In my past I have been on both sides of 2 different LOBs for Meeting & Events.
WF Securities, IBCM and CIB was a well oil, organized machine. Their in-house dedicated Events Team and all related meetings and events were solely based on M&A, actual financial deals between WFS and a Client/Company. Those were called Road Shows and Deals. Not a penny spared, and all recouped after an IPO or managed M&A between 2 entities. I worked in NYC in WFS and was directly involved with that team based on deals and book of future business for our group in Consumer, Healthcare and Gaming. No spouses unless the deal involved a spouse who was a C level executive or on the BOD for that deal from that company that was part of the M&A. NDA’s were signed by all parties. Even Vendors and Contractors behind the scenes were required to sign NDA’s. (Hotels, audiovisual, catering, etc.) Every penny spent was tracked by a deal code and an associated client code as well as a meeting ID. Costs could be tracked and broken down to a penny for audits and internal financial reviews at the push of a button. Everything was reviewed and approved by Legal and Risk.
Now let’s talk about the sh!t show WF Enterprise Marketing was for Meetings and Events. I posted and accepted a position to be transferred from NYC to Charlotte to be closer to family, parents retired in the South. I accepted a lateral role in Enterprise Marketing in 2012.
Enterprise Marketing under Moldafsky was bloated and spending like a drunken sailor. Unnecessary expenses, technology was always an afterthought and the Meetings and Events team was a mosh pit of caddy women who would be better off planning wedding receptions or baby showers. No value or substance to these Meeting and Events. All sizzle and no substance as one LOB Executive put it. A majority of these meeting and events, 90% were all internal meetings for other LOBs, managed by EM Meeting & Events.
Last minute and day of changes to speakers/presenters, paid speakers with astronomical fees and demands with VIP level demands of hotel suites and green room setups for them and their entourage as if they were Beyoncé or some famous Hollywood Star. They were not. Let’s just say the M&E team was more star struck to cater to these external presenters. Mind you, I witnessed the same treatment when Carrie Tolelstedt was a featured guest speaker, all the while she was running a crime syndicate of fake accounts. I was not star struck or impressed meeting her. She was cold and abrasive.
Last minute printing of meeting packets, agendas, pitch books, attendee and conference materials. Boxes and boxes of WF Branded Swag. Just junk. From expensive pens to cookie jars to whatever had a WF logo imprinted on it.
When one persons corporate card went over their max, expenses would be put on another employees card. Signing of contracts by employees without legal or risk review, because they had a “risk person” embedded on the team. There was no tracking of any of these costs or financials by project code or project/meeting name. You never had a full picture of what was spent and there was never a budget set to begin with.
By 2015 an opportunity and posting for a position came about and I went back to WFS/IBCM. I couldn’t take being in Enterprise Marketing any longer. Worst experience in my professional life.
I thoroughly understand why Enterprise Marketing is loathed and their Meeting and Events team is a waste of resources and salaries. I had first hand experience and witnessed the malfunction and dysfunction in the entire LOB and all Business Units in Enterprise Marketing.