Lets Talk About it
“Our company can be depended on to support whatever meeting or event is under consideration… the size of a cottage or a skyscraper – they all have a cornerstone.”
Trust
Respect
Devotion
Loyalty
Kathi Almeida, founder of Cornerstone Meetings & Events, is often asked how she decided on the name of her company. “A cornerstone is the base of a building, joining two walls. I like to think of the building as a meeting and the logistics and hospitality being those two walls.” Kathi continues, “Our company can be depended on to support whatever meeting or event is under consideration… the size of a cottage or a skyscraper – they all have a cornerstone.” “And, I grew up in Massachusetts and in my hometown, you cannot go 10 yards without seeing a stonewall. The stone concept sunk in!”
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Biltmore Hotel Miami historyDelano South Beach before leveraging her sales market experience (production and entertainment) to join the commercial/film industry. Kathi sharpened her logistics skills on several major motion pictures. (Ask her for a Bill Murray story!)
Upon returning to meeting planning, she joined Gray Consulting and worked her way to Director of Operations, managing a team of 16 planners and a roster of over 65 contractors. She happily worked with Gray in several positions for 18 years. She’s planned meetings as small as 10 to as large as 2,000 people. Kathi’s attention to detail, focus on excellence as well as her sense of humor has resulted in her building a team of loyal, highly seasoned colleagues.
Kathi has lived in Massachusetts, St. Croix, NJ (Go Rutgers!), Savannah, and on the east and west coasts of Florida….lived weeks and weeks in Paris, Spain… She has gone as far as Calgary, Prague and Berlin to see Pearl Jam. She once flew across the country for a dinner at The French Laundry. In 2011, she followed the Red Sox around Florida for Spring Training. SheShe currently lives in Clearwater but is always on the move!
Meet Our Meetings & Events Team
Our MO: Elbow Bump. Listen. Consult. Devise. Deliver. Exceed. Hand Shake.
(Maybe even a virtual hug.)
The Cornerstone team has years (shhhh, we won’t say how many, but a lot) of experience that’s led to a set of best practices which are applied through the planning and execution process. While we use our experience to design the best plan of action, we believe that we should be flexible. Engaging others for feedback insures our plan is right for the specific city, venue, meeting objective, group of attendees….. We ask a lot of questions to our clients, our vendor partners, our colleagues… ourselves. (When and where you opt to talk to yourself can be tricky, though!)
We like our boutique size. We aren’t working to become that big guy. We want happy, content clients who value our opinion and want to work with us. We work too hard to worry about being a small fish in a big vendor pond. We’ll reply to your email and questions quickly. We take responsibility for our work. And we’ll continue to work as hard on day 1 as day 1,000. We won’t get lazy because well, that’s just not who we are. And, you are not one client on a long roster – we personally know you and like you and want to be the best partner we can be.
Hospitality is equally as important as accurate logistical details to us – we represent our clients to their attendees and we understand that. We like people. We like pleasing them. We like it when attendees smile. We like it when attendees can be productive and feel that time spent away from their family was well spent. We do not like it when attendees are unhappy. Or confused about where to go next. Or hungry.
Due diligence maintains our high standard of care. Most of us are Type-A. We just cannot help checking logistical details again. Uhm, triple-checking? Check, check, check! And we take that due diligence seriously when we manage costs and compliance, too.
We use our imaginations a lot. We are not afraid to make crazy suggestions because can spark the creativity in others.
Our consultative planning sets the stage for outstanding on-site management. Our team consists of smart, experienced and dedicated individuals who sincerely want clients and attendees walking away pleased that they invested the time and energy into a productive meeting.
Balancing hospitality and learning, with cost containment and other corporate concerns isn’t always easy. But at our meetings, our stakeholders walk away satisfied the business, financial and compliance goals were met…. And our attendees walk away knowing that the company they work for values them, their time and their efforts.
Aaah, success. Mic drop.
About
© 2018 Cornerstone Meetings & Events. All Rights Reserved
© 2018 Cornerstone Meetings & Events. All Rights Reserved