Where Are They Now? A Q&A with Megan Allday
“My mission is bringing people together for the greater good. Obviously I am Red Cross Red Crescent focused and the reason I first applied to the American Red Cross was because I found myself having birthday parties that were fundraisers for Hurricane Katrina or whatever disaster was happening at the time. Besides RCRC I support local annual shelters, hunger charities, water charities, health charities and organizations that support anything I or my friends are dealing with.”
We recently reached out to ARCAN member Megan Allday whose work has taken her around the world. Megan worked as the global events manager in International Services at Red Cross National Headquarters from 2005 to 2016. In 2017 she parlayed that experience and skills gained at earlier jobs into opening her own business, Confluence Global Meetings and Events. The following Q&A only touches upon her many stories. We learn her five most essential items to pack and how to pack for an eight-week trip; celebrities she’s traveled with or arranged travel for; advice to anyone considering opening their own business; and more.
“My best six weeks in a carryon… included Nairobi for the PanAfrican Conference (hot weather work clothes), Dubai for COP-28 (hot weather work clothes), Geneva for the presidential election of Kate (cold weather work clothes), a week off in Edinburgh (jeans), then a formal wedding near Manchester at Xmas (long gown and heels). There was a lot of laundry and tightly rolling stuff!! I amazed even myself. My carryon did look like the Beverly Hillbillies a bit, with jacket and water bottle strapped to the outside…And I do borrow a coat when I can in Geneva!”
Who are some of the celebrities you’ve arranged logistics for and what programs were they advocating for?
Sidney Poitier. Ahhhh. A true gentleman. I’ll never forget the three passes around the tree on the slave ship beach in Western Benin – he led our African and African American colleagues on this trip around the tree, where the slaves left their breath before boarding the ships. He was on a Measles Initiative trip alongside the head of Paramount Pictures Sherry Lansing. We tried to take Amanda Peet to Uganda for Measles and Rubella campaigns, but her schedule couldn’t work because our ship was delayed….we tried! She was fun to work with on the planning anyway. Elisabeth Rohm of Law and Order in Vietnam Cambodia.
What are some of your most memorable trips/projects you worked on at Red Cross?
China Earthquake: Visiting Chengdu after the earthquake. It felt like a spooky ghost town.
India: Spending a night (until 5:30 a.m.) debating Red Cross/Crescent policies and communications with Swedish arms dealers in New Delhi, accompanied by a “comms goddess” from another Red Cross National Society who shall remain nameless.
Working with volunteers everywhere.
Chad: Dancing with then American Red Cross Chairperson Bonnie McElveen-Hunter and the French-speaking head of the Chad Red Cross in a refugee camp, interpreting for her and her dance partner.
The Kenya Measles Campaign: Getting my new Kenyan names from volunteers and colleagues from various tribes all over the country. Very moving! I use these names every time I am in Kenya:
Mwende—loved one; Cherop—born during the rain; Chemtai—born early morning; Ubah—flower or rose (because of my pink complexion); and Nasimiyu—born during dry season (sunny and windy)—it indicates a gift of gab and the ability to persuade others effortlessly.
Ethiopia: Eating dinner in someone’s home with all the local traditions, and Daniel Cima’s amazing photography. (Daniel was a long-time full time staff photographer at Red Cross who became a freelance photographer and continued his work with Red Cross and other global and national organizations)
Benin Measles Campaign: Preventing a donkey from taking a bite out of my favorite Board member’s behind, by inserting mine between teeth and Board member, and looking all over for a celebrity’s tuna can opener which she lost–but canned tuna from home was all she would eat in Benin. (Celebrities sometimes traveled with Red Cross delegations to help promote support of overseas programs)
I realized that when people from Africa look at your camera images of them, it's not because they are curious about the camera or phone itself–it’s because most have never seen themselves before, they have no mirrors! Kids were peeking into our side view mirror and pointing to each other – that’s YOU! And realizing that the reason they were hanging their plastic bags of mosquito netting on the walls as artwork was because they had never seen anything so clean before, such as that white plastic rectangular bag. We had to pivot and stop just handing out bags – we had to slice open the bags neatly, take out the nets, and then show them that they could still hang up the empty bag as artwork!
Tell us more about your Donor/celebrity/leadership trip logistics and security work.
I have heard that my briefing memos are legendary (ha!) and we use those to brief celebs, donors, Board members etc. on safety in the area, what to eat and not to eat, what to bring and not bring... On the advance trip, I hammer all of the security out: 1) transportation (cars/Land Cruisers, checking for seatbelts, kicking the tires, testing out the roads to be sure they are passable, checking out the drivers; aircraft when I had to charter that…); 2) hotel or venue (disaster plans, locations, proximity to medical facilities, route for airport, languages spoken by staff in case of disaster/emergency, water and food safety/allergies/medications needed by our travelers); 3) current political situation in the area (travel.gov, STEP registration, ICRC security or IFRC security briefings and maps, election schedule…) 4) I keep my IFRC Security Manager and Personal Security certifications current.
