Are questions scary?

My life has been about questions. I think it is a deep-seated cultural/religious thing!

As Chair of PCMA's Student Task Force, I served on the PCMA Annual Meeting Planning Committee. In that role, bouncing around session concepts, speakers and design with PCMA members and staff, it was evident that I drove Chair Neil Schriever a little meshugge! (C'mon .. no 'poor Neil' comments! And Neil? If it makes you feel better, I am sure my parents (of blessed memory) felt the same from all my questioning.)

Why and how?

In addition to being curious, I am a questioner, aural learner and an MBTI "P" who needs to ask and hear questions out loud to process the information. My learning preferences made me as curious about room sets and delivery formats, about interactivity in sessions, about how students would be incorporated into the entire Annual Meeting, as others were about session titles and speakers.

I asked lots of questions and to many, questions are scary. Questions make us think differently and delve deeper. Brainstorming (v. Q-storming™) is easy because it allows all ideas to be put on the table; Q-storming™ makes us consider all angles before we make final decisions. It can take a bit more time and often, in this process and in life, decisions are needed quickly.

There was lots of good that came from the questions during the AMPC experience:
- Students will be seen and heard from more, beginning at the Student Union on Sunday. [Note: MegaMentors, among PCMA professionals, are still wanted. A commitment to being with us on Sun., 1/9 from noon - 3 and a desire to help students grow is all that's needed. Email me at eisenstodt@aol.com if you can and will participate.]
- PCMA will incorporate some new informal learning venues and ventures including facilitated discussions of general session learning applications.
- A session where you can learn to ask better questions will be held on Monday, 1/10.

So why ask?

Why not?

Convene On Site: PCMA Masters Series

Posted by:
Chris Durso
Executive Editor, Convene

This post was posted, with permission, from the PCMA Convene Blog.

The PCMA Masters Series program held at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel last Thursday offered a terrific assortment of big-sky and ground-level insights (some of which I tweeted throughout the event), but for me the grand unifying takeaway was the fact that you can't separate a meeting from its parent organization, and vice versa. An obvious conclusion, perhaps, especially considering the topic was "Associations and Meetings of the Future: A Look Ahead to 2020," but there it is.

The panel was moderated by Greg O'Dell, president and CEO of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority, and featured (picture above, left to right) Chris Brown, executive vice president of conventions and business operations for the National Association of Broadcasters; Abe Eshkenazi, CAE, CEO of the Association for Operations Management; Karen Hackett, CAE, CEO of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; Scott Hunt, executive director and CEO of the Endocrine Society; and Peter O'Neil, CAE, executive director of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. As this distinguished group of association executives speculated first on the issues that would face their organizations and then those that would face their meetings in the short- to mid-term view, they couldn't talk about one without referencing the other. Or, even when they were talking about one, their comments had relevance for the other.

When Brown, for example, said, "We're all getting used to being always connected, always on, always available," and "Associations going forward are going to have to be more nimble" -- he was talking about how associations need to figure out how to serve their members in the "do-more-with-less" environment of the last several years. But he very easily could have been talking directly to meeting professionals. Ditto Hunt when he noted that associations have a growing role to play in helping members decide "what is important and what isn't. ... How do you stake out your space when they are getting 120 e-mails a day and clicking right through them like a shotgun?"

The last word goes to O'Neil, who, reflecting on the oft-heard death knell for the annual meeting, said: "The annual meeting is dead. Long live the annual meeting." He added: "What can be better, different, or more for our meeting? ... How can we make that experience live the whole year?"

Storytelling as a Sales Tool? Seriously?

Posted by:

Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, CSP
President/Owner, High Impact Presentations




It seems like everyone today talks about the importance of story, of telling your story and of differentiating your idea with story. Consultants and bloggers explain the different types of stories and companies jump on the bandwagon.

Why? Because a good story starts a conversation. And a conversation can start a relationship. And a relationship can move mountains.

What makes a good story? It’s relevant, authentic and intriguing (or at least interesting) to the listener.

What makes a great story? When the teller isn’t always the hero. It’s a lesson learned the hard way. Sometimes there are twists and surprise endings that don’t make the teller look good at all, except for the fact she/he is telling it, to underscore that lesson learned.

Whether you’re an executive trying to make a point, a parent or teacher attempting to persuade a child, or a sales professional trying to motivate a buyer to act, tell your story to help the other person trust your message.

We (staff, clients, customers, children, students, etc.) are hard wired to buy into an idea based on emotion and justify with logic. That’s just the way it is.

Comments? Ideas? Suggestions? Would love to hear from you.

If you're interested in learning more about storytelling, check out my session at PCMA's 55th annual meeting: Convening Leaders.

Be a Storyteller: How to Present Ideas Memorably
Meeting and convention managers need every tool to persuade stakeholders that their ideas and meetings have value. Following an interactive program on how to vastly improve your presentation skills, take part in small group exercises where you will "tell your story" and receive feedback. Discover specific, practical concepts to tell your story confidently and competently.

