What is PCMA?

On Tuesday, November 3^rd, I attended the 2015 PCMA Capital Chapter Rewind event at the Washington Hilton hotel along with my classmates, Bekah and Nicole. PCMA stands for the Professional Convention Management Association, it is one of the event management associations we discussed in our Event Management class. PCMA provides educational, networking and community events for professionals in the convention and business events industry. I have been a member of PCMA for 1 year, but have yet to get involved or attend an event. Fortunately, the Capital Chapter Rewind 2015 meeting was the perfect start to inquiring about how I could get more involved in the field.

Ready to Network!

In my mind, I thought the event would be an actual business meeting but instead it was much more of a reception with programming in the middle (announcing the key chapter highlights of the past year and award winners) and a silent auction throughout. When I arrived at the event, I was unsure of where to start or who to ‘network’ with first, however, within seconds Nell Chadwick approached me. Nell is a PCMA member and a supplier (if you recall from class, a supplier is usually someone who works for a service company/CVB/hotel, while a planner is someone who uses the services of a supplier to plan and operate a meeting/event). Nell is the Director of National Accounts for the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau and handles sales in the Mid-Atlantic market. She informed me about how active the PCMA Capital Chapter is, holding several events each semester for networking, education and professional development. She informed me that Capital Chapter members all know each other but are very open to new members and the best way to get involved would be to volunteer on one of the eight committees (see below) that are managed by the Capital Chapter’s volunteer Board Members:

1.       Communications Committee

2.       Community Services Committee

3.       Emerging Professionals Committee

4.       Government Relations and Advocacy Task Force

5.       Marketing Committee

6.       Membership Committee

7.       Professional Development Committee

8.       Sponsorship Committee

The Board Members of the PCMA Capital Chapter

I then spoke with another supplier, Jim Stuckeman (Convention Specialist with the Wyndham Hotel in Plano Texas), who said he is currently on the professional development committee and they are tasked with organizing and promoting the various professional development events to both Capital Chapter members and others. He also mentioned that he too was very new to the PCMA organization but that through his volunteer position he has been able to meet a lot of people in the event field, especially those working in the DC metro area. Volunteer committee hours can also vary to whatever you can offer based on your school/work schedule.

After listening to the programming portion of the evening and talking to a multitude of other meeting and event professionals, here are the key insights and observations I obtained about PCMA and the field:

●     There are 17 PCMA Chapters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

●     The Capital Chapter is the largest of all of them (thus reiterating how DC is a mecca for the events and meetings field).

●     There is a Scholarship Program for young professionals starting in the field.

●     PCMA members are social!

Networking with this group was so easy. In hindsight, I suppose we are all in a field in which you have to be social, open, and at times talkative.

●     Suppliers probably made up 60% of the crowd.

This is interesting because suppliers had to pay $20 more than planners to attend the event.

●     Suppliers weren’t there to ‘sell’ to me or other meeting planners.

As someone who also works full time as a meeting planner, it was a relief to see that the suppliers were genuinely wanting to network and not push their services on me.

●     Everyone is talking about Vancouver!

The PCMA National Conference is held every January and in 2016 the conference will take place in Vancouver Canada. Everyone I spoke with at the event had nothing but great things to say about the National Conference from the exceptional educational seminars to the great networking opportunities.

●     Lots of event professionals MOVE around the field.

I spoke with the outgoing Capital Chapter President, Mary Gallagher, who started her career in hotel sales, then moved to corporate meeting planning, then went to DC area convention sales for LA, then moved to DC area convention sales for San Francisco and finally returned to Convention Sales for LA. Mary’s key piece of advice was to diversify your resume with different types of event planning and then stick with what you love the most (for her, working remotely on the East Coast for a West Coast location was most ideal).

MTA at PCMA Rewind 2015

Overall, the event was a great introduction to how to get more involved in the PCMA Capital Chapter as well as the event management field in DC. I am looking forward to attending the PCMA National Conference in Vancouver in January 2016 (on behalf of the organization I work for) where I will attend the education sessions and of course…network!