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Peggy Daidakis has carved her niche as executive
director of the Baltimore Convention Center.
Photo
courtesy of Alain Jaramillo.
By R.V. Baugus
Somewhere in the dictionary, the word “homegrown” has to include a picture
of Baltimore Convention Center executive director Peggy Daidakis. Born,
raised, educated and employed in Baltimore, it is unlikely that Daidakis
took home the ribbon for “Traveled the Farthest” at her high school reunion.
But when it comes to being recognized as one of the industry’s top leaders
and someone who made a mark in 1986 by becoming the first female to ascend
to the top position at a convention center in the United States, it becomes
obvious to anyone’s eyes just how far Daidakis has come in her career.
“I suppose that I’m a rarity,” Daidakis says simply about her career sojourn
from Baltimore to, well, Baltimore. Oh, but she is a rarity in so many other
ways as well, one of an elite group of people who has made an impact on her
family, her place of business and her industry.
Daidakis is a leader who extols the virtues of inclusiveness as part of her
management style. She enjoys expressing desired outcomes and her vision. She
wants other facility personnel to come to Baltimore and ask, “How do you do
it?” Here’s how Peggy Daidakis did it.
It Starts with Family
Daidakis grew up in Baltimore City, a separate incorporated city that’s not
part of a county. She was the youngest of three children and as her name
probably gives away, is of Greek heritage. Her parents were both immigrants
and possessed a solid work ethic.
“We didn’t have much, but what we had we made the best of,” says Daidakis.
“My parents didn’t speak the language, and my sister didn’t speak English
when she went to kindergarten because she never heard it and she was born
here. But my parents truly believed that their kids were going to get a good
education.”
Daidakis’s sister (who passed away four years ago) was a pioneer who
ventured out and attended the University of Maryland. “My parents were
old-fashioned and were afraid that my sister was going to be a bad influence
on me, so when it came time for me to go to college, my parents said I could
go anywhere I wanted — as long as I came home every night,” she says.
“That’s what I did!”
Daidakis commuted to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where she
was in the third graduating class and earned a bachelor of liberal arts in
1973 in sociology and social work. “I wanted to get into child protective
services or foster care at the time,” she says. “But part of me was afraid
that I would get too cold and callous because of all the case loads or I
would be too emotional about it. I took a break and it gave me a chance to
see what was out there.”
In those days the government subsidized jobs with cities around the country.
There happened to be a public employment program in Baltimore that paid up
to two years jurisdiction to apply for a certain number of slots. Daidakis
applied and ended up in Mayor Don Schafer’s office as a staff person
handling constituent services.
“Oh, that basically meant that I was one of about three or four people who
got to respond to letters that came in to the mayor,” she says. “It’s
amazing what people write to the mayor! ‘My garbage hasn’t been picked up. I
have an abandoned vehicle. The trees need trimming. The sidewalk is
cracked.’ We ended up referring them to the various city agencies.”
Career Wheels Set in Motion
Early in her career, it was obvious that Daidakis had the talent to wear as
many hats as Imelda Marcos wears shoes. She was in the mayor’s office for
almost five years and became involved in the restoration of the Inner
Harbor, a project to revitalize a downtown that had basically become a ghost
town following the riots in 1968 that left citizens fearful of returning to
the city.
Daidakis became part of a public information group that created activities
for people to enjoy, whether it was a festival or special event. She also
became part of a group that represented the mayor at community association
activities and helped write some of the speeches. “I really was fortunate to
be involved in such a diverse job,” she says.
Shortly thereafter, the city and state agreed to fund a downtown convention
center that would eventually open on August 9, 1979. In 1978 the labor
commissioner put together a team to be involved in being the staff and
opening up the facility. Daidakis was selected on a temporary basis to put
together a convention and visitors bureau office.
“It was me and one other young lady who set up an office,” says Daidakis.
“We responded to people with associations who said they wanted to come look
at Baltimore for their conventions. That’s how my career got started.”
Sufficiently hooked, Daidakis decided she wanted to remain in public
service. “It turned out I was in the right place at the right time, and my
diverse activities from the mayor’s office allowed me to meet people,” she
says. “At the time we called ourselves account executives. Then I became a
senior account executive and assistant director in 1981.”
Then came the big promotion to executive director in 1986, one that as a
woman in the industry Daidakis is proud of — but even prouder that she
earned the title. “Women should recognize there are opportunities available
to us,” she says. “They should take advantage of every opportunity but they
should not be given any free breaks. We have to work hard, probably a little
smarter than the average facility manager in the country, but we cannot
expect things to be handed to us.
