PCMA is the leading resource and premier educator for professionals in the meetings and conventions industry.
Change Agent Jim Austin said that he has sought out experiences where he could see businesses ‘at a moment of change.’
Planning Outside the Lines
This month’s Executive Edge seminar will focus on helping meeting professionals prepare for the unknown.
PCMA ’s latest Executive Edge seminar will take place June 19 at the Baltimore Convention Center — co-located with AIBTM (The America’s Meetings and Events Exhibition), which will feature more than 300 meeting suppliers. The program, “Master Scenario Planning,” covers the unexpected — surprising and often unavoidable scenarios that come up at every event and that meet- ing professionals always hope to be prepared for. Participants will learn to create targeted and comprehensive strategies that they can take back to their organizations or own professional planning businesses. Jim Austin, an expert in strategic planning, business growth, executive
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development, and other organizational areas, is the featured presenter. Cur- rently a business-management profes- sor at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and a subcontractor at Decision Strategies International Inc., Austin is a former senior executive who worked on strategic processes and organizational development for the nearly $2-billion renal division of Bax- ter Healthcare. Austin’s experience in these and other strategic and develop- ment roles lends itself to the program’s focus: providing meeting professionals with education and tools for effective decision-making and scenario planning. A strategic partnership between PCMA and the country’s leading
business schools, Executive Edge pres- ents all-day, executive-level courses designed with the senior event profes- sional in mind — providing strategies that will expand attendees’ ability to plan for any situation. Executive Edge also brings together top meet- ing professionals for a collaborative session where they benefit from peer interaction and outside perspectives. Registration for Executive Edge is available at pcma.org/executiveedge. For more information on the educa- tional offerings at AIBTM — including Executive Edge and other programming powered by PCMA — visit convn.org/ pcma-at-aibtm.