Happy New Year Greater Midwest Chapter! Can you believe it is 2020? I am honored to serve as your President in this new decade. There are so many things to look forward to in 2020 for GMC and I can wait to share these experiences with you – the greatest chapter within PCMA. I wanted to share a few things with you to kick off the new year:
- Convening Leaders Recap
- 2020 Theme & Vision Statement
- Calendar of Events Update
- Volunteer Process Update
- Sponsorship Opportunities
Convening Leaders Recap:
I just returned home from an amazing Convening Leaders in San Francisco. The PCMA and San Francisco Travel teams blew us away with so many truly remarkable experiences. We were shown hospitality at its finest by all in SFO and PCMA gave us 3 days of inspiring and thought-provoking education and opportunities to network together as an industry. We were challenged in our thinking by some of the greatest keynotes I have ever seen including Condoleezza Rice, Simon Sinek and Bozoma (“Boz”) St. John. The innovation that was demonstrated by all of the PCMA partners in the Innovate and Elevate areas sparked so many ideas for all in attendance. The Breakout Sessions were great deep dives into relevant topics for all of us. My personal favorite part of the entire experience was seeing Maroon 5 at the new Chase Center was mind blowing! Well done PCMA!
GMC Board Members, Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs in attendance at Convening Leaders in San Francisco
On Saturday before Convening Leaders, along with fellow Board members, Dawn Amaskane, Tamara Jones and Jennifer Sommers, I attended the Chapter Leaders Workshop. The best to date in my opinion. We had the opportunity to listen to the wonderful Debra Jasper on the art of communication and how to make an impact with effective and efficient communication. Additionally, we networked with our fellow chapter leaders and share best practices. Many chapters were eager to share best practices with each other. We shared our GMC Event RFP and revamped Sponsorship Prospectus which brought great praise for creating a new standard for all chapters. From the other chapters, we learned how we can create some fun pop up events to engage members. More to come on that on our social media channels and website.
GMC Past President Murray Ryan with Katherin Ort, Mark Henry Scholarship Recipient.
At our Chapter Reception, we had over 400 attendees come together to share our renewed excitement for GMC. The energy in the room was great and thanks to the Board of Directors and Committee Chairs for helping create some fun by welcoming all attendees with Happy New Year greetings with hats and noisemakers. A great way to start Convening Leaders! Thanks to the Events Committee lead by Chair, Sherry Vale and Co-Chair Jenny Lynch for pulling that together. I was so excited to meet the 2020 Mark Henry Convening Leaders Scholarship winner, Katherine Ort, at the reception. She was thrilled to be there, and we were so excited to have her. It is great to see how this can really work.
2020 Theme & Vision Statement:
At the December GMC Leaders Day, I shared with Board members, Committee Chairs and volunteers my vision for 2020. I want to share it with all GMCers to embrace it as we embark onto 2020.
We all must balance many different aspects of our personal and professional life. The business of events has been noted as one of the most stressful positions in the workforce. It takes a lot of effort to balance all aspects of a business event strategists’ job. Whether it be, balancing a budget, balancing VIP needs, balancing the education being offered to balancing how much time a person is sitting in a meeting room, our professionals always must find that balance.
When it comes to a business event strategists work/life balance, it can be extremely difficult. The demand of travel, long days/nights, networking with industry peers/vendors to develop a relationship and balancing all the aspects of a person’s personal life can be stressful and difficult. How does one keep themselves a priority when everyone is demanding their time and their care?
Balancing all is a careful dance that we choreograph every day as business event strategist and people. We need to appreciate, understand and strategize that delicate balance in everything we do.
For 2020, all that we do for GMC will be centered around finding that balance whether it be education content, volunteer time, event planning, sponsorship engagement, member involvement and communications. We must respect everyone’s time and balance to get the best from each one of our members.
In the coming year, we will be mindful of how we balance in everything we do.
GMC Past, Present, and Future; President-Elect Molly Witges, Founding President Barb Connell, Past President Murray Ryan, President Rachael Riggs, Immediate Past President Douglas Dvorak and Past Presidents Hillary Rosenthal and Catherine Mills.
Calendar of Events Update:
The Events Committee is working rapidly to get the dates on the website asap. Please be patient with us. The goal is to get this done now and have them on your calendar ASAP so you can plan your year around the GMC events. Mark your calendar for March 10th in the city for the Quarterly Meeting and back by popular demand the Awards Luncheon. We had great success with an evening function for several years but now we are bringing it back to a lunch based on member feedback.
Volunteer Sign Up Process Update:
We asked for volunteers and you answered the call. THANK YOU! We are still working through the volunteer assignment process and will have them to you in the next week. We are super grateful for all your support and promise to make your volunteer experience awesome.
Sponsorship Opportunities:
Sponsors make PCMA happen. We need your support to keep our programs going. I am personally asking all suppliers to consider being a sponsor of GMC. We need your help to make it all happen. This year, we have engaged Tradeshow Logic to help sell our sponsorship to make sure our sponsors are getting all that they want out of a sponsorship. They will customize your experience for you. Check out the opportunities here and follow the link to sign up or let us know if you have any questions.
GMC has gone through a lot of change in the last 6 months in order to position ourselves for greatness for the future. I am proud to report under the leadership of Doug Dvorak, we have turned the ship around financially. Well done Doug and the 2019 Board of Directors & Committees!!! Along with the PCMA management partnership, we are going to do great things. 2020 is going to be an amazing year and we can thank you enough for all the support.
Onward we go together!
Rachael Riggs, CMP
