About the author:

Author: Tahira Endean

Tahira Endean, CMP, DES, CED, is a curious event producer, passionate about intentional event design and the integration of now-ubiquitous technology to enhance the human experience at events and everyday. Tahira is committed to the industry and has been recognized for a range of contributions. In 2016, she was named a MeetingsNet Changemaker, and nominated in Vancouver for Global Meetings Industry Day Influencer and MPI BC Chapter Mentor of the Year. In 2015 she was named one of the “Top 5 Women in Event Technology”, was inducted into the Meetings Canada Hall of Fame in the Big Idea category, and most recently was one of Canada’s 20 most Fascinating Women in events from Canadian Special Event magazine. Driven by a fascination with what we are learning about neuroscience and the power of the five senses to enhance memory, knowledge retention and improve connections, she is continually seeking appropriate ways to design the most relevant meeting and event environments. An instructor at BCIT, the British Columbia Institute of Technology, she instructs both Special Event Planning and Sustainable Event Management. She contributed to the 9th CIC Manual which provides the framework for the CMP studies. She is the author of Intentional Event Design: Our Professional Opportunity. Tahira also loves cooking, time with her family, and anything with bubbles!

Articles by Tahira Endean

  • Beyond Event Planning: A New Approach to Experiential Design

    Experiential Design is not new. In fact, we have been doing it for thousands of years. Each time tribes gathered together to celebrate, or travelled to meet, converse and trade, experiences were intentionally designed and history was written. We have connected through ritual, regalia, food, storytelling, performance, pageantry and entertainment all designed to drive emotive human responses. From caves to castles, these connections built and overturned empires and changed the course of history as participants enjoyed spectacles of shared art,…

  • Inclusion, Diversity and Fresh Perspectives

    Excerpt from Intentional Event Design, Our Professional Opportunity As we see movement of our stakeholder expectations from event to experience in a world where global migration and ease of travel ensures a diverse mix of participants will be in attendance, we require a rethink of our traditional skill sets. While all the basic skills from budgeting, site selection, contracting, logistics and design must be solid, there is so much more. Building Experience Delivery Teams Who are the right people to…

  • Women and the new reality of meeting and event planning

    Diversity and inclusion. Closing the gender gap. Breaking through the glass ceiling. Human trafficking and #MeToo. Maternity leave, caregiver leave, daycare and family care; self-care and work-life balance. Flats or heels; business suit or business casual; business travel and minding our safety. These are just a few of the ongoing issues women face, and who in Canada and the United States make up 80 per cent of the meeting, event, tourism and hospitality industry according to Meeting Professionals International. These are…

  • Legacy-building events: Excerpts from “Intentional Event Design, Our Professional Opportunity”

    Hope is a great motivator. When we deliver a mindful experience and positively benefit others, we have a win for participants and organizations. Designing events that foster exchanges is critical to moving society forward, and always has been. Event professionals are developing rich corporate social responsibility programs that make a difference in the lives of those living in the local cultures we touch with our events. These moments are often the pieces with the emotional power to take your programs…

  • Building event value by creating trust

    When I began writing Intentional Event Design: Our Professional Opportunity, it was to delve into and provide information on designing events that are people-centric and purpose-driven. The more I wrote, the more I realized it came down to one thing: using meetings to build trust – in the organization, between teams, and between solution providers and their potential clients. To create environments that allow the time and space for conversations is part art and part (neuro) science, and deeply understanding…

  • Generation C: Those who create, connect, curate and build community in events

    Generation C (Gen C) is a generation identified by GoogleThink who are creating, connecting, curating their own content, and building community. This is not represented by an age, but by an attitude and mindset; not separated by location, but global. It is the “generation” attending our events who are sharing – with each other in the live environment and with their much wider digital, social audiences. They are spreading what they hear, see, learn and connect to much further and…

  • How mutual respect, inclusion and open-mindedness provoke positive experiences at your corporate event

    What are you hiding from? On a recent flight, I was immersed in the story of Hidden Figures, which follows the colored women who were part of the collaborative team behind NASA’s manned space flight program. This movie sparked several thoughts. First, diversity and inclusion start at the top of an organization (or home), and require every single person to have respect for every other person. We must not base our assumptions on skin tone, spiritual belief, educational background, hometown…

  • Meeting design for transformative experiences

    According to dictionary.com, the term meeting has many meanings, and many synonyms. It struck me that the synonyms are the words we need to more carefully consider when we are designing our meetings if we want them to be effective. What do I mean by effective? If we consider the origin of meeting design as a philosophy that began around 2009 with the Meeting Architecture Manifesto, and as a stakeholder deliverable as laid out in the Event Design Handbook in…

  • The power of events in disruptive times

    When “unpredictable” is the new buzzword for the economy, everyone in the meetings and events industry should be a little nervous. We have been through cutbacks, recessions, governances, regulations, and threats from both Mother Nature and other humans, all forever changing our ability to deliver hospitality to our guests in the way we (and our clients) feel they are most deserving of. Yet, as humans, we still travel, meet, attend events, and celebrate all that life brings us. These events…

  • Disruption happens: What are you doing about it?

    For several years, there has been a theme of disruption. Meetings and events are being disrupted by technologies offering everyone access to new models for accommodation, transportation, meeting space booking, and transparent buying of a plethora of goods and services. We receive messaging saying we must integrate now. The question becomes, how do we prioritize our adoptions of new demands and technologies? SWAG! SWAG, the “Stuff We All Get” is a simple shift to start with. While there remains an…