When the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) arrived in Glasgow in 2012 for its Global Corporate Summit, it brought with it 30 senior meetings professionals representing corporate brands Microsoft, Nike, Cisco and Thomson Reuters among others.
The group had an annual meetings spend of US$2bn. The Chair of the group was interviewed on Scottish Radio, and the meeting itself was mentioned in the Scottish Parliament.
The PCMA, in turn, seemed to get a taste for the local market, joining the UK Business Visits & Events Partnership and agreeing to send a delegation to London in 2013.
The association boasts 6,400-plus members in 37 countries and has an exclusive partnership with UK industry trade show International Confex to deliver part of the event’s corporate educational platform.
But why would such highly influential groups come to the UK? Certainly, the hospitality itinerary
put together by VisitScotland, covering Glasgow, Edinburgh and an experiential business networking trip to Gleneagles, as well as highlights including a gala dinner and marching band entertainment on the Royal Yacht Britannia and a chance to hold the Ryder Cup, should not be underestimated.
The US remains one of the most sophisticated meetings and events territories in the world, it is the
home of some of the leading global associations and some of the biggest meetings, conventions and events.
PCMA has developed a reputation in its North American heartland as a global leader in education,
an expertise that no doubt helped attract this senior delegation.
At the PCMA Global Corporate Summit in Scotland, the association introduced to the UK the first concepts of the Millennial Generation, and research from its Educational Foundation; it also introduced the talents of Frans Johansson, author of the Medici Effect, who led a number of sessions exploring the intersection points where innovations may occur in the international meetings market.
It is this focus on educational excellence that has seen PCMA not so much enter the European market, but be dragged into it by organisations, associations and meeting planners.
PCMA’s flagship convention, Convening Leaders, takes place in Orlando in January 2013. There the association is expected to discuss how it responds to calls for its unique educational thinking. The association says demand ranges into the Far East and Asia Pacific, as well as Middle East and Latin America.
This global ambition was well demonstrated with the appointment in 2011 of PCMA’s first International Board member, Ben Goedegebuure, Sales Director at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, and one of the hosts of the Global Corporate Summit.
Goedegebuure ’will focus on leading the expansion through the quality of the PCMA’s education through the Educational Foundation.
“I’m a massive believer in partnership marketing, it’s one of the reasons why we joined PCMA and is at the heart of what we do at the association,” he said. “We’ve teamed up with some key European brands that provide us with a platform for our content, from International Confex to the Business Tourism Conference Scotland, held in Glasgow recently.”
Subjects like strategic meetings management systems and hybrid events is where the PCMA is not only star gazing but looking to re-imagine the future of events.
“Many associations are looking to help our industry professionalise and at PCMA we’re no different,” says Sheriff Karamat, the association’s Chief Operating Officer. “But we’re also looking to help our members innovate and visualise what event look like in our new age, and how they can adapt to accommodate a new kind of meeting executive.”
This was first published in the Issue 70/2012 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
