First up, a new member – Jenifer Stanek, Expo Director for the Buffalo Marathon!
1. Tell us a little about how you got into the business events industry.
I started while working for the New York State Education Department. I attended trade shows across the nation marketing our data warehousing suite, in addition, to serving on the executive committee for the Data Analysis Technical Advisory Group. In this role I coordinated keynote speakers, workshops, and breakout sessions to promote best practices for data origination, maintenance, and reporting for NYS educators.
2. What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love taking an idea and making it into a reality – creating something out of nothing (i.e. an empty expo floor and, voila, an amazing trade show!) The hard work if the logistics, planning, and coordination behind the scenes are all worth it the day of the event.
3. What’s the most fun or productive thing you’ve done in quarantine?
Well, it’s not exactly fun, but I have expunged my entire house, going space by space selling, donating, and reorganizing/decluttering. I also have been reading a lot and my favorite has been Rob Lowe’s The Stories I Only Tell My Friends.
4. Share your favorite recipe!
I would share my apple pie recipe, but that one is a secret, so I’ll give you typical Buffalo with a healthy twist:
INGREDIENTS
Chicken wings (flats and drumettes, either fresh or thawed from frozen)
1 tbsp Gluten-free baking powder
3/4 tsp Sea salt
1/4 tsp Black pepper
Air Fryer Crispy Chicken Wings
In a large bowl, toss the wings with baking powder. Grease 2 racks for the air fryer oven. Place the wings onto the greased racks in a single layer. Place the racks or basket into the air fryer and cook for 15 minutes at 250 degrees.
Flip the wings over and switch the trays, so that the top is on the bottom and vice versa. Increase temperature to 400 degrees (or the highest your air fryer goes). Air fry for about 45 minutes, until chicken wings are done and crispy.
Second, a winner from our 2019 NYPCMA ACE Awards. Tina Gaerlan CMP is a Senior Conference Planner at IEEE Communications Society, and won the #SocialButterfly award for her awesome engagement with and promotion of NYPCMA online.
1. Tina, tell us a little about how you got into the business events industry.
My first job was in the marketing department in Oracle EMEA, based in Paris, France. I worked on promoting Oracle’s presence at partner tradeshows and conferences. While I enjoyed planning Oracle’s participation at all of these events throughout Europe, I became more interested in organizing the conferences themselves.
2. What’s your favorite part of your job?
I enjoy the project management / problem-solving part of it. Sometimes people don’t know how they want to do an event, or they have ideas but are not sure what is possible or how to execute their idea. I enjoy organizing their ideas and giving them options on what is possible within their timeframe or their budget.
3. What’s the most fun or productive thing you’ve done in quarantine?
I’ve actually been learning through YouTube on how to be a better YouTuber from a technical aspect. I’ve been watching videos on how to edit videos better, how to create reaction videos (with the dual screen) and how to use my phone as a webcam (better quality) instead of my laptop camera. I find all of this fascinating and I can’t believe how many resources are available online!
4. What was your favorite social media post involving NYPCMA?
I really liked the NYPCMA Chapter Bingo post! I didn’t get bingo, but I thought this was fun! It made me wonder if something like this (or other games or activities) could be shared during the virtual conferences to engage the audience.
5. Share your favorite recipe!
Roasted Chickpeas Snack
1 12 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed and pat-dried with paper towel
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pinches of salt*
1 pinches of pepper*
1/2 tsp garlic powder*
1/2 tsp crushed chili pepper*
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. In a small bowl, mix together salt, pepper, garlic powder and crushed chili pepper. Set aside. Bake dried chickpeas in the preheated oven on the prepared baking sheet for 15 minutes (don’t add other ingredients yet).
Remove the chickpeas from the oven and drizzle olive oil over the chickpeas, stirring until evenly coated.Add spice to the chickpeas and stir until evenly coated. Bake at 400 for 10 more minutes, then stir. Return stirred chickpeas to the oven and bake them for an additional 5-10 minutes until desired crispiness is achieved (a total of 35-40 minutes of baking).Turn off the oven and crack the door open. Let chickpeas cool in the oven to achieve maximum crispiness
*You can just add salt and pepper alone, or add your own spice mix.
