By R.V. Baugus
Darlene Somers, CMP DES, has heard the talk from client friends she has worked with in the past in the hospitality industry when she shared about her new employment as Director of Meetings at IAVM: “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re a part of IAVM! I’m so excited to see you in Atlanta!”
Indeed, Somers, who carries an impressive portfolio of more than 20 years experience as an 
association management event professional in the world of hospitality, likes to say that her newest career move “makes the circle complete.”
Somers is just as excited to attend VenueConnect and while she will not have the full thrust of responsibility for the position as next year will carry in Phoenix, she looks forward to observation, learning, and, yes, meeting some of those past acquaintances as well as getting to say hello and meeting attending IAVM members.
“What a blessing to be able to attend VenueConnect,” Somers said. “Not that I’ve got free time, but just to learn about all the parts that make VenueConnect so special. It will almost be from an attendee standpoint for me. When you’re staff all you really see is behind the curtain and you’re very much backstage looking at how the machine works. I will have an opportunity to see it from the opposite side and come back behind the curtain to help make it all come together. I see it as a blessing to be able to attend this meeting before I’m responsible.”
Somers comes to IAVM from her own business with DWS Project & Event Management and prior to that served as Senior Meetings Manager with the Association Management Center from 1996-2020.
“My previous experience has been a lot about building and maintaining functioning teams,” Somers aid. “The company (AMC) worked for a lot of associations all at one time, talking four or five associations, and all of their events were my responsibility. For every client that I worked with or every team that I worked with, it was all different. The dynamics were different, the people were different, and the objectives were different, but it was all about serving the client and bringing the best value to them.”
While COVID-19 resulted in a layoff from a long-time position, Somers offered advice that they used during that time. Mostly, there is no shame in having a career stalled or derailed by a pandemic.
“I call it my time of forced self-reflection,” she said. “It would have been a shame to have wasted that opportunity. Just think deeply about what it is you want to do and what value you can still bring.”
Somers now has one group to work with and concentrate on to bring value, and that is to the IAVM membership and the events and meetings that are held.
“I really look forward to getting down to the granular level of member support,” she said. “To really just understand what members need and give them things that they need before they need it.
“I really wanted to work for AN organization. That was sort of my motivation in looking at IAVM. I did a lot of research and talked to many of my contacts in the industry. I’ve been very involved in PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) from the very beginning and have worked with folks mainly in convention centers and some performing arts buildings. To work directly and serve an industry that I have been a partner to all these years has me really excited.”
In addition to being an active member of PCMA, Somers has served on several international committees and task forces. In addition, she co-authored a chapter in Professional Meeting Management, 6th edition, and has been a highly rated speaker at industry events. She is a committed volunteer with the local Cultural Arts Festival and Fridays@4, an organization focused on helping association and nonprofit leaders develop meaningful connections and skills for career success.
With football season approaching, it is worth noting that Somers took 1st place in her inaugural attempt at playing Fantasy Football and is eager to defend that title this season. She is married with two young adult children, has one dog who wandered up to her house and never left, and is “babysitting more bottles of red wine that any one person really needs.”
Somers holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas A&M University and earned a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from the University of South Florida, Muma College of Business.
As for her hiring in July immediately followed by a plane trip to Atlanta for IAVM’s biggest annual event, Somers could only say that it is like “drinking from a fire hose.”
The faucet to that hose has been turned on, and IAVM members can rest assured the Association’s new leader as Director of Meetings is ready to extinguish any fire set before her.
