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Your source of news and information for the

New England Chapter of PCMA

Winter 2012

In This Issue
President's Message
PCMA NE Kicks Off 2012 with Best in Class! Register Now!
Save the Date! Summer Social - Red Sox vs. White Sox at Fenway Park
PCMA New England Annual Meeting Recap
In Her Own Words - Featuring Don Lawrence Scholarship Winner Samie Brosseau

 

President's Message 

 

Kevin Panetta Headshot 

 

Dear PCMA New England Members,

 

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the first PCMA New England Newsletter of 2012! I'm thrilled to serve as this year's President and commit to you a year of excellent education, community involvement and dynamic social networking (or better yet, good fun!).

 

We're off to a great start already. After an outstanding Annual Meeting in November at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel, PCMA New England hit the ground running in January at the PCMA Convening Leaders Conference in San Diego. With a fantastic Chapter Reception to kick off the four days, many PCMA New England members then got to experience a world-class meeting and a fantastic destination. Thank you to the Greater Ft. Lauderdale CVB, Omni Mount Washington, and OnPeak for sponsoring the Chapter Reception!

 

We're keeping the momentum going with a Best in Class Education Program on March 6th at the Sheraton Boston Hotel and our Board and Committee Chairs are already fast at work on future education events that you won't get at any other organization. We're expanding our communication and can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and encourage you to follow us on all those mediums so you can experience the most your membership has to offer.

 

As your President, I welcome any and all feedback on how we can improve our offerings, and I also encourage you to get involved as much as you can. I firmly believe that you only get out of something what you put in. And don't forget, I challenged each and every one of you to bring one new member to the chapter this year. Have you found yours yet?

 

Thank you again for all that you do for us and look forward to our Chapter's best year yet!

 

Sincerely,

Kevin Panetta

 


PCMA NE Kicks Off 2012 with Best in Class!

Rethink and Retool Your Trade Show to Generate Revenue; Hands-on Workshop & Presentation

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 

2:00 - 7:00pm

Sheraton Boston Hotel

 

Let your trade show exhibition sales and strategies sizzle in 2012 with our Best in Class presentation!

 

Capturing leads and brand awareness are the top goals for exhibitors. Successful show organizers know how to position their event as the essential place for exhibitors to fuel their pipeline. Discover how to reap results from exhibitors and explore solutions for connecting exhibitors with attendees.

 

Cutting-edge marketing experts Leslie Brand and Melinda Kendall will lead an interactive workshop to show you how to analyze attendee information to map content with exhibitor business strategies and maximize ROI.

 

Following the workshop, Leslie (below left) and Melinda (right) will present their strategy to develop non-traditional floor plans with multiple immersive areas and interactive show floors to enable you to launch a bold plan of your own.

 

Join PCMA New England at the Sheraton Boston Hotel for this exciting program sure to appeal to everyone in the industry. Workshop (2pm) and program (4pm) offered separately or as a package.

 

Leslie Brand Melinda Kendall

 

SCHEDULE:

 

1:30 - 2:00pm - Workshop Registration

2:00 - 3:30pm - Interactive Workshop

3:30 - 4:00pm - Break, Registration for "Rethink & Retool" Presentation

4:00 - 5:30pm - "Rethink & Retool" Presentation

5:30 - 7:00pm - Networking Reception

 

Flexibile registration is available for this event if you wish to attend one or both parts of the program. See the registration link for more details on fees.

 

Please RSVP by Friday, March 2!

 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

 

PCMA New England will be collecting toiletries for Rosie's Place at the registration table for the Spring Educational Program. Please bring unopened, travel-sized toiletries to donate!

 

Rosie's Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women, offers emergency and long-term assistance to women who have nowhere else to turn. Click here to learn more!

 

ABOUT OUR BEST IN CLASS SPEAKERS:

 

Leslie Brand (@LLBrand) has more than 20 years experience in marketing. She was most recently Vice President of Marketing for Wheelhouse Solutions, prior to the sale of Freeman. Before joining Wheelhouse, Ms. Brand was the Vice President of Corporate and Exhibitor Client Marketing for United Business Media, producer of Interop, VoiceCon, Web 2.0 and other technology events. In addition to positioning events, she has held positions in online media and print media, and has spent much of her career marketing to marketers.

