Global Student Competition | Requirements and Guidelines

The PCMA Global Student Competition engages competing teams on their knowledge and understanding of the business events industry to create and propose a successful mock event. The goal of this challenge is to have a proposal for a convention and tradeshow for a trade association or private corporation (see glossary).

Proposals should business-test the organization of an event as it pertains to the competition theme, and at a minimum, should address:

• Event Concept and Architecture
• Destination and Venue Selection
• Registration
• Marketing
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Educational Content + Industry Relevance
• Finance
• Innovation + Commercial Viability
• Graphics/Tables/Figures and Creativity

The proposed concept must also include an innovative feature or way of organizing the event (e.g. attendee experience, venue selection, meeting design). This innovation should be distinct from ones already paved in our industry. For innovation inspiration, consider the press release for the 2024 Visionary Awards nominees and honorees.

Proposals must be submitted in PDF format, a maximum of 40 pages in length (not counting any references or appendices), and must consider the following outline:

Suggested Outline
(please note page lengths are mere suggestions, not requirements) 

►  Executive Summary (1 Page)

►  Introduction: Brief description of the project, noting relevance and other considerations. (2 Pages)

►  Event Concept: Brief description or outline of the event. Proposed revenue streams. (3 Pages)

►  Landscape Analysis: Research and analysis reports and data. Past and current events held by the organization. Competitive organizations, if any, and their events.  The opportunities for this event within the specified industry. (Up to 5 Pages, but can also be put into appendices)

►  Detailed Program: Dates of event & activities with description and rationale for selection of activities. (4 Pages)

► Event Project Plan: Review of venue/destination and the rationale for selection. Design of space with coordinating logistics.  Innovation piece.  (10 Pages)

►  Marketing Plan: Target audience. Selected marketing & communication channels. Usage of selected channels. (3 Pages)

►  Staffing Plan: Pre/during/post event management. Volunteer. Outsourcing. Strategic partners and sponsors. (2 Pages)

►  Financial Plan: Estimated budget including fixed and variable costs. Profit & Loss Statement. Revenue & estimated cost analysis. (2 Pages) 

►  References/Appendices: List of references and or appendices. Consider all your sources, from AI platforms to practitioner interviews. (10 Pages). 

Teams are strongly encouraged to propose new and innovative ideas for these components. Proposed ideas need not be new for the industry, however, have to be an improvised version of the existing.

Eligibility and Guidelines

To be eligible for the PCMA Student Competition, you must:

• Be an enrolled, diploma/degree seeking undergraduate or master’s student in the fields of meeting and /or events management, business/commerce management, hospitality or tourism related program. Teams may be integrated with participants of different classes/level.
• Each team must be composed of a minimum of 3 participants, but no more than 5.
• Participants may only be registered under one team. Multiple team participation is not permitted.
• All teams must register through the 2024 registration link (on competition homepage), and receive a confirmation with their PCMA issued team name, before submission of the proposal.
• Upon submission of the proposal, the college/university enrolling the team’s members must hold a student chapter within PCMA membership and all team members must hold PCMA student membership. Visit our Student Chapter page for more information. Establishing a chapter and student membership are both free!
• After preliminary scoring by the Competition Review Committee, 5 teams will be named as Finalists. All 5 Finalist teams must submit a recorded pitch presentation by specified deadline and engage in a final Q+A session with the competition judges panel.
  • Recorded pitch presentations should be approximately 5-6 minutes, with supporting PowerPoint presentations.
  • Final Q+A with judges is a live interview, conducted on Microsoft Teams. Each team is awarded equal time (approximately 10-15 minutes) on a date TBA.

Formatting Guidelines

• Proposals must be submitted in PDF format.
• Final pitch presentations must be recorded using a video platform like zoom, teams, etc. with visual supports like PowerPoint or Canva Slides. Examples from previous competitions are linked on the competition homepage.
• APA formatting for referencing permissible
• Readable font of your choice in 10-12 point size.
• This competition is an opportunity to prepare your presentation skillset. The proposal should mimic what you submit to a client or executive leadership, therefore, images, tables and branded content are highly encouraged and will be considered in judging.

Team Collaboration

• Teams are encouraged to delegate portions of the assignments to team members as project leads.
• The pitch presentations and Q&A session should reflect a broad understanding from all team members of the proposal and event concept, with the ability to expand on details if asked.
• Team members should contribute equal weight to the project.

Judging Criteria – Proposals

• Idea and Concept Formulation
• Relevance to the Business Events Industry
• Strategic and Operational Planning
• Marketing Strategies
• Financial Detail
• Innovation
• Commercial Viability / Overall Impact
• Overall Structure of Proposal
• Cohesive Branding Throughout Proposal

Judging Criteria – Pitch Presentations and Final Q+A
In addition to proposal criteria

• Presentation Skills
• Communication with Judges