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The PCMA Museum in The District captured eight decades of meetings history in a series of objects — including some of our favorite Convene covers. Photo by Jacob Slaton / Whatever Media Group
Let’s start with what you’ll find at the end of this issue: Our There’s a Meeting for That series, which spotlights the convening of a group that tends to fall under the radar.
In this case, it’s the Professional Grounds Management Society, representing professionals who take care of exterior properties in all kinds of settings, from hotels to school campuses. And while they may spend their days trimming shrubs, planting trees, and maintaining lawns, their society encourages them to lift their heads up from that labor and consider that their real work lies in “the department of first impressions.”
Michelle Russell
Editor in Chief
Reframing someone’s work to give it greater meaning came up in conversation with Bill Reed, chief event strategy officer for the American Society of Hematology (ASH), during CL. For two decades, Bill is someone I’ve counted on for events industry intelligence and insights. He told me that he makes it a point when he’s on site at an ASH event to speak with the AV professionals. Bill wants them to know, he said, that they aren’t just advancing slides for an event, they are helping to advance the knowledge that saves patients’ lives.
I think we’re doing a better job of reframing the work of organizing events by connecting them to real outcomes and benefits in the larger world. But we still have a way to go outside of our own sphere, something Forward Thinking columnist — and 2026 PCMA Foundation Lifetime Achievement Honoree — Dave Lutz underscored during a CL panel session on meetings industry trends. Last year’s DOGE cost-efficiency initiative executive order, he reminded the audience, prohibited U.S. government agency employees “from engaging in federally funded travel for conferences or other non-essential purposes.”
Fortunately, there are those outside our industry who see conferences, regardless of sector, as being far from non-essential. For this issue’s CMP Series and cover story, Tim Shriver spoke with me about the work he is doing to replace contempt with respect in public discourse. It’s a message he has shared from the stage at all kinds of events, from the National League of Cities City Summit (also part of our cover story) to the Aspen Ideas Festival. No doubt those experiences have shown him how events can help their audiences to reframe their work — on our video call, he encouraged event organizers to lean into their capacity “to elevate their stories.”
One more example: CL Closing Main Stage speaker Trevor Noah, who has worn many hats, including comedian, writer, podcaster, producer, political commentator, and television host, tried event organizer on for size during his talk. How did he see that role as an outsider? He distilled it down to putting the audience first and giving them what they want, he said: novelty, participation, and connection.
Multi-Generational
It was less an interview and more of a conversation with a friend when I spoke with Ben Goedegebuure before he officially retired from Maritz for this issue’s Career Path. I’ve shared many laughs with Ben over the years at industry events and have always appreciated his candor. While Ben said he was optimistic about the future of events, he thinks “we need some really smart people to help change what we have created,” referring to traditional models that have lost relevance.
He needn’t look any further for those smart people than in the pages of this issue, where we share the future of the industry through the eyes of PCMA’s 2026 class of 20 in Their Twenties.
Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.