#bostonconvention

[landonrichmond]

Comic con, day 2. #knownotruth #secretboston #bostoncomiccon2016 #comiccon2016 #boston #bostonconvention (at Boston Comic Con 2016)

[pcmablog]

PCMA New England education meeting doubles as pep rally for Convening Leaders!

Although many of us are just getting around to wishing our friends and colleagues a Happy New Year, PCMA New England got a jump start when we said our goodbyes to our 2013 Chapter year and a gave a big hello and welcome to 2014!

A fresh start and turning a new page is always an exciting moment to celebrate, but in the case of New England, we’re now days away from welcoming PCMA Members and participants from all around, to our great city of Boston as the host city for this year’s Convening Leaders!  The December Annual Meeting at the BCEC was alive all night long with the electricity of everyone’s anticipation for the big event that is now just a week away!

With the illuminated city scape of Boston on one side and the seaport in view out another, over 100 attendees arrived at the largest building in New England, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to get registered and start saying hello to friends new and old. 

Deborah Sexton and Johnnie White were in attendance and gave us all updates on the status of PCMA, what to expect at Convening Leaders, and what the event would mean for Boston and our surrounding cities and neighboring New England states.  Next up was a sneak peek – Dahlia El Gazzar took to the stage.  Her presentation was as fun as her personality as she took us through all the best event apps and programs that would reenergize and transform anyone’s event planning or producing universe.  There were also some universally helpful apps like “Snagit”, the online or on the go app that allows you to easily grab logos and images embedded in any site, or “Card Munch” a great LinkedIn-friendly app that quickly imports business card information and connects you on LinkedIn; were two of many suggestions that fingers busy as people rushed to download the apps or write them down to remember and do it later.  For those who missed this part of the event, or didn’t get a chance to take notes, come see Dahlia next week at Convening Leaders where she’ll have even more time to change our worlds with other helpful apps and ideas!

At the conclusion of the meeting portion, attendees left the meeting room and were greeted by confetti cannon explosions, raining down and swirling through the hallway as attendees made their way to the Boston skyline flanked reception, a gleaming Convening Leaders logo projected on the building across the street.  The party had begun!

Auction tables, bars, and various food stations speckled the event space as people mingled through highboys sampling the fare, chatting about the meeting, and putting in their best bids for Red Sox tickets, hotel stays, and trips with all the trimmings.  There wasn’t much that could quiet the crowd, that is until Billy Costa grabbed the mic and rallied the troops for the live Auction.  A word from Jim Rooney, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority- our gracious host and sponsor- followed on stage and officially kicked off the countdown to Convening Leaders!

It was an exciting and fun-filled evening with great energy and enthusiasm.  The perfect forecast for what’s in store in 2014 and at Convening Leaders in Boston!

[pcmablog]

In the July 2013 PCMA Convene, Kelly Peacy, Senior Vice President of Education & Meetings, writes about how the 2014 PCMA Convening Leaders program is shaping up.

"We’re poring over our concurrent-session submissions, paring down our list of general-session topics and speakers, and cultivating all the different ideas that have come from members of our meetings community and staff. In other words, we are in the throes of planning the education program for Convening Leaders, Jan. 12-15, 2014, in Boston.

If we’re not careful, we’ll end up with way too much content, or content that’s irrelevant, or not at the appropriate level for our senior-level audience — or all of the above. Which is why we have a sound content strategy to guide us.

The most important aspect of PCMA’s Convening Leaders is to deliver the highest level of education in the most innovative and thought-provoking ways. We’re approaching our content at Convening Leaders as curators, carefully crafting each educational touch point to allow attendees to create their own journey and experience. We’re looking at all the different ways we engage our attendees with our education, poking holes in topics and identifying what might be lacking from our subject-matter experts. And, we’re thinking of ways to provide value long after our participants leave Boston.

Here’s a glimpse of our 2014 Convening Leaders content strategy.

General sessions — Our showcase production, featuring the most thought-provoking and illuminating speakers inside and outside the meetings industry. These large sessions are all about inspiring while educating attendees.

Masters Series — Lectures focusing on a single “big thinker” topic that can be directly applied to our industry, now or in the near future.

Concurrent sessions— Delivered in a variety of formats and room sets, with topics that directly relate to our jobs and offer applicable takeaways.

Business School— Featuring several sessions led by top business school faculty on topics such as branding, finance, strategy, leadership, and more, the Business School embodies our belief that business acumen is critical to our success as meeting professionals. In Boston, we have the unique ability to tap into several renowned institutions of higher learning.

Outside-the-classroom learning— Our goal is to create engaging environments for collaborative discussion, problem solving, information exchange, research, and self-directed learning in innovative and informal formats.

As we take the next step in this process and bring our education to life, there are many questions to answer. How will we create interesting and inviting environments? How will we employ technology throughout the experience? How will we engage attendees before and after Convening Leaders? And in what ways will we continue to carry on crucial conversations that happen in Boston? We have a lot of work ahead of us — fortunately, we’ve got a great framework in place."

As if we weren't excited enough, Kelly! 

You can read the full issue of Convene online here.

[djwordless-blog]

Front of the line ^_^ #PaxEast2013 #bostonconvention #Boston #Gamerlife #Gamer