Deborah Sexton, who leads Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) as president and CEO, isn’t hung up on organisation size but she is determined to make PCMA the best educator in the associations industry and help her members raise their professionalism along the way
As the president and CEO of PCMA since March 2005, what sort of major changes have you seen happening to PCMA over those 11 years?
We have become much more creative and innovative. We create face-to-face opportunities at our events for our members to see the different ways in which they can deliver experiences and engagement within their own events. And because of that they are learning. Even if some of our innovations fail, that’s fine, because those are learning opportunities.
What major milestones have you seen PCMA achieve in the past 11 years?
Well, many! Convening Leaders, which is our annual meeting, is one of the most coveted events in the associations industry. It is held at the start of the year and allows people to get together to talk about their concerns and leave with solutions on how to tackle the new year. We are very fortunate in that regard, that the event sets the tone for the year.
Secondly, we have successfully driven a message of education versus member growth as our mission, and what we’ve done globally speaks to that. PCMA is all about education. Everything we do ties back to improving the education that is currently available in our industry. Our focus is on senior level education to raise the professionalism of our industry.
What has PCMA done globally to further education for association executives?
We have a perfect example in Singapore (Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau), with whom we’ve partnered for five years. Each and every year, PCMA Meetings Forum Singapore grows, and based on the prior year we learn and continue to expand. I believe we were able to deliver a more effective programme every year because we work in alliance.
Let’s go back to Convening Leaders. Do you have figures to show how the event has evolved through the years?
When I joined 11 years ago, there were under 2,000 people at the event. Now, we are over 4,000. But success isn’t about numbers; it is about the quality and expertise of the people that are in attendance. We have grown our global audience and added a hybrid, digital event called Convening Leaders Live, and this past year we had more than 1,500 people tuning in.
Has Convening Leaders Live boosted revenue for the association?
It has brought additional revenue, but more importantly, it has allowed our brand of education excellence to reach a broader audience.
Sixty-eight or 69 per cent of those joining us online are non-members, so it allows us to get our brand and quality of education programmes out to people who are not familiar with PCMA.
A decent percentage then join us at our face-to-face event, and we can continue to gain from that exposure.
Some people can’t join us face-to-face for many reasons, but they can at least benefit from the digital event.
Do you get more association executives attending your events than representatives from the supplier side?
Yes. PCMA does not have a tradeshow. Our members don’t want that because they prefer to have suppliers and professional members sit side by side and learn peer-to-peer. It is a less intimidating environment. But we do need our supplier partners as well, as they are very smart, very experienced, and they add a positive element to the complete learning experience.
What tough decisions did you have to make as a leader to ensure your association survives the changing tides?
We committed the first six months I was (with PCMA) to build a very powerful partnership programme to reduce our reliance on membership dues. That required a financial commitment to bring additional staff on board, but it has proven to be very beneficial because we now have the best partnership programme in the industry. That’s number one.
Number two, we stuck our neck out when we got behind hybrid, digital events. Many people said this would destroy face-to-face meetings, and questioned our move. My response was simple – if that’s true, then all the more we need to understand what is happening in this space so we can counteract it. In any case, I didn’t believe that was true.
We incorporated digital events into our everyday delivery of education and remained confident that we could in turn drive greater results for our face-to-face events. That was a hard decision because many senior people (in the industry) thought we were crazy.
That’s some forward thinking.
There is a need to understand technology and make it work for you, and not let it run all over you.
Is this why you were frustrated that not enough associations have a digital strategy?
There are many people who don’t understand technology and how to work in a digital environment, and therefore believe that technology will go away.
I’m not technologically savvy but I can certainly see what it can do for our industry. So, I bring in people who can help me build a digital engagement strategy that we can share with the industry and allow others to participate in it and not be afraid of digital events.
In today’s environment, education is going to be captured digitally as well as face-to-face. Associations must offer both options.
I’ve also always been frustrated with the time taken by an association to make a decision. We need to create a governance structure within an association that allows for quick response. You cannot spot an issue, call for a board meeting, and then wait three months to get an answer. You are too late by then!
Associations need to adopt a more corporate, for-profit mentality. They need to allow for the staff leadership to execute what is necessary to move the association forward, provided the staff leadership understands the association’s vision and budget.
And that’s why education is important – an association executive who knows how things work can more easily make the right decisions.
That’s right, and they will be confident enough to create an environment of open communication.
If I have a challenge, I can get to my executive committee in an hour if necessary, I will throw an idea out, they will get back to me and I can move on. I don’t have to wait for long periods of time. That’s a blessing. More associations need to give that authority to their CEOs so that they can respond quickly.
Let’s talk about PCMA’s presence in Asia. It doesn’t have any Asian chapters today, but will that change in the near future?
We are definitely looking at a presence in Asia, but not by building chapters. Our desire for global expansion is tied to education. Our strategy is simple – we want to come into the region by partnering and aligning with the region through the construction of education programmes that embrace local culture nuances and making that available to the industry. That way, everyone will benefit from the tools we create to help people be more effective when putting on events in that region.
Will PCMA be approaching other convention bureaus in Asia with the same partnership structure it has with Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau?
Right now our focus in the Asia-Pacific is here (in Singapore) and Australia. I would love to have our activities here – which I think are very successful – and use them as examples in other parts of the world.
A veteran of the meetings and conventions industry
Deborah Sexton joined PCMA in March 2005 as president and CEO, as well as president of the PCMA Education Foundation.
She has three decades of experience in the meetings and convention industry, and was previously president of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CCTB). Under her leadership, the bureau’s sales team broke all former sales production figures and the services department successfully expanded the benefits available to customers.
Prior to joining CCTB, Sexton was principal for Sexton Hospitality Services, a sales and marketing consulting firm for hotel management companies.
From 1987-1989, she was vice president of sales and marketing for Coastal Hotel Group. Throughout her career, she has held sales and marketing positions with Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, the Hyatt Regency Chicago and the Midland Hotel Chicago.