“I’m very proud of that and want to believe it was because I am competent, a
good manager and that I earned it. Was it a bonus for my employer to be able
to appoint a woman in that position? I think so. But I think it was the fact
I worked to earn the privileges of taking over the organization as executive
director.”
Volunteering to Make a Difference
One of the small number of women in the industry that Daidakis bonded with
early in her career was Reba Pittman Walker, who now runs the Washington
Convention Center. The two became fast friends and had a geographical
proximity between them. They also attended IAAM district meetings together
and helped organize a particul ar District 1 meeting for DVP Howard Persina,
which became Daidakis’s springboard in association volunteerism.
“I have enjoyed my work and my volunteerism with IAAM and how much I have
learned in this association,” says Daidakis. “Without it I would never have
met half the people I know now and been able to call my friends, not only
from the convention center world, but arenas, performing arts and all the
different venues.”
Then came a call in 1998 one morning at 9 a.m. from IAAM president John
Smith. “The first thing John said was that you should know better than to
take phone calls from incoming presidents, especially this early in the
morning. He asked if I would consider becoming part of the IAAM Foundation
Board of Directors. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but knew it was a
discipline I had not been exposed to yet.”
While Daidakis admitted that fundraising was not a personal strength (“I was
out of my comfort zone when it came to trying to raise funds in anything
other than bake
sales!”), she served well enough to work her way up the
ladder to become Foundation chair.
There, she concentrated on building individual contributions, a practice
that continues today and is very important as the Foundation approaches
corporations for donations. “One of their questions was always, ‘What
percentage of your members contribute?’ We found that was very little. It’s
nice to see that we started a trend of increasing the member contributions
since I was chair.”
Daidakis is also prominent in working from the convention center industry
with the Destination Marketing Association Intl. (formerly the International
Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus). Realizing that the facilities
must work closely with the CVBs and yet that both are often after the same
markets, Daidakis has taken on an active role as co-chair of a committee to
look at ways the groups can work more closely together.
“We have discovered amongst convention centers and CVBs that business is
very competitive,” she says. “As governments are looking for opportunities
to get new revenue sources and shrink the budgets, they look at convention
centers now that usually have an operating deficit. We take less in than we
spend to come closer to breaking even or making money.
“That has caused conflict in our convention center/CVB world because CVBs
have been promoting destinations and filling hotel rooms. We have found that
we are butting heads. The buildings can’t make the kinds of financial deals
as easily as the CVBs.”
The traditional model has been two separate organizations, but a break in
tradition came when the San Diego Convention Center took the lead in selling
the citywide conventions and trade show business rather than the CVB. But
what the move also meant was that the two entities now had an opportunity to
see if there were some new business models that would work to the benefit of
both groups.
As dialogue continues between the groups, Daidakis sees some best practices
that can be expanded to include hotels and facility customers. “I feel very
good about the fact that we’ve had dialogue,” she says. “It wasn’t always
pretty, but we have wanted this to be an open, honest dialogue. We don’t
want to confuse the customer. We want to show the customer that we are a
team. We want their experience at our destinations to be a good one.”
Always Looking to Improve
Whether it is serving the IAAM Foundation, toiling on behalf of the
convention center industry or overseeing a staff of 200 fulltime employees
and 100 in part-time capacities, Daidakis is never one to sit still.
“I am not satisfied with what we did yesterday, just because it worked
yesterday,” she says. “The competitive edge makes you think differently. I
challenge my employees to come up with something new and different to help
us stand apart from another center.”
Daidakis then hits on a leadership mantra: “I want our employees to be
independent, but I don’t want them to be alone in getting through the tasks
or responsibilities. I want lots of dialogue with my staff. I don’t want
them walking out the door puzzled about what their mission is.”
Knowing their mission, Daidakis believes, will translate into a positive
experience for an attendee at her venue. “People want the bells and whistles
before they step in the door, but what’s going to make a difference is our
hand-holding, preparation and friendliness not only to customers but
attendees.”
Daidakis surveys her facility and beams with pride at how it has grown under
her leadership. She recalls the challenge of the $150 million expansion and
renovation that was finished in 1997. “Usually you inherit somebody else’s
thoughts and influences and how it should work, but this was a project that
I had something to say about,” she says. “I wasn’t the only person involved
in it, but the team came to me and my staff and asked, ‘How should it work?’
“I look back at that as, wow, what an opportunity any individual should
have, to be involved in a project of that magnitude and when it was finished
to actually putting business in there.”
This is the success story of the immigrant family and by extension the
native daughter. And if it is all Greek to Peggy Daidakis, well, it should
proudly be.
fm
R.V. Baugus is editor for Facility Manager..
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