More than 4,000 business event professionals and suppliers from around the world gathered the first week of January 2020 in San Francisco to attend the annual PCMA Convening Leaders conference.

This year’s theme was Extend Your Reach and the conference offered many networking and educational opportunities. Featured speakers were Condoleezza Rice (66th U.S. Secretary of State), Gene Kranz (Iconic NASA Flight Control Director), Bozoma Saint John (Chief Marketing Officer for Endeavor) and Simon Sinek (author and organizational consultant).

Adam Levine and Maroon 5 topped the list of entertainers.

Some educational takeaways from the conference:

• Mentors don’t have to look like you. Look for mentors who are people who are going to believe in you and see things that you don’t see in yourself.
• Transparency. That means that gone are the days when our audience or our consumers don’t want to know or understand what is happening inside our companies. They want to know the leadership, they want to know your values, they want to know why you do the things you do. Audiences are not interested in opaque glass. They want to see through it.
• Take better care of each other.
• Create a work environment where your employees can perform at their natural best.
• Panic leads to nothing.
• The data is only as good as the story you tell out of it.
• There’s no such thing as best. There’s only ahead and behind.
• At the end of the day, a shared struggle is what brings people together.
• Leadership has nothing to do with rank. Be the leader you wish you had.

Plan now to attend future Convening Leaders conferences in these cities:

George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas

January 10–13, 2021

Next stop for Convening Leaders is out of this world. Home of Johnson Space Center, NASA’s center for human spaceflight, Houston will inspire attendees to shoot for the moon. Convening Leaders 2021 will be held at the LEED Silver-certified George R. Brown Convention Center, located in downtown Avenida Houston convention and entertainment campus.

“Houston has hosted numerous festivals and events, but as we prepare for PCMA CL 2021, the planning and details are very similar to hosting the Super Bowl,” said John Solis, senior vice president of sales and client services for Visit Houston. “Along with our industry stakeholders, we’re going to great lengths to deliver first class service and a truly unforgettable event. Our newly developed convention campus will provide visitors with an authentic Houston experience. Guests will find Houston to be the ‘coolest’ city in Texas, all the while enjoying our warm southern hospitality.”

CAESARS FORUM, Las Vegas, Nevada

 January 9–12, 2022

Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio

January 8–11, 2023