PCMA announces acquisitions and new partnerships at 2023 Convening Leaders in Ohio

Delegates at the opening day at Convening Leaders 2023, 9 January, in Columbus Ohio, heard PCMA president and CEO Sherrif Karamat announced a slew of new initiatives and partnerships. The announcements included the acquisition of Event Leadership Institute and of the EMA-UK (Event Marketing Association), as well as new partnerships with the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals and with the American Geophysical Union to focus on sustainability initiatives. Also announced was a roll out of a new website and a new strategic plan for the association, a plan Karamat described as “blazing a new trail forward, with and for the global business events community.” “We are blazing a trail forward with and for the global business events community. We will innovate. We will take risks. We will get outside our comfort zone. And we will always do it for our audiences,” he noted. Acquisition of the Event Leadership Institute Delegates heard that PCMA believes innovative education and new learning products are critical to the business event industry’s business performance and career success – particularly for the NextGen talent. The association said it was demonstrating its commitment to industry education with the acquisition of the Event Leadership Institute (ELI) “to offer the most compelling portfolio of learning solutions and content”. ELI’s founder, Howard Givner, and the ELI team will immediately join the PCMA family to develop this educational resource. Givner becomes PCMA’s new senior vice-president of knowledge and innovation. PCMA members will benefit from this investment immediately with access to ELI’s existing content library of 260 video modules and webinars, as well as a discount on 17 certificate courses. PCMA will also welcome ELI’s 800 existing members, subscribers, and business partners as part of its global community. Karamat noted: “PCMA and the PCMA Foundation will continue to make new investments in the development of education and learning products as part of its plan to ensure the industry continues to be innovative today so that all can thrive tomorrow.” BEIW Karamat shared the 2024 Business Events Industry Week (BEIW)  will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 9–11 April. in partnership with Events DC and Destination DC. Don Welsh, Destinations International president and CEO stated: “The vision for the future of BEIW is clear — to become the SXSW of the global business events industry. We are thrilled to welcome back our co-locating partners from 2022, and to welcome those for 2023, including a collaboration with ASAE, the AMC Institute, EIC and the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals.” Climate crisis PCMA said the new partnership with the American Geophysical Union (AGU), a worldwide thought-leader on climate change impact and innovation, would help elevate the industry and its events when it comes to taking sustainability beyond talk and into action. Randy Fiser, AGU CEO, stated: “Our partnership with PCMA is built on five tenets – designing sustainable events; convening discussions related to risk and climate change; supporting the business events community with education and tools; harmonising data and establishing goals for meaningful progress in the reduction of carbon and recognising innovation and thought leadership in the business events industry.” Inclusivity PCMA has implemented a strategic alliance with the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP) and both organisations are committed to key elements to build value for their respective communities and for business event stakeholders everywhere. NCBMP is a co-locating partner of the 2023 Business Events Industry Week. Acquisition of Event Marketing Association – UK In 2020 over 700 event marketing professionals and their business partners became part of PCMA’s global community when PCMA acquired CEMA – the corporate event marketing association. PCMA says it is now building upon this audience with the acquisition of the Event Marketing Association – UK (EMA-UK). EMA-UK is comprised of 800+ corporate event marketing professionals representing a cross-section of EMEA industry segments and global brands. EMA-UK will immediately become part of the PCMA global community. EMA chair Richard Waddington shared: “EMA was founded back in 2013 exclusively for the in-house UK corporate event profs, We’ve grown our membership from a handful of likeminded individuals to currently just under 1,000 members across the UK, achieving a lot along that journey, through knowledge exchange and collaboration across our membership, whilst also representing them within the wider industry. The opportunity of merging into PCMA and joining forces with CEMA to grow the representation and voice of the corporate internationally is an opportunity for EMA not to be missed. PCMA will bring far greater resource and capability, the opportunity for greater growth and, most important, far greater value for our members and partners.” Convening Leaders runs at the Greater Columbus Convention Center until 11 January 2023.