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PCMA Planner’s Notebook By Kelly Peacy, CAE, CMP


My Head Is Swimming


It has been less than a week since we wrapped up the 2012 edition of Convening Leaders in San Diego. I’m back at work, trying to digest all of the feedback we’ve gotten from face-to-face and virtual attendees alike.


W


hile my feet may not have bounced backyet, my mind definitely has, and


I’m energized by the all of the blog posts, tweets, emails, and evaluations I am reading about Convening Leaders 2012.


There is a lot of data to sort through before


we can begin planning for our 2013 version. As I try to absorb it all, I wonder howmyfellow planners wrap their arms around their post- meeting data and evaluations in order to strate- gize for their next event. There is so much data to consider, determin-


ing what to do with it all is daunting. There is, of course, all of the registration data—the “who” part.Whocame toPCMAConvening Leaders 2012?Howmany were repeat atten- dees, and how many previousPCMAannual meetings had they attended?Howmany first- timers were there, and how did that compare to 2011?Howmany first-timers from 2011 returned in 2012?Howabout non-members? What brought them to Convening Leaders, and how did they hear about us? It’s easy to get caught up in numbers and


A Shout-Out to My Team


Special thanks to the PCMA Meetings and Events team—Vicky Betzig, CMP, Sarah Corradino, CMP, DyanWestropp, CMP, and Mandi Williams, CMP—for all you do and for keeping me sane.


count heads as the main indicator of success, but what about the quality of the attendee? Whois attracted to our meeting and why?


At PCMA, we have demographic data that tells us our attendees have spent an average of 14 years in the industry and are decision makers. That’s important for us to know, not only for developing high-level education, but also for attracting and retaining our partners. Then there is the anecdotal feedback— the


“what” factor.We tried so many different things this year. What worked and what didn’t? From education sessions of varying lengths, to a com- pletely different general-session format, to a Learning Lounge with more sessions and longer hours, it was an all-out experiment in content delivery and execution. Now,myteam and I are sifting through the


comments and evaluations as well as analyzing actual attendee behavior to determine what clicked and what didn’t. It helps that our atten- dees give us amazing feedbackand suggestions. Their collective experience is somethingmy team and I harness and incorporate in every event we execute. If you joined us in San Diego, thankyou.


I hope you found your experience valuable and that you left with some good takeaways. Please plan to join us next year, Jan. 13–16, in Orlando. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you.


Because I know this feeling of being over- whelmed will soon pass. 





A NOTE OF THANKS: Everything we do at Convening Leaders is in the name ofinnova- tion—in terms of education and overall experience.We could not do that without some very smart peo- ple, who also happen to be great fun to work with. The San Diego


Convention Center Corporation, the San Diego CVB, and the 2012 Host Committee rolled out the red car- pet for us in so many ways and were exceptional to work with. Thanks to San Diego Convention Center Corporation Executive Vice President Sandra Moreno, CMP, and Senior Event Manager Jeff Pinkley, CMP, for all their hard work. Thanks to all of


Kelly Peacy, CAE, CMP Senior Vice President of Meetings and Events kpeacy@pcma.org


our PCMA Partners and, specifically, kudos to our team at Freeman, who help us bring our vision to life.


10 pcma convene February 2012 www.pcma.org


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