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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Greetings!,
As we witnessed from the 2008 Presidential election,
anything is possible! It turns out that this historic event was a
result of a grass roots effort that used old fashioned American
ingenuity to generate interest in a set of ideals embodied in a
resounding percentage of the American people. This
historic change has inspired many Americans to do things they hadn't
thought possible, some big and some small feats, but all with the hope
that hard work and dedication can make anything possible. Your 2009
NYPCMA Board of Directors has taken this inspiration to heart. We're
mindful that our need to demonstrate a return on investment, especially
considering demands on your time, and organizational and personal
budgets, is essential to your participation in NYPCMA. Some fixes are
easier than others. Re-hiring our chapter administrator will free up
our Board and committees to focus on education and re-engineering how
we promote the value of professional convention management in our
region. Adding programs outside the borough of Manhattan will hopefully
demonstrate that we want our message to come to you, in your
neighborhood. These changes are at the heart of
our 2009 goals & objectives, but we need your participation to
reach them. We need five minutes, five hours, even five days of your
time and your ingenuity to build a grass roots effort to keep NYPCMA
relevant and sustained for our future. If you enjoy community service,
perhaps our Network for the Needy program will make your heart sing; if
you can't commit time away from the office but can work from your desk,
perhaps our Membership or e-Newsletter opportunities are a possibility;
or if you have always wanted to roll up your sleeves and plan or
execute a program, perhaps our Programs committee is right for your
time and skills. Regardless of the amount of time you can commit or the
area in which you want to volunteer, we will work to accommodate you. We are on the brink of an historic year in the life of NYPCMA. Please join us! Warm regards,  Dawn Rockas, CMP President, NYPCMA National Sales Director SDCVB-Northeast Sales Office
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Security Considerations: Preparing For A
Safe Meeting Experience
by Anastasia (Stacey) Courtney
Manager, Exhibits and Special Sessions, MLA
Things fail and people die from lack of planning. This was the warning from panelists Susan Goldberg, CMP, SEGue Consulting Inc., and Paul Goldenberg, CEO, Cardinal Point Strategies, at NYPCMA's opening 2009 session on February 3 at the Westin NY at Times Square. Sponsored by the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, Goldberg and Goldenberg used their combined expertise in meeting planning and risk management to educate planner and supplier attendees on key issues and precautions needed for improving the security of their meetings, and promised to have attendees thinking differently when planning in the future.
The session began with an overview of the security risks and challenges that meeting planners face when planning their events. Using their own experiences with high-profile clients and highly-targeted groups as examples, Goldberg and Goldenberg illustrated how advanced preparation combined with comprehensive security and emergency plans can drastically affect the outcome of an event. "Don't wait for a crisis to happen before you begin planning," Goldenberg reminded attendees. The speakers emphasized six key steps to security preparedness.
Read More ....
NYPCMA Program Director, Diana Brady, Cartus with speakers Susan Goldberg, SEGue Consulting; Paul Goldenberg, Cardinal Point Strategies and NYPCMA President Dawn Rockas, San Diego CVB.
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Be Heard!
Improve Your Next Presentation Now.
by Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, CSP
High Impact Presentations
Picture this: You just picked up your badge at your chapter meeting, when a new member comes up to you and asks, "What do you do?" As you tell her, you watch her eyes glaze over. You don't blame her because you're just rambling!
You're asked to make a short presentation at your organization's regional meeting. You know all the people attending - all 176 of them - yet the night before the presentation you're so nervous that you can barely sleep. You can only hope they don't hear how nervous you sound to your own ear when you start speaking.
You're so excited about a new technology tool you discovered to use at your next meeting. But when you present your idea to your manager, she is unimpressed and refuses your request for more funds. You know that if only you could have pitched your idea in a more compelling manner that she would have said yes.
If you've ever been less than successful in moving someone away from their position and towards yours, or if you'd just like to sound more professional and more persuasive, this article will help you be heard!
Read More ...
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President's Volunteer of the Quarter
Michelle Nicoletti
Director, Worldwide Accounts
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
We all know someone who works behind the scenes and asks for no recognition. A volunteer who offers to help with what some might deem a painful task, and then reduces the complexity of that task to simplicity, with one telephone call or e-mail. Most of us are awe-struck by these volunteers, because we either aren't clever enough to volunteer for roles that enhance our daily experience or we tend to chose tasks that are so close to our day jobs that the assignment becomes a chore.
Fortunately, the New York Area Chapter of PCMA has Michelle Nicolett i, who has worked tirelessly to secure the perfect venues and select the tastiest menus on behalf of NYPCMA for years.
Selecting venues and menus is at the heart of NYPCMA. Having these two specific tasks in capable hands allow each year's Board of Directors the ability to focus on education, membership, student mentoring and marketing without a care as to the logistics of entertaining our members.
Michelle's working knowledge of NYPCMA's needs, along with her talent for choosing the perfect venues and menus, make Michelle Nicoletti the perfect choice for the first President's Volunteer of the Quarter, 2009.
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Keep An Eye On the Emmy Red Carpet This August....
for
Yves Gentile, NYPCMA Membership Director
Yves, Director, Tourisme Quebec, has received an Emmy nomination for Best Educational Program. He is
nominated with  Toni Senecal, Executive Producer for the show
"Toni on Quebec". Yves worked on the show last year which was shot in Montreal, Quebec City and Tremblant. The show is 30 minutes and it
aired in January/February last year. Yves is actually in the show which he says, "is
scary!" You can see the trailer at Toni On Quebec.
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APRIL PROGRAM
Maximizing ROI
in a Downturn Economy
If there's a ROI in live meetings
these days it comes from the human capital investment. And if there's a
way to quantify that investment, it comes from what attendees do after they
return to work.
