Engagement + Marketing

Off to the PCMA Prom

Just about every association I've worked for has had an awards gala or other annual celebratory event, but never a prom.

 

PCMA’s 2011 prom — officially known as the PCMA Education Foundation Dinner Celebrating Professional Achievement — is happening in just a few hours at the Washington Hilton here in Washington, D.C. It’s always a swell time, with people dressing up and coming together for top-flight food and drink and networking their way from one side of the Hilton’s famous International Ballroom to the other, all in the name of honoring three dedicated industry veterans — this year, Gregg Talley, CAE, Talley Management Group; Brian Stevens, ConferenceDirect; and Glen Ramsborg, Ph.D., CMP, Kendall College.

In Convene we approach the industry from something of a big-picture or deep-thought perspective, because our readers are senior-level professionals and that’s the sort of thing they’re looking for. But sometimes, it’s nice to be reminded of the glamour and excitement and simple fun of what we do; and how nice that the PCMA prom is about all of those things even while remaining a serious industry event.   And check out that photo above, taken in the International Ballroom just a few minutes ago by fellow PCMA blogger Christine Melendes, CAE. When the curtain goes up at 6:30 tonight, that space will have been transformed into a carnival of light and sound, color and rhythm — a living celebration of the transformations that meeting professionals create in similar spaces for similar events every day. See you there, I hope!

Christopher Durso

Christopher Durso formerly was executive editor of Convene.