Can you share any examples of unexpected challenges that arose during travel?
All the random unexplainable food we were supposed to eat: Dealing with the food in a refugee camp (the animal had been hung upside down draining all day in 115 degree heat!) and trying to ensure everyone eats my protein bars instead—you shoud bring protein bars and your own water, and listen for the cap to snap open showing that it was sealed.
Colombia with the FARC still hanging around and us having to lie down in our vehicles on the advance trip because our names were apparently “on a list”…but wow what a great trip with the best disaster simulations I have ever seen! Kids were lying there with fake blood and chicken bones standing in for their own broken bones…and one little girl was waiting to be found just giggling…but travel for that whole trip was difficult, lots of flights and landing in tough places because driving was more dangerous.
Chartering planes in Madagascar with the airport building closing around me while on the phone with the PCard support (was the driver still outside hours later after dark, waiting for me? Yes he was!) and then Air Madagascar SELLING our empty seats to random strangers at the airport. I noticed this when I saw our chartered flight on the board. They had taken our contract and added in pencil, “we can sell any seat the Red Cross is not using.” Not so much! I was standing in an X shape in the door of the aircraft until we took off, blocking access from these random strangers coming up the boarding stairs for whom we had no insurance.
Being asked for things American Red Cross couldn't give, like airports and runways.
You’re next headed to Geneva to support the IFRC’s role in the General Assembly. Can you tell us about that?
The purpose of the conference is to set the humanitarian agenda of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. This year: the General Assembly (GA), made up of delegates from all member National Societies and the IFRC, and the Council of Delegates (COD), which brings together National Societies, the IFRC and the ICRC, will meet and determine the general policies of the IFRC – the vision and strategy and the general policies that govern the International Federation and the National Societies. Delegates from all 191 recognized National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are invited. During this year’s General Assembly we will also hold the elections of the IFRC President and the Governing Board members. Kate Forbes is running for IFRC President again this year.
My role began as volunteer recruitment, training and management and the IFRC has brought me over to Geneva since 2007 where I stay in a studio apartment in Moillebeau and spend a few months with them on the ground doing this work. Of course, the first year was a bit random, I’d leave my desk and come back to little post it notes: “My grocer’s son speaks Arabic, maybe give him a call to see if he’d want to volunteer”? So, we came up with a Volunteer Manual, team descriptions and a website for registration. I roll over the site every time I come and open it for registration a few months before the meetings. I have also created a robust list of organizations and universities from whom I source volunteers, and we also source from retirees and alumni.
We have between 200-350 volunteers working in 15-35 teams. We provide mandatory briefings for them at IFRC NHQ, and they pick up their volunteer polos there and meet their team members and leaders after a cohesive overview briefing by leadership from ICRC and IFRC, and I provide a tour for them of the Geneva International Conference Center.
In recent years with staff cuts in Geneva, we have also added to my plate the office moves for IFRC staff. This takes one to two 18-wheeler trucks which I book, help load/unload at CICG and IFRC, and ride with! We also create the Information Document sent to all NSs before they travel. I LOVE my colleagues there and we have many fun stories, including a mysterious intruder at the 2024 Statutory Meetings whom we had to have our Security track down through video surveillance!
What are a couple of your favorite organizations/projects you have supported?
My mission is bringing people together for the greater good. Obviously I am Red Cross Red Crescent focused and the reason I first applied to the American Red Cross was because I found myself having birthday parties that were fundraisers for Hurricane Katrina or whatever disaster was happening at the time. Besides RCRC I support local annual shelters, hunger charities, water charities, health charities and organizations that support anything I or my friends are dealing with.
How did you get into event planning and logistics?
My mom, probably! Always a very organized and enthusiastic event planner. My first job back in Washington, D.C. after six years living in Paris was at American Express Global Assist, and that gave me the taste for logistics. We were a call center and could airlift you out of Africa or wherever, bail you out of jail, do a prescription transfer, remains repatriation….so I worked there in the medical queue for U.S. card members in French-speaking countries or French-speaking cardmembers in the Americas. After that, I went to the Embassy of France in D.C. in their cultural department to do their events. It all just kind of gelled from there! We didn't have degrees in meeting and event planning then, as we do now.
When did you earn your Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM)?
In 2007, and masters in interpretation in French/English and English-French in Paris, in the last century!
What do you miss most about working full time at the American RedCross?
I’m lucky to still have the drive, curiosity, love of travel and mission passion I had while at national headquarters, so I guess what I miss is the daily camaraderie.
When did you leave Red Cross and what do you like about owning your own business?
