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PCMA CONVENING LEADERS 2014 PREVIEW
An American [R]evolution
A message from James Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
“W
hat Happens in Boston Changes the World.” We say this not as an empty boast or Boston bravado. We say it because, more than ever, it’s true and
represents a unique quality that sets Boston apart, especially for meetings and conventions. In Boston, a meeting’s impact continues well beyond the
event. Whether it’s using our unique mobile apps to connect with an attendee or guest speaker well after you’ve left, or having an opportunity to discuss the latest research with a leading local scientist over coffee, a meeting in Boston pres- ents long-term opportunities to our guests, thanks in part to being so close to world-leading academic, medical, and financial institutions. We joke that you don’t have to fly your experts into Boston; they can take the MBTA. The theme that PCMA has rolled out for Convening
Leaders 2014 is “The [R]evolution Starts Now,” a phrase that plays off our city’s historic past and changing future. But it’s the use of “evolution” that makes me think of how Boston has grown since the last time PCMA’s annual meet- ing was here, in 1991.
One solid example of this change is the loss of the old Central Artery, an elevated interstate that divided the heart of town for decades and was still standing when PCMA was last here. It’s now gone, placed underground, helping make Boston more accessible — including making possible a two- minute cab ride from the Boston Convention & Exhibition
Center (BCEC) to Logan International Airport. The area under the old elevated highway has been transformed into a greenway of parks, and the city has seen an amazing physical and cultural reconnection. The new roadways that came with this laborious construc- tion project also opened up the South Boston Waterfront, a dying industrial haven that had been cut off from the rest of Boston. No longer. The South Boston Waterfront is now one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the country, with international corporations and small upstarts moving in. The area has been dubbed Boston’s Innovation District, built around collaboration and opportunity for startups, and helped by the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. And the BCEC is in the heart of it. As part of my job, I get to walk the exhibit floor at major
meetings and conventions buzzing with thousands of attendees. There might be a past president speaking in our ballroom, a rock star singing to an audience of computer programmers, or an industry thought leader speaking about her latest findings. If you were to join me, I guarantee you would come away thinking not about hotel rooms or taxi rides, but about how these meetings are intrinsically linked with world commerce and the 21st century’s knowledge- based economy. A week later, when another group arrives and more connections are made, you’d see how Boston changed the world again and again and again.
. OCTOBER 2013 PCMA CONVENE 81