SURE-FIRE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY: Give your top meeting-planner customers the gift that keeps giving — PCMA 2011 Convening Leaders gift certificates, available online for $545 (or $500 apiece in packages of 10 or more) at http://pcma.org/x1489.xml.
PCMA MASTERS SERIES
Nearly 300 meeting professionals attended thePCMAMasters Series programon“Associations and Meetings of the Future:ALookAhead to 2020” followed by a PCMA Capital Chapter reception at the Renais- sanceWashington,D.C.DowntownHotel onOct. 21.Moderated byWash- ington Convention and SportsAuthority President and CEO Greg O’Dell, the Masters Series presented a panel of top association executives: Chris Brown, NationalAssociation of Broadcasters;Abe Eshkenazi, CAE,APICS TheAssociation for OperationsManagement; Karen Hackett, CAE, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; Scott Hunt, The Endocrine Society; and Peter O’Neil, CAE, American Industrial HygieneAssociation.The panelists identified a number of issues that associations and meetings will have to address in the near future, including serv- ingmemberswhoare“used to being always connected,always on,always available,”asBrownput it,and helpingthem cut through the clutter of information overload, which according to Hunt means “decidingwhat is important andwhat isn’t.”Meetings, the pan- elists agreed, will be a big part of that.
WORLD-WIDE STUDY HALL: Planning to take the CMP® Mark Your Calendar
PCMA 2011 Convening Leaders Las Vegas, Jan. 9–12
PCMA Education Foundation Dinner Celebrating Professional Achievement Washington, D.C., April 27
PCMA 2011 Education Conference Baltimore, June 20–23
See You at These Industry Events
Association Forum Holiday Showcase Chicago, Dec. 14, 2010
IMEX Frankfurt, Germany, May 24–26
AIBTM Baltimore, June 21–23
Exam next month? If so, let PCMA help
you pass the first time with the PCMA CMP Exam Online Prep Course™, the only online CMP study course officially endorsed by the Convention Industry Council (CIC). For more information, visit www.pcma.org/cmp.
CHAPTER CORNER: POWER ChapterWorks It Out
OnOct. 26,PCMA’sPOWERChapter and HSMAI’s Columbus, Ohio, chapter presented“A Candid Conversation With Meet- ing Planners” at theWestin Columbus. Nearly 70 plan- ners and suppliers gathered for a frank exchange about best practices for relationship-building and the sales process, co-sponsored by theWestin Columbus and PSAV. “This program could not have come at a better time,” said Jamie Schafrath, national sales manager for Expe- rience Columbus. “The panelists from dif- ferent markets and backgrounds all shared common responses:Good relationships are critical. Personal touches are more impor- tant today than ever. Read your RFP.Authen- ticity is transparent. People continue to do business with people they like.”