While there were many highlights to choose from for the PCMA 2012, I managed to narrow it down to 10 favorites.
10. New Luncheon Format for Conference Day No. 2 — Typically PCMA offers luncheons each day where the entire group is in a big hall at round tables and you only have the ability to interact with those at your table and watch a presentation. At the 2012 conference, Tuesday’s lunch was buffet style and seating was available inside and outside on the sunny terrace. It was very nice to get out in the San Diego sun for an hour!
9. New General Session Format — No Business — PCMA general sessions usually took place once a day at the start of the day and consisted of a lot of association business and updates. In 2012, they removed all of the business and held a Town Hall Meeting on the final day of the conference for anyone who was interested. This allowed for more speakers and content in the general sessions.
8. Annual Meeting Program Committee — PCMA is now integrating most of their headquarter task forces into the Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC) in order to ensure that the AMPC creates content for all the vertical segments that PCMA members fall in to. As a member of the New Professionals Task Force, I was able to participate in an interesting brainstorming session for the 2013 Convening Leaders Conference which will now involve crowdsourcing to determine the content. All of the ideas generated from this session are now posted online. Members can go to the website to rate the ideas, leave comments and even add their own ideas for sessions.
7. Mobile Coffee Stations — The picture really says it all! There were a handful of these guys walking around the Learning Lounge area during breakfast and the refreshment breaks, as well as around the session rooms.
6. Learning Lounge — Expanded from the 2011 set-up, the Learning Lounge offered four different areas that you could visit to listen to 15-minute presentations on multiple topics. The four areas were Digital U, App4That, Think, and Society, and each contained small seating areas for about 20 people. I mainly stayed in the Think area and listened to presentations on growing attendance and sponsorship and education and experience design. The 15-minute presentation breakdown was displayed prominently on meter boards outside of the specific area.
5. Opening General Session — The opening general session on Monday morning consisted of three speakers who spoke for 20 minutes each. First up was Dr. John Medina, who woke up the entire room with his booming voice (something that is absolutely necessary for the first speaker at 8:30 am on a Monday)! Dr. Medina addressed how we think and learn and how we can change our meetings to ensure attendees get the most out of them. The second speaker was game designer Jane McGonigal, who was broadcasting live from San Francisco. She spoke about how gaming insights and the emotions we have towards games can be translated to our meetings. Last up was fascination expert Sally Hogshead, who taught us how to instantly captivate an audience in the first 9 seconds. This by far was the most engaging general session I have ever attended, especially at 8:30 am on a Monday!
4. Location! Location! Location! — How can you argue with sunny San Diego in January? Plus, the hotel accommodations, the convention center, and the booming entertainment and restaurant district that surrounds the convention center were absolutely phenomenal.
3. AH Presentation — I was very proud to introduce the session Small Budget, Big Impact, presented by my colleagues, Kristin Brammell, Kristin Howard and Shannon Fagan! The presentation, which focused on ways to maximize the budget you’re working with (whatever it may be), was very well attended and received!
2. Education Sessions — This is one of the top two reasons that we attend PCMA conferences. As compared to some of the previous convening leader conferences, I was very impressed with the level of the education and general sessions this year. One session in particular that I enjoyed was, Generations Apart: Uncensored and Anonymous, which was presented by my friend George Kong and Richard Green of Marriott Global Sales. This session utilized PCMA staff as video actors to bring crowd-sourced responses on perceptions and opinion of life in the workplace from young and senior professionals to life. These videos sparked great discussion between the different generations seated at each table.
1. Networking Opportunities — After the educational sessions, our other top reason for attending PCMA is the networking opportunities. Between the people we met in sessions, luncheons, evening receptions, and everywhere else in between, we were constantly networking and building great relationships with others in our industry!
*Astrid Schrier is an Associate Meetings Manager at Association Headquarters.
