BOSTON
PCMA’s 2014 Convening Leaders is under way at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center, carrying the theme of “Revolution” that is fitting for the city in which it’s being held, while also referring to association's description of the event as a “meetings laboratory.”
Although PCMA does not reveal attendance numbers until they are finalized days after the close of the event, the Jan. 12-15 conference is expected to set attendance records, according to Deborah Sexton, president and CEO of the association.
“This event will have the highest attendance of any event in its history,” Sexton said. “But it’s not about how many people attend. We want to be the best—it’s not always about being the biggest.”
On that note, Sexton stressed the learning laboratory aspect of the event, where meeting planners can experience different meeting content and design ideas in practice, and determine if the concepts would bear fruit for their events.
One such idea was a “box-lunch” concept on Tuesday of the program, which allowed attendees to grab a lunch on the go and consume it outside of a central location, allowing for more networking and flexibility.
“Much of what we try to do here at Convening Leaders is innovate,” Sexton said. “We like to take risks.”
Among some of the new concepts are a Learning Lounge 2.0, a partnership with Freeman that aims to provide education in “bite-sized pieces” in one of the convention center’s ballroom; Tech Central, which offers demonstrations of meetings technology and even a “genius bar” type of service; a Business School, were planners can increase their meetings and events business acumen in areas such as negotiation and strategic planning; and the Big Idea Zone, a partnership with the Dallas CVB that distills the information from various sessions into a “big picture” for attendees.
Another concept that seemed revolutionary a few years ago, but which has increasingly become mainstream, is the hybrid meeting virtual component, which PCMA has advocated for since its early stages.
The virtual component of this year’s Convening Leaders will result in more than 20 hours of online programming.
“PCMA has been experimenting with how to put on a digital event for the last five years,” Sexton said. “This is a new space, we’ve sort of learned from the ground up, and our online events are driving people to our [face-to-face] events.”
PCMA estimates that approximately 1,000 people will participate virtually by the end of the conference.
Whether virtual or face-to-face, one couldn’t be blamed for being concerned a few weeks ago about the massive Polar Vortex threatening the event.
“We have a meeting in January and weather can happen anywhere in the world,” Sexton said.
“Of course we were watching it very closely, but [Boston] is very experienced with snow removal, and the fact is that it’s 50 degrees and blue skies,” she continued, with just a touch of relief in her tone.
James Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Authority, said that one of the primary reasons Convening Leaders was held at the Hynes Convention Center is because there are 3,000 hotel rooms attached to the facility, as opposed to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, which ended up hosting the opening night event.
—Tyler Davidson
