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Last week, the global PCMA team gathered in our Chicago-based headquarter office to further engage and strategize as we continue to build towards PCMA’s 2030 Vision. It was a week of refining our skills with Harvard Professor Deepak Malhotra and rolling up our sleeves and tackling the opportunities ahead mixed in with culture-building and bonding.
As we reach the midpoint of 2026, I am pleased to share below what we have been up to in building value for our members and industry. From expanding our regional communities to launching new intelligence and education offerings, the PCMA team is actively delivering on our 2030 Vision – and the industry is responding.
Build Upon Your Community
PCMA is home to communities designed around the work you do and those who do it alongside you. There are multiple offerings designed to support your professional journey. If you are not yet taking advantage of one or more of the following, I encourage you to do so. Because community is not just where we go. It’s how we grow.
Axis is your always-on global community featuring conversations, content, and real-time exchanges, allowing you to remain plugged in, think more strategically, and operate with greater confidence and clarity. Whether you want to ask a question, share an insight, or simply stay ahead of industry shifts, Axis keeps you connected to the global PCMA community every day.
Created for senior corporate event marketers for an evening of peer-driven conversation. No presentations. No selling. These dinners are intentionally small, informal, and exclusively for event marketers. These dinners provide the opportunity to engage with colleagues who have – or will – navigate exactly what you have experienced.
The most powerful professional relationships are built on shared experiences — with your peers who face the same challenges, ask the same questions, and understand the risks – and benefits – of the work you do every day.
Circles convene sector peers to exchange ideas, elevate best practices, and tackle the issues that matter most to their respective industry area. Whether you work in corporate events, association meetings, or beyond, your Circle is where the conversation goes deeper — because everyone in the room already speaks your language.
The most important conversations in our industry don’t always happen on the main stage. They happen at the table, with your peers who understand the market, face the same opportunities and challenges, and are working toward the same future.
PCMA Collectives bring these types of conversations to life in cities across the globe. These local gatherings give business events professionals a space to connect with peers, explore the ideas shaping our industry, and build the kind of relationships that move our community forward — not just during a conference, but throughout the year.
Medical Meetings
PCMA is renewing its commitment to our founding community with intention and purpose. Medical meetings operate in a world unlike any other in our industry. The focus is deliberate with platforms offering a place to connect with peers, navigate shared challenges, and shape the future of one of the most consequential corners of our global industry.
During the Business Events Summit in Fajardo, Puerto Rico later this month, three sessions will be available for mid-to-senior level medical meetings professionals, with content deliberately positioned around strategy over logistics. Huge thanks to the task force members who stepped up to lead the content curation.
EDUCATION & INNOVATION
PCMA is advancing its role as the global platform for the business events industry by investing in its members and community by providing insights into the latest in education and innovations that will define the future. As the business events landscape evolves at an accelerated pace, we are taking deliberate steps to ensure you are prepared for what’s next and positioned to lead.
Business Event Strategist Certification
Applications are currently being accepted for the Business Event Strategist (BES) Certification — a new credential that formalizes and recognizes strategic leadership in business events. Designed for directors, senior managers, and vice presidents with 10+ years of experience, the BES demonstrates that leaders do not simply deliver events — they drive enterprise results. In other words, this is a credential that will validate your knowledge as a leader.
Professional Meeting Management 7th Edition
The PCMA Institute, formerly the Event Leadership Institute, released the 7th edition of the Professional Meeting Management (PMM7) textbook. This latest edition addresses our industry’s dramatic transformation with the latest content to equip you and your teams in key areas to propel your business forward. Topics include project management, marketing, risk and crisis management, onsite operations, and sustainability. It also features stronger integration of current tools and technologies, updated alignment with the 2025 CMP-International Standards, and expanded instructor support materials. This 7th edition is available in print and digital formats.
PCMA Insights
PCMA Insights is a suite of knowledge offerings designed to empower business events leaders with actionable intelligence and customized solutions. Two reports are now available — PCMA Outlook 2026, an analysis of the industry across the corporate, association, and destination sectors and the Financial Services report that covers regulatory and compliance events trends, stakeholder engagement strategies, and ROI frameworks. Prior to the end of this year, Health Care and Life Sciences; Information and Communication Technology; and Retail will be available. These reports, developed in collaboration with MCI, are complimentary for PCMA and CEMA members.
