At 2011 Convening Leaders, you’ll be able to figure out why the meeting looks the way it does.
I
’m going to be honest.As I write this, mymind is racing about a million miles a minute.Our event-specifications
guide—or “Bubba,” as I lovingly refer to it—is due in 72 hours. Bubba is roughly 500 pages of critical instructionto the MGMGrandConferenceCenter onmore than400separate functions taking place over the course of eight days at our annual meeting. By the timeyou read this column,
our event-specifications guide will have been well read by many different parties, andwewill be only a few short weeks away from the 2011 Con- vening Leaders program in LasVegas. For the present time, however, Iamaveraging about four hours of actual sleep per night andmystomach is in a constant state of upheaval. Whydo I share this with you? I guess being
so frank about planning this meeting has become something of a habit with me.You see, at the 2011 Convening Leaders program, we are pulling back the layers of all aspects of our pro- gram to show the industry how we plan a meet- ing for meeting planners.We call it “Meeting Deconstructed.” Throughout 2010, thePCMA team, along with our Freeman Creative produc- tion team, has worked to shape every aspect of the program into a learning experience. From the registration set-up to the room sets to the signage, Convening Leaders participants not only will see the “what” but also will learn the “why.”
Planning to put this level of transparency on
display has been an interesting and challenging process—and it’s turned out to be a learning process. It has forced us to really think through everything we do. As a result, we’ve validated
10 pcma convene December 2010
Kelly Peacy, CAE, CMP Vice President of Meetings and Events kpeacy@pcma.org
our efforts, and in some cases, realized that there might be a better way to do things. Here are a few of the “deconstructed” ele-
ments you’ll see at theMGMGrand next month: RealityTV,PCMA-style—At many of our
planning meetings in 2010, we used portable mini-cameras to tape strategy sessions.Videos of these sessions will be shared with our attendees to give them a glimpse into our theme in Las Vegas, the challenges we were facing, and how we collaborated to work through them. Our thought process—The signage
at Convening Leaders will feature “thought bubbles” that will explain key points or ele- ments within the meeting, or provide more spe- cific behind-the-scenes information. Turning things around—The backstage
of our general session inMGM’s Grand Garden Arena will be completely open and available for viewing to all. Attendees will walk past the backstage area to get to their seats for the gener- al session. Food for thought—We’ll let you know
why we chose certain foods and drinks at our food-and-beverage breaks.
We realize that our annual meeting is
more than sessions and networking in the hall- ways.We know that when you attend Conven- ing Leaders, you are observing, critiquing, and questioning—to see how our initiatives might stack up at your own events. This time around, we’re going to be making it even easier for you to do just that.
THE HOW AND WHY: My team follows the same processes and procedures that all meeting professionals undertake when plan- ning programs for their own organiza- tions.We work with housing blocks and registration reports, signage orders and meal guarantees, just like our members do. But for 2011
Convening Leaders, we’ve also followed an additional process —which is to figure out how to communi- cate at the meeting the decisions we made about the meeting. So not only will you be learning at sessions and networking events from experts and colleagues—but by also experiencing our “behind-the-scenes tour” along the way. Hope to see you there.