I Work in Living Laboratory...And I Love It

Sometimes I think about how lucky I am to work for an organization like PCMA that encourages risks and innovation. It keeps us sharp and on our toes and no day is like the one before. At no other time in the year is this more true than when we are preparing for our signature event, Convening Leaders, which will take place this January 9-12, 2011 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

At PCMA, we work in a true "incubator for new ideas". Whether it is a room set, a technology application, a luncheon menu experience or an education format, we like to throw ideas in the incubator and see what happens. Sometimes these ideas grow and sometimes they don't and that's OK because as an organization for meetings industry professionals, it's our responsibility to take that risk so our members don't have to. They will see what could work for their meeting and what DEFINITELY won't, which is often just as good.

This year at Convening Leaders Las Vegas, we will continue our living laboratory of ideas, with many different types of experiences that you won't want to miss. For example, how will we transform the 16,000-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena into a more intimate setting of 3,000 for our General Sessions? Or, what will happen when we take some the "traditional" learning out of the session rooms and create self-directed learning opportunities and other education formats in our new "Learning Lounge"? This year, we will take all of these new and untested ideas one step further and explain the how and the way behind them. We realize everything at the PCMA Convening Leaders program can be a teaching moment and this year in Las Vegas attendees will gain an even better understanding of our ideas.

Where do these ideas come from? Sometimes our PCMA members are my team's best resource, they tell us what they would like to see tried at our program. They tell us what they like and what they don't like and we make adjustments. Sometimes we rely on our vendor partners to help us come up with a new way of doing something. Sometimes we just make things up that we think might be interesting. Often it's a combination of all of these things. Do you have ideas or concepts you would like to see us try? Let us know! In the meantime, I hope you'll register for the PCMA 2011 Convening Leaders program in Las Vegas, visit pcma2011.org/.

The Masters Series Uncovered – a look at the creation of a PCMA Masters Series program

The Masters Series Uncovered – a look at the creation of a PCMA Masters Series program

For several years PCMA has been offering its Masters Series programs in a variety of settings – at our annual meetings, leadership and education conferences and as stand-alone events with various chapters.

These programs provide a forum for acknowledged thought leaders to deliver professional or executive level education on applied business topics to the meetings and conventions industry. The chief objective is to introduce meeting participants to new ideas and best practices which will influence the way they conduct the business of meetings and conventions.

Developing the Masters Series program for October in Washington DC involved several steps outlined below. I hope you will find them to be a helpful guide that you can utilize when planning your next educational program.

Reaching Out

Knowing the program was planned for D.C., one of the first steps we took was to crowdsource the Capital Chapter Leadership to ask for topic suggestions from their members. What needs did they have? What issues were keeping them up at night? What programs did they already have planned? Within a week’s time several members of the Program Committee and Board of Directors submitted their thoughts and suggestions for our consideration. Some identified specific speakers they had seen in the past while others shared topic ideas they had received from members. We also reached out to John Truran at Keppler Speakers for his recommendations as he has been a long time supporter of PCMA and Keppler is one of our Communication Partners.

Location is Key

Most often when we hear the phrase “location is key” it refers to real estate or a venue. In our case, we saw location as yet another way to help us identify a topic. What did we know about D.C. that could help us determine an appropriate program? We know the region is comprised of the largest concentration of association headquarters in the entire country. We also know from previous Masters Series programs that the majority of people who attend come from the region where it is being held. Finally, we know that PCMA’s Capital Chapter is our largest chapter and has very active members who are passionate about creating quality education experiences. With this understanding we focused our attention on topics that would be of interest primarily to the association community as well as to those who provide goods and services to these organizations.

Brainstorming Creates Clarity

With the information we gathered from the above steps, we brainstormed ideas with key members of our team here at headquarters and it led us to a topic which resonated with many of us. The association world as we know it today will be undergoing a major transformation over the course of the next ten years the results of which will have a significant impact on meeting professionals. We can sit by passively and react to the changes or we can become active participants in shaping the future. It soon became evident that the content of the program would focus on two areas – what will the association world look like in the next ten years and how will the expected changes impact meeting professionals.

The Crystal Ball

While it was tempting for a fleeting moment to entertain the idea of bringing in a wizard or fortune teller to help us see the future, we determined the best approach would be to reach out to those in our industry who are intimately involved in looking beyond the day to day activities of the association world. We wanted to hear from several different voices who could offer their perspective on association life by the year 2020.

Our gaze began to shift to the people at the very top of the association world. When developing the list of potential industry “futurists”, we wanted to insure that we had a diverse panel so that we would hear from both men and women who cut across generations. We also secured a moderator who will move the conversation forward, keep panelists on track and engage the audience in meaningful discussion.

The End Result

Will this Masters Series program deliver on its objective to introduce attendees to new ideas which will influence the way business is conducted in the years ahead? We think it will, but what do we know. It really is up to you to be the judge if we have succeeded. So make a commitment to be there - October 21, 2010. And bring your crystal balls!