Enhanced AI Products
Spark 2.0 continues to grow, with 14,500+ events professionals engaged with the expanded platform designed to make AI accessible at every level. The latest update introduces Agent Studio, allowing users to build custom AI agents, Spark Academy (in-person workshops), SparkU (student access at a 50% discount), and Spark Excellence (team training) round out a growing ecosystem designed to make AI accessible at every level.
Integrated within Spark, Destinaitor, PCMA’s AI-powered platform for destination and venue research, continues to grow, helping events strategists access trusted, verified data to make faster, more informed event decisions. This tool has been developed for you to save you valuable time both on the organizer and supply side. If you have not tried this tool, I urge you to do so now. It is for you and will become much more powerful as you use it and we better understand your needs to help you to be more effective in your roles.
APAC
The APAC region reflects where our global community is headed. In an environment defined by constant change, leaders must be able to interpret signals and respond with intention.
Convening APAC welcomed over 400 business events leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region in Singapore, inspiring a new era of leadership and innovation. The event was designed to prepare this community with both the strategic clarity and human-centered perspective needed to lead through uncertainty—and to harness the full potential of business events as accelerators towards progress. We hope you will join us in Singapore April 18-20, 2027.
LATAM
Latin America represents one of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving regions for business events globally.
PCMA LATAM’s 2026-2027 Regional Advisory Board, is comprised of 11 leaders representing diverse markets and audience segments across the region’s business events industry. Together, they guide PCMA’s LATAM strategy, strengthen connections, and accelerate growth and impact across Latin America.
The second edition of Convening LATAM in Quito, Ecuador brought together 503 participants from 22 countries, a significant increase from its inaugural year in Bogotá, Colombia. Strategic partnerships were formalized with AOCA, INCUBATOUR, and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Mark your calendars as we look forward to welcoming you to Lima, Peru for Convening LATAM 2027 – April 25-27, 2027.
Business Events Industry Week
Now in its fifth year, Business Events Industry Week (BEIW) took place in Washington, DC last month. The goal is to bring the world to the US Capital for business connections, advocacy, professional recognition, and raise the industry’s global profile. Think of it as the SXSW of the Business Events Industry.
New to BEIW this year was Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID). It was so wonderful to see the global community coming together, both in-person and online. Powered by the Events Industry Council (EIC), the activation on May 6 served as the platform to launch the latest version of the Global Economic Significance of Business Events Study. EIC and research partner, Oxford Economics, produce the highly anticipated study last released in 2023. We also had participation from other major industry organizations such as Brand USA, Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance (ECA), LGBT MPA, National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP), and the PCMA Capital Chapter, US Travel.
The PCMA Foundation’s Fashion Show — Living in Color! on May 6 featured industry professionals who bring Living in Color to life on the runway. This year’s models were business events organizers and suppliers that reflected creativity, confidence, and leadership that define the global business events community.
The 2026 Visionary Awards Lifetime Achievement Honorees and Professional Excellence Awards Finalists were celebrated on May 7– fittingly scheduled as the closing event for BEIW. The Visionary Awards are more than a celebration of individual achievement; they are the highest recognition in our industry or in other words the “Oscars of the Business Events Industry”. Each of this year’s Honorees and Finalists represents the highest standards of creativity, innovation, and service that defines excellence. Congratulations to our four Lifetime Achievement Honorees: Carolyn B. Pund, CMM DES; Dave Lutz; Angie Ranalli; and Charles Starks and to the 25 Professional Excellence award finalists and award winners. Through the PCMA Foundation, we are honored to recognize these leaders while investing in the next generation of professionals who will carry our industry forward.
Business Events Summit (formerly edUcon) | June 21–24 | Fajardo, Puerto Rico
In less than two weeks, Business Events Summit, PCMA’s signature learning event kicks off in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. This members-only education experience will deliver an advanced educational program focused on strategic leadership, immersive formats, and peer-to-peer connections. Hope to see you in Puerto Rico and remember your sunscreen.
Convening EMEA | September 13 – 15 | Lisbon, Portugal
The excitement is building for Convening EMEA in Lisbon, and there’s plenty for you to explore right now. Convening EMEA brings together more than 600 business events leaders from over 40 countries — not simply to share what they know, but to challenge what they believe, and to shape what comes next.
This is PCMA’s flagship gathering for the European, Middle East, and African community — a three-day experience built around the conversations that matter most right now: how we turn connection into real value, how we lead with integrity in a complex world, and how we move from insight to confident, future-ready decisions.
