Catherine Kalamidas is account manager for congresses at Rotterdam Partners convention bureau and has been an MPI member since 2017. She is a member of the MPI Netherlands Chapter strategic partnerships commission. During EMEC19, she is helping organize the Leadership and Alumni dinner at Blue City in Rotterdam. The city is also hosting a learning journeys education track Sunday at the Rotterdam Zoo.
What does it mean for you as an MPI member to have EMEC in the Netherlands?
I think it is a great opportunity for The Hague to showcase everything it has to offer, and as it has been a Netherlands effort. Every city and venue has worked together to create the end result, adding to the Team Netherland spirit!
Tell us about the EMEC education event being held at the Rotterdam Zoo.
The event has been organized by my MPI colleagues Jeannette van Namen, Ingrid Rip and Riemer Rijpkema. They had the brilliant idea to invite Patrick van Veen from Ape Management to teach us about leadership by understanding the behavior of the apes. Did you know that some of the animals are fed with rose petals and leaves which have fallen from the plants in the greenhouses in the Westland? And that there is a great legacy story hidden in the tanks of the Oceanium? The shipping company Maersk provides the fresh seawater for the tanks at Blijdorp via the zoo’s own ship, The HaaiBaai (The Shark Bay).
What has been the most memorable part of your career?
I have had a lot of great moments and it would be hard to pick just one. I started out organizing maritime congresses and then made the jump to aerospace, responsible for the ESA Conference Bureau at the European Space Agency with an office in Noordwijk and Frascati. It was challenging work, in service of a big idea, and I enjoyed it immensely. I think the most memorable moment in those 11 years was being on top of the volcano in Tenerife, and visiting the telescope cluster, looking through them into the galaxy beyond. But I am also a huge Rotterdam fan, living here since 1994 and raising my family here. So now I am excited to promote my adopted city in service of another big idea: the Rotterdam of the future. A big moment came when we won the America Society of Mechanical Engineers Turbo Expo and Conference for 2022 at the new Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Center.
What are you most passionate about outside of your career and the meeting industry?
My family. My husband and I just celebrated our 25th anniversary in January, which is a great milestone to achieve of course, but the best thing about it is the family we have founded, and the everyday task of raising our kids, every aspect of it: the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s all part of one big beautiful mess, and I love it.
What’s the best advice someone gave you?
Every piece of valued advice my parents have ever given me was based on the idea of being honest and being kind. My take on it is based on a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson that I love, and live by: “Be silly, be honest, be kind,” because what is life without a little silliness to help you along the way?
What does it mean for you as an MPI member to have EMEC in the Netherlands?
I think it is a great opportunity for The Hague to showcase everything it has to offer, and as it has been a Netherlands effort. Every city and venue has worked together to create the end result, adding to the Team Netherland spirit!
Tell us about the EMEC education event being held at the Rotterdam Zoo.
The event has been organized by my MPI colleagues Jeannette van Namen, Ingrid Rip and Riemer Rijpkema. They had the brilliant idea to invite Patrick van Veen from Ape Management to teach us about leadership by understanding the behavior of the apes. Did you know that some of the animals are fed with rose petals and leaves which have fallen from the plants in the greenhouses in the Westland? And that there is a great legacy story hidden in the tanks of the Oceanium? The shipping company Maersk provides the fresh seawater for the tanks at Blijdorp via the zoo’s own ship, The HaaiBaai (The Shark Bay).
What has been the most memorable part of your career?
I have had a lot of great moments and it would be hard to pick just one. I started out organizing maritime congresses and then made the jump to aerospace, responsible for the ESA Conference Bureau at the European Space Agency with an office in Noordwijk and Frascati. It was challenging work, in service of a big idea, and I enjoyed it immensely. I think the most memorable moment in those 11 years was being on top of the volcano in Tenerife, and visiting the telescope cluster, looking through them into the galaxy beyond. But I am also a huge Rotterdam fan, living here since 1994 and raising my family here. So now I am excited to promote my adopted city in service of another big idea: the Rotterdam of the future. A big moment came when we won the America Society of Mechanical Engineers Turbo Expo and Conference for 2022 at the new Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Center.
What are you most passionate about outside of your career and the meeting industry?
My family. My husband and I just celebrated our 25th anniversary in January, which is a great milestone to achieve of course, but the best thing about it is the family we have founded, and the everyday task of raising our kids, every aspect of it: the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s all part of one big beautiful mess, and I love it.
What’s the best advice someone gave you?
Every piece of valued advice my parents have ever given me was based on the idea of being honest and being kind. My take on it is based on a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson that I love, and live by: “Be silly, be honest, be kind,” because what is life without a little silliness to help you along the way?
