Meetings industry veteran Joan Eisenstodt, chief strategist of Washington, D.C.-based Eisenstodt Associates and moderator of Meetings Focus Forum, owned by Meetings Focus, won the International Association of Conference Centers’ (IACC) Mel Hosansky Distinguished Service award.
Given on the closing night of IACC’s 2011 Annual Conference, held at National Conference Center here, it is the association’s highest honor and voted on by its board of directors.
In true Eisenstodt fashion, the ever-diligent meetings industry opinion leader soon took to the Internet to express her joy and appreciation on Facebook and Twitter, where she was congratulated by her many social network friends in the meetings industry.
"In 1981, when I first learned about conference centers, I was blown away that there really were facilities that supported learning and learning objectives," Eisenstodt commented. "That there were places to hold meetings where things could be tacked on walls, meeting space was available on a 24 hour basis, breaks were continuous (v. scheduled for only 15 minutes!) and the chairs were comfortable knocked my sox off! To be honored--as a non-IACC member--for believing in and promoting good learning in facilities that support it is remarkable."
Eisenstodt also had kind words to say about the man who the award is named for.
"Mel Hosansky was a mensch and an industry leader," she said. "He promoted the reality and concept of conference centers before many knew what they were. To receive this award named for him is an overwhelming honor. Like Mel, I believe that if more meetings were designed well and held at conference centers, the ROI for all stakeholders would be higher."
In other IACC news, Jamian Lewis, chef at the U.K.’s Devenport Hotel, won the Copper Skillet competition, which recognizes the top conference center chefs in the world.
