We recently connected with Noelle McInerney and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Noelle, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with something countless entrepreneurs have had to figure out on the fly – how have you dealt with the rise of remote work?

My company is fully remote and we have 14 employees across 8 states. The benefits include schedule flexibility (especially critical for the moms on our team!) and that we have resources close to any major market which saves on travel costs and time. There are pitfalls, however, as well. Building and fostering a collaborative culture is more difficult when so much of our interaction is virtual; no matter how great our cameras are it will never compare to being face to face. It prevents spontaneity in conversations/brainstorms/problem solving and slows down the pace at which our team can build relationships. That being said, in our line of work when we are on site producing events, the days are long and we do get to spend hours upon hours with our colleagues. At Ladidadi we put a lot of love and attention into getting our team together in person at least twice a year for what we call Huddles + Retreats. Coming up – Holiday Huddle in Chicago and then a full team retreat to Ireland in the spring!

Noelle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Ladidadi Events & Incentives is a boutique, corporate event planning agency based in Chicago and operating worldwide.

I started Ladidadi because I knew that it was possible to work in this industry AND be a mom….to travel AND have a life….to work in events AND make good money. I saw cycles of burnout at agencies that led to women leaving the business in order to start a family. I’m proud to say that at Ladidadi, our team of senior producers have a say in how much they travel and which programs they work on. There are still long days/weeks leading up to events, but there’s also time to recover.

Our company has more than doubled in size year over year and grown to a team of 14 women across 8 states. We have found our sweet spot in helping Sales Leaders not only with the logistics and execution of their Incentive Trips and Sales Kick Offs, but in the strategy of HOW to use the trips to push their teams to produce more. We have a focus and we are winning in this space. In fact, we have won four industry awards this year – across four different clients, and what’s really special – four different lead planners. The awards include: Best Recognition Program (Motivation Masters), Hidden Gem Award (Bronze) – Best Recognition Event (Event Marketer), Hidden Gem Award (Silver) – Best Sales Meeting/Event (EM) and Hidden Gem Award (Bronze) – Best Sales Meeting/Event (EM).

This year we also transitioned all team members from 1099 to W2 and have focused intently on elevating and educating our team so we continue to produce award-winning work!

Our event destinations so far this year: Miami, Punta Mita, Riviera Maya, Barcelona, Lisbon, Algarve, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, NYC, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Vegas, Atlanta, North Carolina, Green Bay + Puerto Rico!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When the pandemic shut down live events in 2020, my business came to a screeching halt. I know I’m not alone in this experience as it impacted so many businesses in the hospitality industry. Our pivot was necessary to stay afloat – we took our experiences virtual. We were obviously not alone in this shift, and we knew that technical expertise in virtual events was not where we would win, so we focused our energy on creating at-home physical experiences. For example – we created wine tasting kits and food kits that accompanied a virtual chef experience. We booked live entertainers for virtual gatherings including comedians, magicians, mixologists and even hip-hop ballerinas. At the same time, we worked tirelessly to renegotiate venue + hotel contracts on our clients’ behalf so that they were able to reschedule their events and not cancel. This happened more than once as restrictions lasted longer than anyone had imagined; but we stayed committed and today we are stronger for it.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

At Ladidadi, we focus on three main things to keep us connected and productive:

1) Awareness: We consistently focus on our core values and customer promise. These two things make up our roadmap and with higher awareness has come higher retention, performance and innovation.

2) Belonging: We are committed to making sure that everyone’s voice is heard at Ladidadi. That doesn’t mean everyone’s idea will turn into something we implement BUT it will be discussed and respected. We also focus on how we want people to FEEL at Ladidadi, and are rolling out a People Charter at our upcoming Holiday Huddle! We get together in person at least twice a year at locations around the world to connect and learn.

3) Commitment: This one relates specifically to our leadership team. We are committed to aligning words with action, promises with delivery and vision with reality. We try to show this every day and not just during reviews or programs.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ladidadixm.com
• Instagram: @ladidadixm
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladidadi-xm/

Image Credits
Donny50: Andrew Milne Photography CoverPhoto(Barcelona): Splento Photography 146-SEL: Dennis Lee HEROIMAGE: JJ Studio Copyof…A1331: Pacific Dream Photography