I left in the International Services layoff of 2016. I love the flexibility and hustle of owning my own business! I am working less and earning more annually, but yes it is hard work to keep going and connecting and proving your worth and relevance every single day!
When did you form your consultancy?
January 2017 – with thanks to Wendy Ward for bringing me back to work at American Red Cross on The North American Humanitarian Response Initiative (NAHRI) extreme disaster tripartite meetings in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Thanks to Wendy, I became a consultant! And thanks to all of my former colleagues who continue to bring me onto their conference planning teams! 2027 should be busy with the regional meetings coming up: the InterAmerican Conference and the PanAfrican Conference are both happening in 2027, probably Europe.
Please share anything you’d like to about your home life, husband, how you met, children?
Michael and I had two dates in high school, but it didn’t go beyond that. We have always been close friends and spent holidays together with our friends in Dallas, even when he was married and I was otherwise involved. Then we got back together in 2016 right around the time of the layoff! He was having some scary symptoms though and we traveled the country seeing specialists who said it was probably ALS. So, I high tailed it to Dallas, a city I never thought I would live in again, to help deal with that. BUT it turned out not to be that. It is another muscle wasting disease that is a relative of ALS, but thankfully treatable (not curable, but not fatal). He comes from the hotel industry, so I love it when he accompanies me on work trips. He even volunteered for the InterAmerican Conference in the Bahamas! He’s an actor in films, and doing some screenwriting. His daughter, my bright and quirky step, is in film school in Colorado. We have a ball together!
What do you like to do for fun? Hobbies?
International travel! Anything new to me really 111 countries visited so far, many of them through the American Red Cross! And film, fitness, museums, local food/drink…anything connecting authentically to where I am.
What advice would you share with ARCAN members considering opening their own consultancy/business?
It’s not one size fits all. You really need to hustle and put yourself out there in social media etc., and that is not always comfortable. Work your network – I am SO FORTUNATE to have these amazing colleagues/friends in Geneva and Washington and around the world who recommend me and hire me to do this thing that I love, and that has the benefit of also being meaningful. Our RCRC family is truly generous and supportive. I also would advise always supporting the small businesses of others – keep your eyes open for opportunities for them, like so many of ours do – shoutout to Nadia Mitchem and Carol Miller for keeping me in their thoughts. And keep that brain engaged and yourself relevant by taking courses and learning and joining webinars and staying curious.
What do you like most about belonging to ARCAN?
The fellowship of these amazing professionals, humanitarians and friends, hearing everyone’s stories and knowing just enough about what they do to feel like their stories relate to mine, but I can still learn from them! And laugh and cry! And yes I am sometimes texting with friends in the chat during the webinars–sorry!
What are your packing tips for a 6 to 8 week work trip?
Make sure you have access to laundry. My best is 6 weeks in a carryon in very diverse setting. It included Nairobi for the PanAfrican Conference (hot weather work clothes), Dubai for COP-28 (hot weather work clothes), Geneva for the presidential election of Kate (cold weather work clothes), a week off in Edinburgh (jeans), then a formal wedding near Manchester at Xmas (long gown and heels). There was a lot of laundry and tightly rolling stuff!! I amazed even myself. My carryon did look like the Beverly Hillbillies a bit, with jacket and water bottle strapped to the outside…And I do borrow a coat when I can in Geneva!
What are the 5 most important things to pack?
Great question. Depends on where you are going. In tropical climes, I bring DEET and I pretreat all my clothes with permethrin for extra protection. In cold weather places, hand warmers. Always sturdy shoes and moleskin or blister covers – a bad shoe experience can ruin your trip. Pack your patience, and your common sense about security issues. Take the IFRC’s security courses and the American Red Cross’ first aid courses frequently and pay attention to briefings before packing. Antibacteria wipes. Floss is good for lots of things, like cutting things. Duct tape. Zip ties. Butterfly clips. Wooden chopsticks to block doors. Bandanas or large scarves serve MANY purposes.
What can you do without?
Bring no jewelry that is shiny, even fake–it can still look real and cause some security issues.
Where do you live now?
Dallas between assignments!
Between professional and personal travel, how many months are you traveling each year?
Really depends on the year. This year I’ll be out of Dallas about 4 months.
What’s your favorite city or country to visit?
You can't ask me that! I have loved all of them for different reasons. I do consider Paris (where I used to live) one of my home bases and am there every year, one way or another. And for all around fabulousness, I love Vietnam–food, shopping, scenery, culture, people… all wow. Shoutout to Michael Wojcik, Barbara O’Reilly and the Cargill folks for a hilarious trip there including doing karaoke in a basement with some MAYBE prostitutes lounging about, receiving diplomatic gifts from the Vietnamese Red Cross of some random, huge, impossible to travel with sculptures.
