PCMA Education Conference attendees experienced six unique New York City meeting spaces for off-site educational sessions.

Did you miss this year’s PCMA EduCon in New York City? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. This year NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the five boroughs of New York City, collaborated with PCMA’s Chicago-based education and events teams to get hundreds of meeting planners out and about in NYC for off-site education sessions tailored to their specific interests.

Supercharging the Off-Site Experience
All the locations of these unique off-site venues and the session topics were kept top secret until the last minute, which created a buzz among attendees. As lunch wrapped up at the Marriott Marquis New York, EduCon’s host hotel, groups were called to the back of the ballroom to venture out to parts unknown.

The bold initiative—a first for EduCon—went off without a hitch: these off sites let hundreds of event strategists experience some of the City’s premier meeting spaces and reinforced how a meeting’s environment enhances the content being presented. The six unique spaces are only a few of the hundreds of New York City meeting venues that connect attendees to the City’s robust commercial, media, entertainment and technology sectors, driving attendance and boosting return on investment.

1. Convene 117 West 46th Street
   Attendees who expressed interest in design thinking wound up at the Convene conference center at 117 W 46th St, one of Convene’s eight purpose-built, modern meeting venues located throughout the City. At this session, attendees discovered the most effective questions to ask stakeholders as well as how to get the most mileage out of pre-show meetings with event partners.
2. Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
   Three industry luminaries led a session on disruption at the 1.8 million-square-foot Javits Center—fitting, since the convention center is currently undergoing a large-scale expansion and renovation that will nearly double its footprint. Hot topics included a growing emphasis on ROI, design thinking and creating more-evolved show plans.
3. Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom
   Production design was the focus of the session held in the Manhattan Center’s soaring 10,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom. Experts from New York City’s theater scene—a prominent screenwriter, a director/producer, a lighting director and a production designer—shared some of their career secrets with attendees. The session emphasized how showbiz tricks can be leveraged to increase engagement at meetings and events.
4. Microsoft Store – Fifth Avenue
   Microsoft’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue was the perfect venue for attendees who expressed interest in how data is transforming meetings. Attendees were presented with a case study on event data before the floor was opened up to questions. The session was held in the store’s high-tech third-floor Dell Experience space, which is available for private events and gives attendees the opportunity to try out Microsoft’s latest computers, gaming consoles, phones and tablets.
5. New Amsterdam Theatre
   The carefully restored New Amsterdam Theatre, which can host up to 1,700 guests for private events, was home to the Ziegfield Follies from 1913 to 1927 before it was purchased and remodeled by the Walt Disney Company. Attendees who expressed interest in creativity and imagination were treated to a session on improving communication among team members from two experts from the Disney Institute, followed by a panel on the creative vision behind the hit Broadway musical The Lion King.
6. Tavern on the Green
   Leadership was the special of the day at Central Park’s beloved restaurant Tavern on the Green, which can host up to 800 attendees for a seated meal and 2,000 for cocktail receptions. Two Stanford University professors led an interactive session on packaging ideas using stories. Afterward, attendees bounced their pitches off one another.

Connect with Us
New York City welcomed 6.2 million attendees in 2016—and with 2 million square feet of event space and 113,000 hotel rooms, it’s easy to see why so many planners choose to Make it NYC.

Stay up to date with all things New York City, follow us on LinkedIn and sign up for our monthly Meeting Planner Newsletter.