ENGINEERING ASCE 2014 “Doing an international meeting, the contract-

‘That’s one of the things I’m trying to make sure that I understand now, is what’s acceptable. And how do they like to do business, so that it’s not just us coming in and going,

“This is what we need to do.”’

ing phase takes a bit longer than it does in the U.S.,” Rushing said. “So there are some negotiations going on about some of the legal clauses. They don’t have certain aspects that we would expect. They have certain things that we are not used to. So, it’s finding that middle ground.” Panamanian hotels, for example, include breakfast as part of their room rate. “That’s their package, and they won’t break that apart,” Rushing said. “So now we have to factor that into what the attendees will pay. And then, now that we don’t have breakfast, how do we meet their food-and-beverage minimums?” Another challenge for Rushing so far has been the language. “I’ve had to brush up on my Spanish,” she said. “Panama speaks English, but it’s not as widespread or prevalent as you’re led to believe.” Rushing is planning on instituting basic Spanish lessons for her staff, “so that they know how to either get around or ask questions or figure out how to get what they need.” And there are cultural differences. Panama

is a more formal society, meaning that people tend to dress in strict business attire and that there are “certain pleasantries that need to be addressed.” And even people with whom Rush- ing is working closely tend to call her “Mrs. Rushing” or “Señora Rushing.” “That’s one of the things I’m trying to make sure

that I understand now, is what’s acceptable,” she said. “And how do they like to do business, so that it’s not just us coming in and going, ‘Oh, here it is. This is what we need to do.’” But while manners and etiquette are more for- mal, the business culture is more laid-back when it comes to setting agendas and ironing out details.

ON THE WEB

To learn more about ASCE’s Civil Engi- neering Conference, visit content.asce

.org/conferences/ asce-annual2013.

“We want a little more structure, like, ‘We’re com- ing in for a site visit and we want to do X, Y, and Z. We want to see these hotels, venues, special events’ — whatever it is,” Rushing said. “You know, how do we get around? How do we do transportation? How do we move people? Do you have bus compa- nies we can talk to? And that’s a little bit different than what they’re used to.” That said, Rushing has found ATP is working “to be more receptive to what Americans are used to dealing with, and to get up to speed on how to provide certain services.” Viscasillas calls that approach “collaborative sales, where each side is sharing the opportunities — with the client and the destination.”

64 PCMA CONVENE SEPTEMBER 2013

THE NEXT FEW MONTHS Rushing anticipates making another site visit to Panama City sometime this fall, after this year’s Civil Engineering Conference, which is being held in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 9–12. That’s Panama’s rainy season, and Rushing wants to experience it for herself, so she knows what her attendees can expect next October. Once the hotel contract is finalized, Rushing will be concentrating on booking a Panama-based professional congress organizer who can help with the RFP process for local vendors. “We’re also going to be looking at what we’re going to be doing with the Panama Canal Authority, because of the tours,” Rushing said. “There’s a lot that has to be done in advance for all of the tours that we’re doing — whether we need certain clearances to get places, how long it’s going to take, exactly what the technical tour’s going to be.” And then the overriding priority becomes the education program, which more than any other element of the conference is out of Rushing’s direct control, at least when it comes to content. A member committee is in charge of that. “I think we’re similar to a lot of scientific organizations,” she said. “Staff takes care of day-to-day business kinds of things — logistics, operations. Our mem- bers are focused on the content, because they are the content experts. I wouldn’t know whether looking at a big truck hauling dirt or a dredging machine that’s out in the river would be exciting to an engineer or not.” But even for the experts, the challenge will be to look beyond the canal, as relevant and captivat- ing as that will be for attendees, and focus on the “global aspects” that ASCE has been working to incorporate into the Civil Engineering Conference over the last four years. “Our specialty confer- ences do an excellent job with dealing with their specialty and drilling down into the 101-type of content,” Rushing said. “So we don’t need to com- pete or do the same thing. What we really need to look at is what affects a civil engineer across all disciplines and across the world.”

. Christopher Durso is executive editor of Convene.

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