Convene 4 Climate | September 15 – 16 | Lisbon Portugal
The business events industry has an extraordinary opportunity — and a profound responsibility. Convene 4 Climate (C4C) is a global movement and platform to ensure that the business events industry, especially in its face-to-face format, will remain a strong and powerful human force. Immediately following Convening EMEA we will meet to identify the tactics, build the partnerships, and take the steps that define what a sustainable business events industry looks like in practice.
C4C took a significant step forward this week with the first meeting of its inaugural Advisory Board, comprised of 14 global leaders spanning the entire events ecosystem, including climate science, finance, conservation, and event logistics. This board will serve to guide the strategy of C4C ensuring that C4C serves to equip the global events ecosystem with the latest in research and tools as well as to propel the global C4C movement.
The future of our industry depends on the choices we make now. C4C is where those choices begin.
Equally as exciting is the launch of the inaugural C4C Global Awards, a competition to highlight and champion real-world solutions which are actively driving global change for the business events industry. It’s free to enter and open to both individuals and industries around the world. The deadline for applications is June 30, 2026.
A Tribute to Michelle Russell
Twenty-three years. That is not just a tenure — that is a legacy.
I have had the privilege of working alongside Michelle Russell for most of my time at PCMA, and I can say without hesitation that she is one of the most remarkable professionals I have ever known. She came into this organization just a few months before I did, and from the very beginning, she brought with her something that cannot be taught — a standard. A standard for what editorial excellence looks like, for what it means to serve a community through storytelling, and for what a publication can become when it is led with genuine care and intellectual integrity.
Under Michelle’s leadership, Convene became the most trusted media brand in our industry. That is not my opinion alone — it is the opinion of the most respected business events leaders around the world. Time and again, I would be in a room with our most influential peers globally, and they would tell me, without prompting, that Convene was the publication they relied on. That kind of credibility is earned. Michelle earned it — every issue, every year, for 23 years.
We built a lot together. We took risks together. And through every chapter of change this organization navigated, Michelle was a constant — a voice of excellence, a steady and trusted presence, and a true ambassador for the power of ideas.
She has asked us not to use a certain word — and I will respect that. But what I will say is this: every next chapter deserves to begin with the kind of foundation Michelle has built. And the global business events community is better — more informed, more connected, more inspired — because of the work she chose to dedicate herself to here.
Michelle, on behalf of PCMA and the entire community you have served so well: thank you. The stories we have shared, the miles we have traveled, and the impact you have made will not be forgotten.
As we continue to move Convene forward, I am thrilled to welcome Gabrielle (Gabi) Weiss as Convene’s Editor-in-Chief. Gabi joined us in Chicago last week and she is certainly going to further strengthen PCMA’s voice and thought leadership for our global community.
Looking Ahead — Mark Your Calendar for PCMA’s Future Events
2026
Business Events Summit | June 21 – 24 | Fajardo, Puerto Rico
CEMA Summit | August 9–11 | Toronto, Canada
Convening EMEA | September 13–15 | Lisbon, Portugal
Convene 4 Climate | September 15–16 | Lisbon, Portugal
2027
Convening Leaders | January 10 – 13 | Miami, Florida
Convening APAC | April 18-20 | Singapore
Convening LATAM | April 25-27 | Lima, Peru
Business Events Summit | June 20 – 23 | Lake Tahoe, Nevada
The pace of change continues to accelerate — and so too, does our community’s capacity to lead through it. I am grateful for your continued engagement and partnership as we advance towards 2030.
Sherrif Karamat, CAE
President & CEO, PCMA and CEMA
For media inquiries from the Americas, APAC, EMEA and LATAM, please contact: Meghan Risch, PCMA Chief of Staff, Vice President, Corporate Communications PCMA, PCMA Foundation and CEMA educate, inspire, and listen, creating meaningful experiences where passion, purpose and commerce come together. We are the world’s largest community for Business Events Strategists, providing senior-level education, networking, and market intelligence for the global business events industry. Our mission is to drive social and economic progress through business events. Headquartered in Chicago, IL PCMA has 17 North American Chapters, regional communities in APAC, EMEA and LATAM, and members in 72 countries and communities. The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA), a PCMA subsidiary, advances strategic event marketing and marketing communications for senior-level event marketers and industry professionals. Visit us at pcma.org. The role of the Foundation of PCMA is to support the mission of PCMA through fundraising and grant-giving focused on scholarships, education and research that will advance the business events industry. Annually the Foundation funds over $900K in impact, and since 1985 has funded over 2,500 scholarships, 100 research studies and education programs, and $2.7M in charitable giving.About PCMA
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