Do It! Alisa Walsh Shares Her Plans As SITE SoCal Chapter 2020 President

2019 President Brian Griffith with 2020 President Alisa Walsh

On December 9th the SITE SoCal tribe gathered in Palm Springs to install the 2020 SITE Southern California Chapter President, EW's very own Director of Business Development, Alisa Walsh.

Alisa Walsh: "In front of 700 of my closest industry colleagues, I had the honor of stepping into Brian Griffith's shoes as the SITE Southern California 2020 Chapter President! It was such an incredible evening raising money for our charities, and I can't wait to get this next decade of incentive travel professionals going! I am very grateful to my personal family and my EW family who all came out to support me!


We are very proud of Alisa's hard volunteer work for and dedication to SITE and we are looking forward to her year as Chapter President.
Alisa is a consummate event professional and brings her knowledge, skills and enthusiasm to every event assignment.
We asked Alisa to tell us more about her 2020 professional goals.


Alisa and her family, from left to right: Jeffrey Foskett, mom Diana Strannigan Foskett, Orion Hailu, Alisa, dad Dave Walsh, Linda Shepard Walsh, Janet Elkins and Ted Bowers.

EW: Alisa, how does combing your roles, Director of Business Development and SITE SoCal Chapter President, enhance what you do? How does it play together?

Alisa: "I am so fortunate to have the support of EventWorks. Their recognition of SITE Southern California's role in our industry and the value that being a part of this association brings to it makes this possible for me. As we know SITE is a volunteer organization. As president it will require a great deal of my time, as it already did last year in my role as president elect. I could not do this without the support of my leadership at EventWorks because of the amount of time it takes out of my day-to-day job. I m so grateful to my mentors, Janet and Ted, for encouraging me and allowing me to do this. 

It takes a village. I have a fantastic 2020 board in place but as president of SITE a lot of the responsibilities fall on my shoulders. I could not do this without EW's blessing. 

Of course, from my point of view as Director of Business Development it will open many doors for me to enhance my networking opportunities with clients from all around the globe. I will be attending the SITE Global Conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in a few weeks. It is a great opportunity to meet with international event planners from large companies and corporations, that are a great match for what we at EventWorks have to offer as global event producers. 

It is a really synergistic match."

EW: Every SITE president brings his or her personality to the role. What are your goals as 2020 president? What would you like to continue and what new aspects would you like to implement?

Alisa: "The theme for 2019 was "Back to the Basics" and while thinking about what messaging I wanted to bring into 2020 I thought that I really want to jump start into this new decade. Back to the Basics gave us a solid foundation. Now let us take that foundation and let us take action and move forward. I am a sports enthusiast as you know and I really love the action oriented call to action of "Do It". That is the 2020 theme for our chapter: Do It! We are going to take some risks and think about holding events in unexpected locations, outside of hotel properties, get creative and showcase that the incentive industry can stretch their limits and think outside of the box. Often times we are afraid to make changes because of the extra work involved or fear of failure but we are going to do it. I encourage all of our members to think about that in their professional lives and also their personal lives, to push themselves during this decade ahead."

EW: What is your personal plan or motto for 2020?

Alisa: "In line with the motto "Do It" I want to embrace change. The event industry is undergoing a transition.  A lot of different players are getting involved in experiental marketing and every one is looking at the value of holding special events and incentive programs these days. I am looking forward to partnering with my executive committee staff at EventWorks to really embrace that change and launch us into these next ten years of events and what that looks like. It is an ever changing industry that has continued to evolve over 30 years and we are excited to develop within the industry trends."

Click the image to get your tickets.

Join Alisa at the KICK-OFF 2020 EVENT.

"I can't wait to install this incredible Board of Directors and reveal our charity contributions after a fabulous Holiday Event. We can't wait to see you all there!"