The Most Memorable Talks of PCMA Convening Leaders 2016

What we learned at PCMA Convening Leaders 2016.

From courage to peanut butter and jelly, speakers at PCMA Convening Leaders 2016 covered a wide range of topics during the four-day conference. Below, we've highlighted the six most memorable sessions, including  key takeaways that we learned from each one!

General Session Highlights

1. Mergers and Disruptions and Provocations, Oh My (speakers: Mel Robbins & Arne Sorenson)

CNN commentator Mel Robbins interviewed Marriott International President and CEO Arne Sorenson during Tuesday morning's general session.

Key takeaways:

• Marriott creates a sense of community for their guests at each and every property.
• Customers are loyal because they feel they are getting value in return.
• The five emerging trends that will drive change and innovation in the meetings & event planning industry are sensory analytics, tribalization, content safaris, living 360, and immersive telepresence.

Watch a video on the five emerging trends here.

2. WhiteSpace (speaker: Juliet Funt)

In today's busy workplace environment, Juliet Funt emphasizes the importance of slowing down and prioritizing our tasks. She calls this process WhiteSpace.

Key takeaways:

• Take strategic pauses throughout each day between each task in order to reset, retune, and reduce unnecessary stress and wasted energy.
• WhiteSpace increases creativity, productivity, and engagement.
• Conformity leads to overload.

Learn more about the talk here.

3. Crafting Contagious Ideas (speaker: Jonah Berger)

When you hear the word "peanut butter," it's highly likely you will associate it with the word "jelly." Jonah Berger, author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, challenges his audience to find their "peanut butter" – that word or idea that customers will automatically associate with your event, product or service.

Key Takeaways:

• Word-of-mouth marketing is 10 times more effective than traditional advertising. "More word-of-mouth sharing happens offline than online."
• The following six steps can take any idea from great to contagious: social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and stories.
• Stories are great vessels of information. Build a story that carries the brand and the message.

Read more about Jonah's session here.

Breakout Session Highlights

1. The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity (speaker: Leena Rinne)

Leena Rinne, coauthor of The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity, covered many productivity tips including the following:

• Close your emails and don't react to urgency.
• Reduce distractions.
• Add tasks to your calendar. Keeping a list is not enough.
• Have daily and weekly goals.
• Be aware of technology. Is it helping or hurting you?

2. Courage at Work: Bravery as an Overlooked Resource (Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener)

During this session, attendees learned the three components of courage: personal risk, uncertain outcome, and the presence of fear or discomfort. Dr. Biswas-Diener challenged his audience to be more brave at work by implementing these three components.

3. Be People Smart (Dean Savoca M.Ed.)

Dean Savoca talks about the four styles of behavior (dominance, influence, supporter, and analyzer) and how every team should have one of each style. He also emphasizes the importance of having high emotional intelligence — the ability to recognize and appreciate the behavior styles of others.

Missed a session everyone's been talking about? PCMA has complimentary on-demand sessions for a limited time here.

What was your favorite session from the conference? Tell us all about it by leaving a comment below.