Behind the Scenes

A letter from the editor

To the Point

A letter from Deborah Sexton

PCMA Today

What's happening at PCMA

Follow-up

Chief executive officers, presidents, and business owners made up the majority of the 4,200 attendees at HSM’s World Business Forum held Sept. 12 and 13 at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall. It was former President William J. Clinton, a featured speaker, who pointed out that people from 30 nations were in the audience. “What is the fundamental nature of the 21st-century world?” he asked. “Interdependence, the nature of relationships with one another and within international borders, across political lines. We can’t escape each other.”

Post-Con Reports

A wrap-up of industry events

Speaker Savvy

As the first black president of the National Speakers Association, Certified Speaking Professional and diversity expert Lenora Billings-Harris said she didn’t start out to be a trailblazer … but realized long ago that those who are the first at doing something give others like them a sense of hope for the future. Here she explains why speaker diversity is key.

Innovative Meetings

Savvy meeting planners are finding that digital posters make presenting and accessing content easier and better than ever before

People and Processes

Help your attendees get the maximum return on the time and money they invest in coming to your meeting

Core Competencies

Speaker selection and management is a critical role for meeting managers. The CMP exam has approximately five to seven questions on this topic.

Meeting in Europe

While planners have several options for paying their European vendors, they need to know what to expect in order to stay on budget

Successful Negotiating

Saying you’re sorry is not always an admission of guilt; sometimes it helps diffuse a tense negotiating situation

Sibling Rivalry

Associations and Their Foundations Work Out Their ‘Issues’

The ‘Human’ Side of Change

The ‘Human’ Side of Change

Workplace

The Art of Continuous Improvement

Leading Learning

If meetings were restaurants, many attendees would be considered “regulars.” Have we done all we can to extend the warmth of familiarity a good host provides … or to nurture a sense of community that keeps people coming back?

Green Meetings

Meetings That Don’t Make an Impact (On the Environment, That Is)

Leading by Example-Suzuki

Canada’s Best-Known Environmentalist Says the Meetings Industry Leaves Too Heavy a Footprint on the Planet

Leading by Example-Carter

Don’t let her looks deceive you. She is a force to be reckoned with as she helps “Green the Ghetto.”

Assessing Success

Meeting Planners Now Have a Tool to Measure Return on Event

Recipe for Success

Here are important contractual considerations, negotiating strategies, and tips on establishing accurate guarantees.

Meeting Budget

Managing Meetings in International Convention Centers

And the Award Goes to ...

Award presentations are boring. There, I said it. Nobody will ever stand up and demand that award galas be changed. We just keep going through the motions, giving out pointy glass awards, and eating our chicken dinner. Managers feel good. The organization handing out the award feels satisfied. The audience wants to stick a butter knife into their eyeball to stay awake.

Future Explorers

Two associations found a way to introduce their specialized medical fields to high school students & give back to the communities that host their meetings

Horse of a Different Color

Pursuing Non-Endemic Sponsorships At Your Meeting

Q&A

Innovation Keeps the Consumer Electronics Association Thriving

No Time to be an Ostrich

Why the Meetings Industry Needs to Prepare for Bird Flu

PCMA Report

Crisis Planning For the Meeting Planning and Convention Industry

Time Out

Time Out

Did You Know

Did You Know