approve hotel and AV contracts, find speakers with the latest information in the industry, find vendors that would want to come show off their products, and organize the food for all of our guests. I even organized special events such as facility tours and golf tournaments. At AMI, I organized the events for attendees and vendors to come to, and now I am the vendor. I always think it’s funny how I’ve come full circle.
I started in May of 2022.
Seakeeper has introduced the Seakeeper Ride since I started, and I am now helping to organize events for both the Seakeeper Gyro and Seakeeper Ride sides of the business. The more events, the merrier!
The most challenging job I’ve had to deal with is handling issues that are out of my control. For example, sometimes our marketing material doesn’t make it to the event from the boat show warehouse, even after I have confirmed that the material has arrived. Or a crate doesn’t want to open, and I have to MacGyver my way into it. The most recent issue I had to deal with was an incoming hurricane to Newport, RI. The wind was rough and kept our material grounded, which was interesting!
Becoming independent as quickly as I did. It felt great to be trusted to take on events and organize the smaller boat shows onsite, on my own, so soon after starting. It felt empowering.
I love how much everyone at Seakeeper cares. Being with Seakeeper feels like I have another family, and I’m always so excited to see my team members at boat shows and company events.
I would say the most challenging part of my role is knowing that things can go wrong at any time at a boat show, such as missing material, and I can only control so much of it. But I just take a deep breath, understand that I did everything in my power to do the job right, and then work on finding a solution.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions or ask for help. There is a lot to learn, and no one is expected to grasp everything instantly.
Mayli Curran 100%. She has taken me under her wing and showed me the ropes of event planning at Seakeeper. She continues to teach me new things, and when there is a new issue that I haven’t dealt with at an event before, I ask how she would handle it for future events. I am constantly learning from her and am here today because of her.
My motto is “Build your brand”. To me, this means that I am constantly building myself up to be the person that I want everyone to recognize. I want to be known for certain qualities, such as being helpful, so I work hard to own and manage those qualities. I want to be the person that is thought of when help is needed.
Organizing events saved my life in a way. I grew up with bad social anxiety and if I became too overwhelmed with a situation, my body would physically shut down. Becoming involved in event planning 11 years ago forced me to break out of my shell and learn that everyone is fighting their own battles. We are all just human, no matter what our title is. Now, I absolutely love event planning and meeting new people, and I couldn’t imagine myself in a different role.
