Thank you, Orlando and PCMA Southeast Chapter!
The Florida sunshine certainly inspires warm hospitality – thank you to Doubletree by Hilton SeaWorld for their impeccable attention to our PCMA Southeast Chapter Board Meeting needs in addition to graciously hosting our 2-day Education and Networking event last week, and to Encore for partnering with us on technical and a/v support. It was a content-connection-packed 2 days!
So many individuals and organizations to thank – first and foremost, the educational programming was above top notch! From informative trend talks spanning across event design, catering, music licensing, airlines, legal-ese and contracts post-COVID era, to boycott or not to boycott, options to SocialOffset spending, and guidance for navigating our “new normal” in this time of great uncertainty and exponential change – the sessions were informative, thought-provoking, and sparked the type of personal connecting through meaningful conversations that is integral to making an in-person event feel “worth it.” Congratulations to Board Members Molly Johnson, Immediate Past-President and Tonisha Landry, Director of Education and volunteers Jeannie Hahm, Nicole Martinez and Amanda Safdar for curating a PCMA Southeast Chapter event that educated, inspired, listened, and created meaningful experiences for our passion, purpose and commerce to come together.
Our 2-day event undertaking would not have been possible without the dedication and financial support of our sponsors. As I mentioned from the podium – our sponsors are our partners in business, and please choose to do business with them whenever possible as they continue to support PCMA Southeast Chapter’s dedication to providing high-quality education and networking connections. Thank you Visit Orlando, Visit Seattle, Teneo, Gas South, Christie’s, Cobb Travel & Tourism, United Airlines, and Events from Lori for your financial contribution and/or participation as a tabletop sponsor.
Thank you to trend talk experts Hali Cooper, Eric Blanc, Tracy Vessillo, Michael Farrell and Stacey Nisihikawa.
Congratulations to Patty Wong for winning a pair of round-trip airline tickets compliments of United Airlines!
Kudos to Nicole Martinez for being recognized and awarded Volunteer of the Quarter for 2023 2nd Quarter, and to Brenda Dempsey and Visit Music City for ongoing support of this important program.
Fellow panelists Ronny Coombs, Beth Surmont, Charles Starks and Stan Rubins helped spark ideas and solutions for navigating the impacts of legislation on site selection – not an easy conversation, but a necessary conversation.
Lastly, special thanks to Tyra Warner and Beth Surmont for delivering terrific, relevant content regarding contracts and how to thrive in uncertainty; the keynote deliveries were thought-generating and provided immediate tools for implementation.
It will be a difficult task to top this program and experience next year, but we look forward to the challenge!
All my best,
