June full of idea sharing

The kind of food I hope to find
at meetings (Vancouver Convention
Centre, March 2013)

It has already been an incredible year of traveling, sharing knowledge and learning, with PCMA and The Special Event in January, the Green Meetings Industry Council in April and in just a few days I will join the Incentive Research Foundation for their annual meeting.

June is usually a time of birthday celebrations for my family and getting ready for exciting summer programs. While these remain true, this year there is back to back education that will be fantastic for meeting professionals, and I thought it might be fun to mention just a few which are all within ten days, making it impossible to attend all, but fun to think about!  

June 5 - 7, SPINCon, Atlantic City
For Senior Planners (10+ years) SPINCon is continuing to offer leading edge speakers in what will be a thoughtfully experimental environment with a focus on connecting planners to talk to each other and this looks great.  Two years ago I was able to go to this conference and can feel good about recommending it.

June 8 - 10, CMP Conclave, Spokane Washington
I have just renewed my CMP for the second time, and have been working on writing some elements for the next (9th edition) of the CIC manual so I was very excited about this being so close to home. I thought this might be the year to attend a conclave, but you really can't be in two places at once, so I won't make it, but especially after having met Wendy @frameworkmtgs at PCMA this January, I know that Spokane is going to rock this one - making it full of both great conversation and wine - enhanced social networking.

June 11 - 13th, AIBTM, Chicago (exhibiting)
This one is a must attend as I both love this show, and have the opportunity to support our Vancouver partners in activating the booth. In addition to the great people, the touchscreen experience of Vancouver, to learn about apps to support your planning with app gurus Dahlia El Gazzar who has been leading Wine and Apps sessions for local Chicago planners and Keith Johnston @plannerwire who is always talking tech, enjoy some BC wine, learn about audience engagement strategies with Katie of MYB and more!  That is just in our booth - check out the program for the many educational and connection opportunities that will be filling up these three days from the partnerships they have with ACTE, PCMA, ICCA, MPI, IAEE and SITE to their own Future Events Experience happening n the show floor.  I look forward to seeing many of you there!

June 13 - 15, Collaborate Marketplace, Denver (speaking)
I am thrilled to have been considered to speak at this event and to be able to join in and participate in sessions with what is an awesome lineup of speakers at this event designed for corporate meeting planners. If you haven't already checked this one out, I recommend you do - the feedback from previous years is awesome!

I look forward to new ideas and new connections, and to hearing about what others are sharing and learning along the way.