Marie Chaban,CME

Author: 
Amana Arayan

Marie Chaban is a Certified Manager of Exhibits (CME) and the National Business Development Director for Black & McDonald Limited in Toronto, Canada. The company is a highly-respected multi-trade prime contractor for industrial, commercial, institutional and government clients across North America. Marie’s responsibilities are to grow targeted business areas by researching, developing and implementing plans, and to provide marketing communications support for all the company’s North American regions.

Marie is a marketing communications professional, and has promoted the brands of international employers for over 20 years. Both her hands-on and management experiences are extensive. They include the development of annual strategic communication plans, corporate advertising, relationship marketing including trade shows and events, fixed advertising, direct mail, public relations, sponsorships, international tours, product launches, and creating promotional items and presentations.

Marie has had extensive training experience, including having:

  • provided exhibit/event personnel training for major shows and events for more than 13 years;
  • served as a Trainer at TS² Conferences 2002 to 2010. Some of her training sessions were: Leadership Skills for Managing Teams; Exhibiting in Canada; Importance of Synergies in Marketing Communications; Exhibiting Mania; and CME – What’s in it for Me;
  • co-developed custom proposal-generating software, wrote instruction manual for users, setup HelpLine services, and did the software training in Canada; and
  • developed 31 ISO 9000 Sales & Marketing Operational Procedures and trained staff nationwide.

Marie has been a member of TSEA since 1998 and served as a member of TSEA's Education Committee and CME Advisory Council.She enjoys writing and sharing her experiences and innovative solutions for success, peppered with tidbits of wisdom and wit.

When I asked Marie how her TSEA membership has helped her professionally, she told me, "TSEA gave me the best possible venue for enhancing my exhibit management and marketing skills and enabled me to provide the benefits thereof to my employer's marketing programs. Each year, I made a point of demonstrating to management the values of what I'd learned and they responded by continuing to support my training. The year in which I attained my CME, I was promoted and given a raise in addition to gaining respect for the achievement from my colleagues. As a professional, I became more involved in strategic marketing decisions and team leading. And personally, my headspace changed from "doing a job" to "developing my career". The experience taught me never to stop learning and always to give a little effort back to support TSEA in helping others to grow as well."

 

Amana Arayan is the Education Specialist and AboutFace Editorial Assistant
Trade Show Exhibitors Association