During this participatory session
we'll explore the cutting edges of live meeting design; look at practical
approaches to flexible programming and attendee driven content; and leave with
immediately applicable ideas and action steps to put to for your next
meeting.
Registration Information ...
SPONSORED BY:
 
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Thanks to Our
February Luncheon Sponsor
Visit Our Sponsor
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Thanks To Our
February Program Sponsor
Visit Our Sponsor
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Security Considerations meeting sponsor Mark White, VP of Sales, Salt Lake CVB (center) with Hilton National Sales rep Jerry Connors (L) and Rocco LaForgia of NY Hilton (R).
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University of New Haven
UPDATE
By: Michael Markowitz
University of New Haven
(L-R) UNH students Michael Markowitz,
Marrisa McKenna, Stephen Oscarlece, and Kyle O' Donnell selling NFTN 50/50 tickets at February meeting. I can't believe the Spring term is already half finished. Many things have happened this year that I would like to share with all of you. We had an amazing time in New Orleans for the PCMA Annual Meeting. We learned a great deal from all of the sessions we attended, and met amazing people at the many networking receptions. Everyone who came enjoyed attending and can't wait for the next Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas next January. We also enjoyed the February chapter event on meeting security. It was a very informative topic that everyone who plans meetings and events, or works in hotels and convention centers, should know about since we are all dealing with big groups of people.
We have many more activities planed for the rest of our school year. On April 27th we will be having our annual Dress for Success event on campus. A few of you have helped with the Dress for Success events in the past, by participating on the panel, and joining in the audience and sharing insightful thoughts from your experiences. We always like it when our NYPCMA Chapter members join us for events and participate on our panels. I will pass on more details of the event to all of you in the next few weeks. We will also be continuing with community service each month like the
MS Walk which we do every Spring.
We will see you all at the next NY Area Chapter event at the Hyatt in April. If anyone would like to get more involved, or wants more information about our student chapter, they can contact me Michael Markowitz Chapter President at [email protected] or [email protected].
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Get involved .... become a
chapter volunteer. Click on
the button above and a chapter
representative will contact you
to discuss.
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Calling all NYPMCA Members!!!
The Membership Committee is open for business and encourages you to join us.
Get involved and make a difference. We
are looking for members who want to
connect with other members . . . new members, past members, and potential
future members. Give us 5 minutes or an
hour a month.
If you are interested, e-mail Pia at [email protected] with your name and contact information and we will do the rest. Thank you!
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INSIDER REPORTS: PCMA 2009 ANNUAL MEETING
Unexpected Unlearning at PCMA by Emily Nichols, AE, Metropolitan Exposition ServicesThere are so many reasons to attend PCMA each year - the education, the networking, the camaraderie - and for the most part we tend to focus on the learning as the most compelling. Yet, I would suggest, that it is the unlearning that is truly the reason to go. What I love about working in this industry is that I learn something new almost on a daily basis, but rarely do I unlearn things.
Read More ...
Attending PCMA Annual Meeting on Chapter Scholarship
by Samantha Bowerman, President, Strategic Meetings Group  Each year, our chapter awards two scholarships to the PCMA Annual Meeting. Like most people, this was a year where I had to justify the expense of attending. I have attended every Annual Meeting since I first joined the chapter in 2001. I decided I had nothing to lose by applying for a scholarship. The scholarship application is easy to fill out, and surprisingly, very few people take advantage of this chapter benefit. I was happy to hear I had been selected for the recent meeting in New Orleans. Read More ... Student's Perspective As First Time Attendee by Mallory Jensen, President, University of New Haven The 2009 Annual PCMA conference held in New Orleans was a wonderful new experience for six UNH students who were able to enjoy a time of learning. We were all eager to get insights into the business world. This was my first time attending the PCMA annual conference, and when we arrived at registration we were provided with our schedules and sessions that we were able to attend. It was nice being able to go through all of the different sessions and being able to pick the ones that we would like to attend. It was really great listening to all the different lectures because everyone there had so much experience in the business world. It was amazing to see all of the professionals were so interested in learning about new developments in the industry. It was all new information for us because we are just starting out in the industry, so we have not had much experience yet. I really enjoyed all of the lunches and social events because that was the time where you could interact with all the professionals. This is always my favorite part because they help you learn more than you ever do just sitting in a classroom. The experiences you receive are what take you to new levels; this is why attending these meetings is so essential to hospitality students and I am very excited and looking forward to attending next year's annual conference in Dallas Texas.
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The Guest Room Attrition Negotiations Checklist
by Caroline Kamper, Senior Meeting Planner Institute for International Research 
When building event budgets
there are certain fixed and variable costs you plan for, but attrition
is not something you do plan in advance; and it can devastate a budget.
As I have had to face and work through many attrition situations in my
career as a meeting planner, I have learned certain tactics and
techniques that can be good to have on hand.
Read More ....
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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
Welcome to twenty-eight new members that have joined NYPCMA in January 09/December 08!
They include planners, suppliers and students .... click here to see Who's Who ...
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MISSION STATEMENT
PCMA New York Area Chapter's main purpose is to represent PCMA on a local level by offering quality educational seminars, along with the opportunity for members to contribute their time, knowledge, and experience through networking and committee involvement to further the professionalism of the meetings industry.
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NYPCMA Communications / Newsletter Committee
Director, Marketing/Communications: Hannah Wai, CASE, New York Marriott Eastside
Production Editor: Lynne Nordone, CMP, LAN Events
Copy Editor: Leslie Di Leo, CMP, American Montessori Society
Contributing Editor: Stacey Courtney, Modern Language Association
JOIN OUR EDITORIAL TEAM ...Contribute an article and earn CMP application and re-certification points. To learn more contact Lynne Nordone at [email protected].
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