Believe it or not . .. GPPCMA’s April program is already upon us!
It was just 2 weeks ago (thanks to “mother nature”), that we met at the PA Convention Center for an informative panel discussion on industry hot topics. Next week, we are meeting again, on April 7th, for a lively conversation with some of our local experts on our evolving industry.
We are pleased to get spring off to a great start with a program of round table discussions at Philadelphia’s new Kimpton property, The Hotel Palomar. Our program will take place in the ballroom which is located on the 25th Floor and features lovely views of our city!
Featured industry experts and topics are as follows:
Negotiating with Hotels
Sue Wagner – Meetings Director/CPCU Society
Mike Hochman – Global Director of Group Sales/Millenium Hotels
The New Face of the Exhibit Floor
Kevin Richards – National Director of Trade Shows/PCVB
Sponsorship Opportunities
Debra Beach - Director of Corporate Relations/ Soroptimist International
Social Media Game Plan
Brian Riggs - VP of Business Development/Assn. HQ
David Comdico - Director of Web Services/Assn. HQ
Labor Negotiation
Bill Smith – National Sales Manager/Freeman Companies
Jack Ferguson – Executive Vice President/PCVB
If you haven’t registered yet, don’t delay.. ..go to the link below and register today!!http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?1Q,P1,C59A6964-DF4E-4784-80FA-ACC6BF8651A7
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Penn State Chapter of PCMA is keeping busy!!
Penn State has been busy planning a reverse mentor session for the Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP). Through the efforts of the Executive board, Penn State will be taking around 10 students to the SGMP monthly meeting in Pittsburgh to the Sheraton Station Square Hotel on April 15, 2010 to talk about Generational issues in the work force and how to work with Generation Y. The meeting will consist of a panel of Generation Y that will talk about the stereotypes their generation faces when entering the work force. Penn State has had a few meetings mainly dealing with the upcoming election process where there will be a new board put in place to start planning the trip to Annual Meeting 2011 in Las Vegas.
For more information regarding the Penn State Chapter of PCMA, contact Lindsey Boyer at lab5119@psu.edu.
For more information regarding the Penn State Chapter of PCMA, contact Lindsey Boyer at lab5119@psu.edu.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Check out the Temple University Chapter of PCMA!
The Temple University Chapter of PCMA has stayed busy this year with bi-monthly Chapter meetings and events and collaborating with other Temple University School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) student groups to hold events like Sustainable Leisure: Keeping Our Carbon Footprints Lights and Our Destinations Green, a panel discussion on the topic of sustainability featuring top hospitality, event, tourism, sport, and recreation industry leaders.
They recently held a meeting on conflict resolution lead by Chapter President, Christine Frye, and a meeting on managing yourself instead of time lead by Chapter Vice President, Lena Rowell. A number of students were able to attend the March GPPCMA Panel Discussion at the Convention Center and later that day, a group of about 8 of their members volunteered at a Big Cat Fundraiser and were really able to get involved hands on.
The Temple PCMA Chapter will be participating in the Temple University Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society, March 26-27th and then will host Betsy Harbison from ACS on March 30th for an interactive session on event planning for a non-profit association.
You can keep up to date with the Temple PCMA Chapter by checking out their facebook page - Temple University Chapter of PCMA (updated) or by checking out their website at https://sites.google.com/a/temple.edu/pcma/. You can also e-mail their Executive Board at tupcma@gmail.com.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Notes from the March 12th, 2010 GPPCMA Chapter Event
GPPCMA Event – March 12, 2010, 8:00 am – 10:00 am, Pennsylvania Convention Center
“State of the Industry” Panel Discussion
Moderator: Gregg H. Talley, CAE, President & CEO, Talley Management Group Inc.
Panelists:
- Kent Allaway, CEM, CMP, Vice President, Meetings and Trade Shows, Produce
Marketing Association
- Kathleen (Kitty) Ratcliffe, President, St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
- Matt Sanford, Client Solutions, Gray Consulting
- Michael Schmeltzer, Managing Director, Passenger Sales, US Airways
- Deborah Sexton, President & CEO, PCMA and PCMA Education Foundation
On March 12, 2010, the GPPCMA Chapter held it’s rescheduled “State of the Industry” Panel Discussion. The panelists touched on a number of topics that are affecting the convention management industry that they are seeing first hand through their different roles in the industry.