 

Melinda Kendall (@melindakendall) has spent 20 years in the events industry as the General Manager of several key IT conference and trade shows, including LinuxWorld and COMDEX/Enterprise, and as Vice President of Marketing at Softbank Forums and MediaLive. For the past three years she has been the Vice President of Business Solutions for Champion Exposition Services, and now Freeman, a leading general contractor for events. In this capacity her role is to consult with Freeman's customers on marketing, strategy, and event technology. She has been to over 50 events in the past two years, gathering and sharing best practices and new trends.

 

PCMA New England would like to thank the PCMA Education Foundation and the Sheraton Boston Hotel for their generous sponsorship of our Best in Class Education Program!

 

PCMA Best in Class Logo    Sheraton Boston Hotel

 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Save the Date for PCMA New England's Summer Social: Red Sox vs. White Sox Game at Fenway Park

Thursday, July 19, 2012 

Pre-game Reception TBD

Game starts at 7:10pm


Red Sox LogoVS. White Sox Logo 
 
Save the date for our annual summer social
networking reception baseball game at Fenway Park! 

Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available.
Contact Anissa Ladd if you would like to be a sponsor at ALadd@ctconventions.com.

PCMA New England Annual Meeting Recap
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Marriott Long Wharf
 
The New England Chapter's Annual Meeting was a tremendous success with close to 100 people in attendance!

 

The meeting kicked off with recognition of the 2011 Board of Directors and installment of the 2012 board. Kevin Panetta of OnPeak will serve as Chapter President for the upcoming year. Kevin emphasized the importance of continuing to grow the Chapter as we look ahead to January of 2014, when Boston will host Convening Leaders at the Hynes Convention Center. 

 

Susan Katz, outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors of PCMA, and Director of Corporate Events & Travel for True Value Company, addressed the Chapter and gave an update from PCMA National.     

 

2011 Annual Meeting Presenters
Annual Meeting Presenters Carolyn Pund, Kimberly Meyer with Susan Katz, PCMA 2011 Chairman of the Board
PCMA NE 2011 Board of Directors
PCMA New England 2011 Board of Directors

 

PCMA BEST IN CLASS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM:  

The Chapter was proud to welcome Best in Class speakers Kimberly Meyer and Carolyn Pund, CMP, CMM, who gave a dynamic and informative presentation on the practices of SMMP.   

 

Kimberly and Carolyn explored the data analytics critical to integrating procurement tactics with meeting strategy; and, how meeting planners can successfuly use SMMP to get buy-in throughout an organization to meet the needs of finance, procurement, legal, risk management and event marketing. They also addressed how SMMP impact suppliers, including tips on the best ways suppliers can work within an established SMMP system.   

   

Headquartered in the Chicago area, Kimberly is the Founder of Meetings Analytics and also works on Strategic Initiatives for IMEX America.  Carolyn is the Senior Global Meetings & Events Manager of Cisco Systems and is located in San Jose, California.

 

2011 Annual Meeting Presentation
SMMP Presentation with Kimberly Meyer and Carolyn Pund

 

  PCMA Best in Class Logo 

 
DON LAWRENCE SCHOLARSHIP WINNER:

Congratulations to Samie Brosseau, a student a the University of Massachusetts and winner of this year's Don Lawrence Scholarship! To learn more about Samie and what winning the scholarship means to her, see her article below.   

  

RECEPTION & AUCTION:

Following the business and educational portion of the evening, attendees moved into a beautiful and delectable reception hosted by the Boston Marriott Long Wharf. The evening concluded with the annual auction to raise money for the Chapter scholarship fund and the Greater Boston Food Bank.

 

2011 Annual Meeting Auction
Annual Auction

 

THANK YOU!!
Our tremendous thanks to all of our auction donors, to the Boston Marriott Long Wharf for hosting the Annual Meeting & Reception and the PCMA Board Meeting, to the Connecticut Convention Center for sponsoring the Annual Meeting, to the team at NXTevent for their on-site assistance, and to David Fox Photography for taking pictures throughout the event.

