Tag: San Diego

Top Thinkers Engage PCMA Audience

Jan 10

maureen-pickellTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows meeting education, pcma, San Diego No Comments

With this year’s theme of “Capturing Innovation” guiding the program, the PCMA Convening Leaders eduction organizers more than managed to compete with the lure of the San Diego “great outdoors” by presenting a new kind of Opening General Session.

“Rules for Epic Wins that Fascinate” was a tri- part program featuring a developmental molecular biologist, a game designer and a brand innovation consultant – three top thinkers who explain what naps, games and nine-second attention spans have to do with meetings.

In the process, they managed to keep the large audience riveted in a way that the customary solitary “talking heads” of previous conferences could never do. This was followed by a large list of choices providing world class education to the audience of knowledgeable and experienced meeting professionals. From tips on developing your authenticity and charisma to how to prepare hospitality students for the realities of the meetings industry, the most difficult job was choosing the best option from a myriad of relevant topics.

Also back was last year’s successful innovation, the Learning Lounge – where attendees can partake in “bite-sized” sessions of 15 to 30 minutes that include virtual demonstrations based on their particular interest areas.

All this contributes to PCMA’s idea of mixing things up in order to present a different style of conference – demanding an increased level of commitment by the attendees as participants rather than observers.

The popular evening foundation event “Party with a Purpose” was held aboard the USS Midway Museum, an aircraft carrier docked in the San Diego Bay. Anchors Aweigh and more tomorrow….

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2012 Convening Leaders Kicks Off

Jan 09

maureen-pickellTrade Shows hotels in San Diego, meeting experiences, pcma, San Diego No Comments

I am off again…this time to cover the 2012 Convening Leaders event in San Diego this week.

As luck would have it, my plane touched down early enough on one of those glorious mornings where the fog has just lifted and the sun is still muted enough to present the downtown skyline as an impressionist painting.

Palm trees and Bird of Paradise lining the avenue from the airport to the harbor set the stage for what should be an energetic and progressive meeting at the San Diego Convention Center.

ConventionPlanit.com supplier partner, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, is opening its arms and welcoming everyone as attendees reconnect with PCMA BFF’s or find new ones.

The Welcome Reception at the Manchester Grand Hyatt was truly an “Emergence of the Senses.” From the sumptuous cuisine to the sights and sounds of the innovative Mass Ensemble’s exotic blend of art, sculpture and music – everyone’s senses had no choice but to emerge energized for the days ahead.

More tomorrow….

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