PCMA recap: From the Big Easy to the Big Freezee
Posted by Kristi Casey Sanders on January 15, 2009 at 7:35 pm
By Jan Tolle MacDonald, CMP, CMM
It’s my last day in New Orleans, and I will depart for Minneapolis where the expected temperature is -20 degrees Fahrenheit. Since I work for Travel Alberta, I should say -28 degrees Celsius, even though Canadians are so smart they know both systems. The irony is that Alberta is a warmer place than Minneapolis today.
My best class of the day: “Are you Sabotaging Yourself?” by JP Pawliw-Fry, BA, BPHE, DC, president, Institute for Health and Human Potential. He spoke about the “blind leader” effect: the higher you go in your career, the more chance you have of empathy failures, difficulty judging emotions/faces, increased impulsive behavior, increased stereotyping and isolation. He said it’s because the higher up one goes, the less candid feedback one gets from the people on the lower rungs of the career ladder.
The No. 1 reason why people stay in their organization, he says, is their relationship with their leader. A colleague who works for a major airline told me she gets frequent offers for other opportunities, but will never leave because of the way she was treated 22 years ago!
On my way home, there were about 10 of us on the same plane. Our PCMA conference continued at the airport and I made two great discoveries:
- To check out flight schedules, gates and times, security wait times from your mobile phone check out: virtuallythere.com. Since my flight was delayed, I was able to view what time it would arrive and the gate number.
- The other is a new one from Google for 411 business information. It’s free, and it works in Canada, too. It can be used to call businesses such as restaurants, hotels, phone numbers, etc. I’ve got this number on my speed dial: 800-GO-GOOG or 800-466-4411.
As I write this last post and reflect on the past week in New Orleans, I can say it’s been a fast-paced conference. From meeting new people to volunteering and enjoying the New Orleans scene, I’ve learned a lot and experienced growth, both professionally and personally. Not a bad deal.
And I return home feeling, we’re all lucky to be in this business.
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Jan Tolle MacDonald, CMP, CMM, is the regional manager, Midwest MC&IT, for Travel Alberta. This is her first time attending the Professional Convention Management Association convention, she blogged about her experiences for the duration of the event.
