CHICAGO — The Professional Association of Congress Management (PCMA) has ambitious plans for growth in the coming years, with PCMA and Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA) President and CEO, Sherrif Karamat, CAE, leads the organization to great heights, both in terms of membership and new initiatives.
Karamat highlighted the association’s evolution and outlined next steps at the Convening Leaders 2024 event, held in January in San Diego.
“Our industry is not the same as it was before the pandemic,” Karamat said. “We are an important part of an increasingly complex economic and social ecosystem. And that means that as an industry, we need to think bigger, beyond our traditional mandate, to make change and make our world a better place.”
At the same time, PCMA is not the same organization it once was, he said. “By 2025, PCMA plans to connect with more than 10,000 event professionals, with a global community of more than 35,000. Our presence now spans five continents, a testament to our expanding global influence. We’ve welcomed two vibrant communities of event marketers into our fold, our education offerings have expanded, now with 18 certification programs and a learning library with more than 200 pieces of content, and sustainability by design is no longer a theory but the cornerstone of our event development process. We even co-founded an AI startup — and we’re not done yet.”
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Recent developments include a partnership with the American Geophysical Union, who has led numerous initiatives including workshops and training sessions. PCMA also appointed its first Global Sustainability Officer, Caroline Goradesky, and announced a partnership with the Strategic Alliance of National Convention Bureaus of Europerepresenting 29 countries. These partnerships will culminate in the sector’s first Sustainability and Climate Summit, which will be held in collaboration with EMEA Summons in Barcelona from October 2 to 3, 2024.
Another new feature is the PCMA Foundation And Business Events in Sydney has released the first of two parts of its findings from a new global study on advancing women in business events. Last year, research was conducted to explore the pronounced gender gap in the global business events and trade show industry. Part two is expected to be released later in the first quarter of 2024, outlining why women’s leadership skills are critical to the success of the business events industry of the future.
On the technological level, PCMA and Gevme spear Sparkan AI-powered productivity tool, in 2023. A new enhancement to the tool just announced at Convening Leaders analyzes streaming content in real time and distills insights and summaries.
PCMA will organize a workshop during Business Events Industry Week In April in Washington, DC, AgendAi, which will focus on the benefits of generative AI and how to develop AI-driven plans. On the agenda for 2025 is the first edition of Convening LATAM, which will be held in Bogota, Colombia, from May 4 to 7. PCMA will share details of the program in the coming months.
Contact Sheriff Karamat at sherrif.karamat@pcma.org