Medical Mecca The University of South Florida’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), which opened in downtown Tampa in March, is the only center of its kind in the world.
The American College of Cardiology named CAMLS its first-ever Center of Excellence in Education and Training, and conducts events there throughout the year; a growing number of medical associations and medical device companies have met, or plan to meet, in Tampa because of CAMLS.
clusters of expertise that align with meetings, said Laura d’Elsa, regional director for USA/Canada — a strategy moti- vated in part by the GCB’s recognition of the fact that it needed to better differentiate itself. “There used to be a greater differ- ence between European destinations,” d’Elsa said, “in terms of accessibility, meetings infrastructure, and value.” But those gaps are disappearing, she said, as competition
among the destinations has grown more intense. “The offers are moving closer and closer for major cities like Paris, Berlin, and Rome, because everyone is so competitive,” d’Elsa said. “We all have lots of flights and good value for the money. We all have pretty countries and lots of pretty locations. Those are good arguments that we all use — and they are valid argu- ments.” But, she noted, Germany is also a top global exporter, — second only to China. The GCB realized that, along with automobiles and pharmaceuticals, the country’s strengths could also reside in exporting knowledge. Two years ago, the GCB adopted a strategy of asking
regional and local convention bureaus and conference cen- ters to inventory clusters of expertise within key industries — including logistics, financial services, energy, technology, medicine, and pharmaceuticals — by contacting local universi- ties, research facilities, associations, and companies. “My main role,” d’Elsa said, “is putting meeting planners in contact with the right organizations, and trying to foster relationships.”
70 PCMA CONVENE DECEMBER 2012
Test Time Here’s how to earn your CEU hour. Once you finish
reading this CMP Series article, read the following material:
› A summary report on IMEX 2012’s Politicians Forum, the theme of which was the knowledge economy, at convn.org/IMEX-politicians.
› “A Scoping Study of Business Events: Beyond Tourism Benefits,” a recent report from Business Events Sydney on the “social legacy” of meetings and conferences, at convn.org/sydney-events.
To earn one hour of CEU credit, visit pcma.org/ convenecmp to answer questions about the information contained in this CMP Series article and the additional material.
The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) is a registered trademark of the Convention Industry Council.