 


  Boston Marriott Long Wharf 

 

 

In Her Own Words: What Winning the Don Lawrence Scholarship Means to Samie Brosseau

2011 Annual Meeting Scholarship Presentation
PCMA New England congratulates 2011 Don Lawrence Scholarship recipient Samie Brosseau!

It was around 9:30am on Thanksgiving morning, I was in my friend Maddie's kitchen preparing a cup of coffee as we all bustled about her house getting everything prepared for all the guests about to arrive for Thanksgiving Brunch. I reached over my coffee cup as my the email notification sounded on my blackberry. I figured it was another "black friday" promotion but as I read the subject line my heart skipped a beat. I had noticed that the sender was Terri Comegys, the Chairperson of the Don Lawrence Memorial Scholarship Committee as I opened the email but the subject line read: Congratulations! PCMA NE Don Lawrence Scholarship Notification. For a brief moment, I did not care where I was, who was listening or what was going on around me....I simply let out a shout of joy and began jumping up and down as if I were a three year old girl on christmas morning who had just opened the best present in the world! Needless to say, everyone came running into the kitchen to find out what all the commotion was about. I was barely able to put into words what was going on but everyone could see how important the scholarship was to me and shared in my joy.

 

The following week, I attended the award ceremony where Terri was able to present the scholarship to me in person. The experience was beyond amazing. After her introduction, I could hardly get myself together enough to express my gratitude for being the recipient of the 2011 Don Lawrence Memorial Scholarship. Even as I recall all the emotion, it remains difficult.

 

Let me begin by giving a little background on my personal life. I was born and raised in a religious commune called the Twelve Tribes. At a young age, my dream was to go to college and gain a higher education that would allow me to pursue a career. No one in my family within the commune had ever attended college or any form of public school. I was home-schooled with the intent of going on to get married and raise a family just as my parents had with me and my 5 siblings. My older brother and sister as well as one younger sister all did what my mother and father had intended, however, at 18 years old, I chose a different path for myself. In short, I ran away from home in the fall of 2005 with the clothes on my back. I set out to find something that was missing from my life. I was not sure of what was out in the world or what I would discover but I was sure I would find a way and ultimately find a happier me. The journey has had its ups and downs but has always kept me motivated. Here is a little snip-it that I wrote back when I first started out on my own. The reminder has helped me immensely along the way.

 

"Always motivated by the principle that failure is inevitable if motivation is lost."

 

It has been a long journey, but to be honest, that journey has merely just begun. I am nearly finished with my bachelor's degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management and ready to being a whole new aspect of my life. My interest in PCMA began with my year long assistantship with Professor Tierney while I was helping to teach her Convention Management courses at Umass-Amherst. What began as an interest in the Convention, Events and Meeting aspect of my studies became a passion due to Professor Tierney's enthusiasm in the field. I have not yet determined what exactly I want to do in the industry but I do know that events, meetings and conventions is where I would like to begin my career. The job search is daunting but I am excited as ever to get involved and give back in whatever way possible. My most sincerely thanks goes to the Scholarship Committee of PCMA New England and Professor Erin Tierney (MPI-CRV Member and Umass-Amherst HTM Professor) for enabling me to learn and succeed in my academic career thus far.  

 

To share your news with PCMA NE's members, e-mail Caryn Izhar at cizhar@AdvantageBOSTON.com.
Mark Your Calendar!

March 6 - Best in Class Spring Educational Program at the Sheraton Boston Hotel

 

June 11 - Summer Educational Program

 

July 19 - Summer Social - Red Sox vs. White Sox at Fenway Park

 

September 11 - Fall Educational Program

 

December 4 - New England Chapter 20th Anniversary Annual Meeting

 

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Are you interested in sponsoring a PCMA New England Chapter Event?

 

Click here to learn about our sponsorship program.

 

Our thanks to the following organizations who have already signed on as sponsors for 2012!

 

Sheraton Boston Hotel 

 

 

 

NXTevent Logo

 

 

Omni Mt. Washington Logo 

 

Greater Ft. Lauderdale CVB Logo

 

onPeak Logo