Tracy Stuckrath
Founder and Chief Connecting Officer, thrive! meetings & events
New Bern, N.C.
Describe your job.
I have many different roles. As an event planner, I help clients produce live experiences for their audience by either overseeing the entire planning process or managing a specific aspect, such as food and beverage.
As a consultant, I partner with organizations to establish industry best practices, mitigate risks, enhance event experiences, and boost profitability through strategic food and beverage choices. I guide meeting planners and food service professionals in making informed decisions, ultimately leading to successful and memorable events.
As host of the Eating at a Meeting podcast and Facebook group, I engage with experts to educate the events industry on leveraging food and beverage as tools for creating safe, sustainable, equitable, and inclusive event experiences.
What made you choose the meetings and events industry?
It started when I was in college at North Carolina State University (NCSU). I was majoring in public relations and marketing, and I became the social chair for my Chi Omega sorority chapter. Planning events for the sorority was right up my alley. It was a good job that allowed me to gain experience with managing event details. From there, prior to opening thrive! meetings & events, I spent 18 years creating, managing, and executing events for two Olympic Games, consumer and trade magazines, private corporations, and associations.
How did you get started and what got you from there to today?
My first event jobs were planning sorority socials, but there was one unique job: planning ‘Condom Awareness Week’ for the NCSU Health Center. My best memory of that event was my boss buying and asking me to wear a condom hat while I hosted an information table. I was mortified. I don’t remember wearing it, but I probably did.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I do today and what I did back then. I even jokingly say that when I was a kid, I wanted to be a crossing guard. That is essentially what I do as an event planner and consultant: I help people get across the street by either navigating the event buffet safely or creating that experience with the safety and equitability of guests and employees in mind.
How do you keep up with industry trends, changes, and cutting-edge developments?
I read the latest industry trade publications, of course, but since my main focus is on food and beverage, I also read industry publications for that. I talk to and listen to farmers, sustainability advocates, chefs, doctors, eaters, event planners, and servers who work in food and beverage to understand what we need to do now and what we need to think about for tomorrow.
What essential skills should every industry professional possess?
I think the most important skills include tenacity, flexibility, being able to think on your feet, and creativity. Tenacity allows us to persevere through planning and execution. Being flexible helps us adapt to changing situations and enables us to cater the specific expectations of our clients, vendors, and attendees. Events are dynamic, and things rarely go exactly as we imagine in our best-laid plans; being able to think on your feet is crucial for coming up with quick and effective solutions for unexpected issues.
What is the philosophy or approach to work that gets you through stressful times?
Take a deep breath, get outside to walk, and find the laughter in whatever is stressful. Years ago, I was onsite producing an event when I got a call that my grandmother had passed away. I bawled at first, of course, but what got me through that was the laughter that came from being told she was being ‘put on ice’ for a few weeks because the rest of the family was on vacation out of the country. Of course, sometimes what you need is just to find a quiet room to yell your heart out!
What is the best professional advice you ever received, and what advice do you have for others in the industry?
Actually, I just heard this advice a few days ago from a recent NCSU graduate who said you need to figure out who you are going to be, not what you are going to do.
My advice to others is to look for opportunities. No matter your passion or skill set—accounting, design, cooking, planning, cleaning, organizing—there are phenomenal experiences to be had and opportunities to create in the events industry that will let you be who you want to be and do what you love to do.
Describe your biggest professional success.
Launching my business and the podcast and being named among the Top 25 Women in the Meetings Industry.
Share an anecdote about a meeting or event that did not go as planned (something funny or odd) and how you handled it.
I was managing the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival tasting tents in 2013. One of the mornings before the tents opened, it was pouring rain. The water was flooding some of the tents. We were tearing apart cardboard boxes and bales of hay to place on top of the muddiest areas so that in two hours, the guests would be able to get in and out of the tents without walking in mud. My colleague was trying to get the local meteorologists on the phone to see when the rain would end, to no avail. I remembered that one of the chefs I had recruited had just been on the Today show and had traded text messages with Al Roker. I texted her to see if she could ask him for us. It worked! Al Roker told us the rain would subside within the hour, and we could expect an afternoon of blue skies. He was right!
What is the best part of your job?
Being able to create experiences where people feel welcomed and safe. As I mentioned, when I was a kid, I used to joke about wanting to be a crossing guard when I grew up. But really, I find a lot of similarities between the job of a crossing guard and an event planner. We both are responsible for the safety of the people we serve. And in both roles, we get to interact with a variety of people daily to create a positive experience.
What do you like to do in your free time?
In the fall, I love to attend NCSU football games! Otherwise, I enjoy driving with the top down on my Mini Cooper convertible, exercising outside, and spending time with my family.