Michael Schmeltzer of US Airways touched on how the airline industry has been affected by the economy. He said that airlines have cut back on the amount of flights offered, but planes are still filling up. He also said that they are noticing how business travel is bouncing back, which will bring fares back up. Michael also noted that US Airways is making more knowledgeable decisions when determining where and when to place their flights.
Kitty Ratcliffe spoke from the convention center and CVB side in terms of how they are adjusting to the economy to meet their client’s needs. While many clients are looking for cost saving measures, especially from convention centers, Kitty reiterated that costs still need to be covered. Convention centers react to customers needs and she brought up examples such as the green movement amongst organizations (recycle bins) and the need for more sanitation measures (like hand sanitizers) with the recent swine flu scares. Both of these examples are items that are not charged to any client directly, but that cost convention centers thousands of dollars, thus making it a lot harder for convention centers to give things away at no cost.
Matt Sanford from Gray Consulting talked about how corporate America is bouncing back from the economy in terms of meeting and how the integration of technology is becoming a growing trend in corporate meetings. He does, however, feel that technology will not be replacing the need for face to face meeting any time soon.
Kent Allaway of Produce Marketing Association and Deborah Sexton of PCMA touched on a lot of key issues from the association stand point as well as attendees trends that are affecting the convention management industry. Because of the economy, companies and organizations are allocating less and less money for their employees to attend education conferences which presents more challenges to associations to keep attendees coming to their meetings. Organizations now have to present the best educational and networking opportunities to justify why people should attend. Deborah referred to it as “Return on Time,” time spent at the conference and time spent out of the office. Attendees are also now more likely to attend more specialized conferences in their area as opposed to broad topic conferences because of the more specialized education that is offered.
Kent and Deborah talked about registration trends and how associations can no longer easily predict hotel guarantees, hotel pick-up rates and overall attendance projections from previous years because of the economy and because attendees are more likely to wait until much closer to the conference to register. Associations are also having to renegotiate contracts booked previously to decrease room blocks because of the increase in websites such as Hotwire, Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Attendees are now more likely to use sites like these to find cheaper hotel stays when attending conferences.
They also touched on the changing trade show floor and how companies are changing their marketing techniques when exhibiting. Companies are re-evaluating the conferences they are exhibiting at and how they are approaching attendees on the show floor to show a better return on investment.
In terms of social media, another growing trend that is affecting our industry, panelists agreed that social media outlets are being added to the marketing of meetings as well as attendees participation at some meetings and it is not only the younger generation that is utilizing it.
“State of the Industry” Panel Discussion
Moderator: Gregg H. Talley, CAE, President & CEO, Talley Management Group Inc.
Panelists:
- Kent Allaway, CEM, CMP, Vice President, Meetings and Trade Shows, Produce
Marketing Association
- Kathleen (Kitty) Ratcliffe, President, St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
- Matt Sanford, Client Solutions, Gray Consulting
- Michael Schmeltzer, Managing Director, Passenger Sales, US Airways
- Deborah Sexton, President & CEO, PCMA and PCMA Education Foundation
On March 12, 2010, the GPPCMA Chapter held it’s rescheduled “State of the Industry” Panel Discussion. The panelists touched on a number of topics that are affecting the convention management industry that they are seeing first hand through their different roles in the industry.
Michael Schmeltzer of US Airways touched on how the airline industry has been affected by the economy. He said that airlines have cut back on the amount of flights offered, but planes are still filling up. He also said that they are noticing how business travel is bouncing back, which will bring fares back up. Michael also noted that US Airways is making more knowledgeable decisions when determining where and when to place their flights.
Kitty Ratcliffe spoke from the convention center and CVB side in terms of how they are adjusting to the economy to meet their client’s needs. While many clients are looking for cost saving measures, especially from convention centers, Kitty reiterated that costs still need to be covered. Convention centers react to customers needs and she brought up examples such as the green movement amongst organizations (recycle bins) and the need for more sanitation measures (like hand sanitizers) with the recent swine flu scares. Both of these examples are items that are not charged to any client directly, but that cost convention centers thousands of dollars, thus making it a lot harder for convention centers to give things away at no cost.
