plenary New Health-Care Meetings Certification + Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Why is there a need for medical meeting planners to have a credential beyond the CMP? Because of all the regulations out there on medical meetings — PhRMA code, Sunshine Laws, those types of things — medical meetings have very specific requirements; things you can and can’t do that those planners need to know and be cognizant of. And we wanted to be able to test on that knowledge, so that those who are in that specialized field can show that they’ve learned that material and can produce a medical meeting within the requirements of the PhRMA code and any other regulations that are out there.

And the CMP will be a prerequisite for the new credential? Absolutely. We haven’t set up the gov- ernance board for it yet. … They’ll set up the requirements — the number

of educational hours that are needed, whether any other prerequisites might be required. But, definitely, the CMP will be a requirement.

Do you know what the new credential is going to be called yet? That’s still part of the process. It’ll definitely be a subspecialty to the CMP, though, so what we call it — if it’s a Med- ical Meeting Specialist, we still need to determine that — has to make sense in terms of both the designation as well as for marketing purposes.

Assuming that this goes well, will it be a model for other subspecialty credentials that CIC would administer? Yes. We also contemplated a sustainable meetings subspecialty as well, because our ASTM/APEX standards had just released this year. We just completed a job analysis for the CMP, and what

we found is we had a greater emphasis on sustainable meetings in the CMP standard, so there’s going to be a greater emphasis in the CMP on sustainability as well. So for right now, we decided not to pursue a subspecialty to sustain- ability but to beef up that area within the CMP, because it’s something that all planners need to know whether you’re planning an association meeting, a cor- porate meeting, [or] a medical meeting. Down the road, will somebody want

to take a deeper dive into sustainable meetings? Maybe. That might come back at some point. And if things are happen- ing in other areas that might have a need for subspecialty, we’ll take a look at it. We’ll do exactly what we did this time — take a look at the market, is there a market for it, are there planners and sup- pliers out there that want it and would pursue it, and we’d go from there.

. — Christopher Durso TIPSTER 7 Tips to Prevent Pickpocketing

On a recent business trip to lovely Buenos Aires, one member of our group was walking in town in the middle of the day. She realized that a bird had pooped all over the back of her coat. An elderly lady just in front of her kindly offered to help, removing some paper towels from her shopping bag and wiping the mess. When our associate returned to her hotel,

she mentioned the mishap to the desk clerk, who immediately told her that it sounded like a scam used by a team of pickpockets, in which one person squirts liquid on the victim. Sure enough, her wallet was missing. Variations on this pickpocket scam are common around the world. Here are seven tips to avoid becoming a pickpocket victim:

1 Strip down your wallet for travel. You do not need your library card, frequent shopper cards, voter registration card, or slew of store cards in your possession. You need no more than two credit cards and a form of identification — your passport. Leave all the other cards at home.

18 PCMA CONVENE NOVEMBER 2012

2 Make two copies of your passport and the two credit cards (front and back) that you are bringing. Leave one copy in your luggage and another copy at home. The toll-free number you need to call to report a stolen credit card is on the back of the card. If your passport is stolen, you have all the critical information on hand and can call a consulate to get a replacement quickly.

3 Use an under-shirt flat pouch when traveling in a busy city. They are cheap ($15–$20) and very effective.

4 Leave your wallet and most of your cash in the room safe. I fold over smaller bills amounting to perhaps $40 or $50 in local currency, and put this money in my right front pocket, as back pockets are pickpockets’ favorite target. I use this quick at-hand cash for little purchases, tips, cab fares, etc. If I am planning to shop for gifts or more expensive souvenirs, I put additional cash in the pouch along with one credit card and my passport.

5 Keep your cell phone and/or small camera in your front pocket. Try to keep your hand in that pocket when you’re in big crowds.

6 Keep your purse across your body, with the bag facing opposite the street side. A common event in many countries involves two guys on a motor scooter or cycle. The driver slows, and the rider uses a razor-sharp box knife to slash through the shoulder strap and grab the purse as the driver speeds away.

7 Accept that pickpocketing happens, and be prepared to minimize the impact if it does. I recommend that you get a police report if you want to have your loss covered at home. It is also a way to see a foreign city in a way most tourists miss. I speak from experience.

James F. Hollan III, CAE, is president and CEO of Maryland-based International Meetings Group LLC. He can be reached at jimhollan@ internationalmeetings.org.

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