For more information on the upcoming PCMA Masters Series: Associations and Meetings of the Future – A Look Ahead to 2020, visit pcma.org/mastersseries.

Posted by: John Potterton, CMP, Vice President of Education, PCMA

Engineering Education Strategies for Next Generation Conferences and Events

This is not your Grandma's conference learning strategy.

Traditional conference strategies of attendees sitting passively, listening to a talking head is out. Seeing your conference attendees as participants, co-creators, experts and advocates is in.

In the digital age, people are learning in new ways that are both communal and autonomous. They contribute to Wikipedia, comment on blogs and teach themselves programming. They follow links and discuss issues in online chats. All of these acts are collaborative and democratic, and all occur amid a worldwide community of voices.

So how does this affect the traditional conference or event?



Research from MIT, Duke University and the University of California illustrates that learning itself is the most dramatic medium of change. Technology has not created this shift. The ability for people to engage in shared and interactive learning that is built within the structure, organization and model of the Internet has created this societal change. The Future Of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age [PDF] discusses this dramatic shift and addresses ten principles for future learning.

On June 16, 2010, 10:30-11:45 am, at PCMA's Education Conference at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, I will facilitate a discussion about these changes and their impact on conference education. We'll discuss these six principles of designing next generation sessions for today's conferences.

1. Conference education should transition from passive listneing to participatory learning.
It relies on collaborative practices. Small group discussion, peer learning, person to person interaction, not just listening to talking heads.

2. Conference education must transition from presumed authority to collective credibility.
The knowledge gap between the presenter and attendee has shrunk. Sometimes attendees know more than presenters. Move to democratic, communal type formats.

3. Conference education must transition from vertical, authoritative to horizontal structures.
The corporate world is emphasizing collaborative, teamwork, multitasking and problem solving. Standardized, one size-education presentations don't address current corporate world's needs. Focus is on peer to peer sharing and dissecting of presenters' main points.

4. Conference education should provide a variety of formal and informal learning opportunities.
Adult education has moved from push, broadcast of information to pull methods. Industry novices do better with traditional conference formats of spoon-feeding information. Industry veterans prefer self-directed, collaborative, reflective education methods.

5. Conference education should transition to networked learning.
Learning is social. It is about mobilizing networks and enabling them to meet others who can help them meet their needs. It emphasizes flexibility and outcomes and less facts and figures, which can change fast. It's about conversations and partnering with others.

6. Conference education should be interactive and without walls.
Information is best shared with everyone and not just those within the conference walls. It's about moving information from many that are present to the multitudes that are not present.

I hope to see you in Montreal at PCMA's Education Conference 2010. Come join the discussion. Bring your questions, concerns and ideas. Let your voice be heard.

Create a Culture of Leadership

In our current do more with less business climate, it’s more critical than ever that you bring everything you’ve got to your company’s leadership. And that doesn’t just mean being a great leader yourself. It means leading the way for others – at all levels of the organization – to become great leaders, too.

So how do you do that? That’s exactly what I’ll be discussing when I deliver the opening keynote at the general session of the Education Conference in Montreal. With all the changes the conference and meeting industry has undergone and so much at stake in the future, my goal is to give you a blueprint for clarifying your vision of success, simplifying the most direct route for reaching it, and executing your action plan against measurable milestones that your team enthusiastically embraces.

A big part of professional success – and what I’ll be talking about - is learning to maximize your Leadership DNA, that is your style of collaboration and influencing others. At the risk of oversimplifying the complexities of human nature, there are some basic categories into which most people fit. Take a look and see if you can identify yourself or the members of your team in the list below:

• DIRECTOR: A natural leader, the Director likes to take charge of projects and people. Directors have a sense of vision and are comfortable making decisions, even in the absence of all the data and information they’d like. But watch out - despite being extremely focused, Directors can be demanding, at times even dictatorial.

• SUPPORTER: Like the name implies, a Supporter is most at home working in service of others. Hard working, dependable and loyal, the Supporter is an excellent candidate to implement another’s vision. But don’t be surprised if the Supporter panics during high-stress transitions. Although they love being on the team, they rarely want to lead it.

• THRILL-SEEKER: Thrill-seekers are easy to spot. They’re at the center of the action, soaking up the attention. They’re usually charismatic, often creative and occasionally downright annoying. Thrill-seekers are the life of the party, just don’t ask them to do the dishes afterward.

• ANALYST: The Analyst thrives on information, the more the better. Although Analysts are highly skilled at synthesizing data, they can be slow to make decisions, always looking for the next piece of the puzzle before they make up their minds. But if they wait too long, the competition just might leave them in the dust.

Which description most closely resembles your primary and secondary leadership styles? Can you see why you click with some people and clash with others? Even more important, can you see why it’s crucial that you have all these types represented to build a dynamic ,well-rounded team?

I look forward to discussing how you can optimize your skills to create a culture where bold leadership is part of your organizational DNA. If you have any questions or comments prior to the conference, feel free to post them here or contact me directly at Libby@LibbyGill.com. See you in Montreal!