Matt Sanford from Gray Consulting talked about how corporate America is bouncing back from the economy in terms of meeting and how the integration of technology is becoming a growing trend in corporate meetings. He does, however, feel that technology will not be replacing the need for face to face meeting any time soon.
Kent Allaway of Produce Marketing Association and Deborah Sexton of PCMA touched on a lot of key issues from the association stand point as well as attendees trends that are affecting the convention management industry. Because of the economy, companies and organizations are allocating less and less money for their employees to attend education conferences which presents more challenges to associations to keep attendees coming to their meetings. Organizations now have to present the best educational and networking opportunities to justify why people should attend. Deborah referred to it as “Return on Time,” time spent at the conference and time spent out of the office. Attendees are also now more likely to attend more specialized conferences in their area as opposed to broad topic conferences because of the more specialized education that is offered.
Kent and Deborah talked about registration trends and how associations can no longer easily predict hotel guarantees, hotel pick-up rates and overall attendance projections from previous years because of the economy and because attendees are more likely to wait until much closer to the conference to register. Associations are also having to renegotiate contracts booked previously to decrease room blocks because of the increase in websites such as Hotwire, Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Attendees are now more likely to use sites like these to find cheaper hotel stays when attending conferences.
They also touched on the changing trade show floor and how companies are changing their marketing techniques when exhibiting. Companies are re-evaluating the conferences they are exhibiting at and how they are approaching attendees on the show floor to show a better return on investment.
In terms of social media, another growing trend that is affecting our industry, panelists agreed that social media outlets are being added to the marketing of meetings as well as attendees participation at some meetings and it is not only the younger generation that is utilizing it.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Another Great Meeting Planning Internship Opportunity Available!!!
Company: Fernley & Fernley, Inc.
Name: Lindsay Groff, MBA and/or Trish Keppler, CMP
Title: Vice President / Senior Meeting Manager & Team Leader
Address: 100 N 20th St, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-564-3484
Fax: 215-564-2175
E-mail: lgroff@fernley.com / tkeppler@fernley.com
Availability for internship: May to September 2010, September to December 2010
How many days a week? 3 – 4 (up to 5 if workload permits)
How many hours a week? 20 – 30 (no more than 37.5)
Please describe what the intern’s responsibilities would be:
· Assist meeting management department in planning of annual conferences for non-profit trade and professional associations.
· Coordination and communication with speakers and attendees.
· Compile detailed proposals received from hotels via RFP process. Assist in the decision making process by summarizing leads and presenting to the client.
· Attend in-house meetings with industry leaders such as hotels and CVBs from across the country and internationally.
· Work with team on various other projects involving marketing, PR, website, membership.
Per-hour salary (or stipend?): For credit only. No salary or stipend offered at this time. However, skills needed are very transferable and company has a solid reputation in the industry.
Is your office located near public transportation? Yes.
Name: Lindsay Groff, MBA and/or Trish Keppler, CMP
Title: Vice President / Senior Meeting Manager & Team Leader
Address: 100 N 20th St, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-564-3484
Fax: 215-564-2175
E-mail: lgroff@fernley.com / tkeppler@fernley.com
Availability for internship: May to September 2010, September to December 2010
How many days a week? 3 – 4 (up to 5 if workload permits)
How many hours a week? 20 – 30 (no more than 37.5)
Please describe what the intern’s responsibilities would be:
· Assist meeting management department in planning of annual conferences for non-profit trade and professional associations.
· Coordination and communication with speakers and attendees.
· Compile detailed proposals received from hotels via RFP process. Assist in the decision making process by summarizing leads and presenting to the client.
· Attend in-house meetings with industry leaders such as hotels and CVBs from across the country and internationally.
· Work with team on various other projects involving marketing, PR, website, membership.
Per-hour salary (or stipend?): For credit only. No salary or stipend offered at this time. However, skills needed are very transferable and company has a solid reputation in the industry.
Is your office located near public transportation? Yes.
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