Join the GMC PCMA and Gold Sponsors for our PCMA Annual Meeting Chapter Reception at Cuba Libre in Orlando on Sunday, January 14 at 5:00 pm.  Catch up with your peers and enjoy specialty cocktails created by our Gold Sponsors: 

AIBTM
Drink Name: AIBTM Appletini
Drink Ingredients: 1 once Green Apple Schnapps, 1.5 ounces of Vodka

Visit Anchorage
Drink Name: Blueberry Vodka Glaciertini
Drink Ingredients: 4 parts Absolute  Blueberry vodka, 1  part Cointreau liqueur, 1 part blue Curacao, 3-6 fresh blueberries for garnish, lime, white sugar rim

Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board
Drink Name: “The Brown Derby at the Edison, Los Angeles”
Drink Ingredients: Woodford Reserve Bourbon, clover honey and grapefruit

NYC & Company
Drink Name: “Manhattan”
Drink Ingredients: 2 oz rye whiskey, 1/2 oz sweet vermouth, 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters, Maraschino cherry for garnish

San Antonio CVB
Drink Name: “San Antonio Margarita Meltdown”
Drink Ingredients: Traditional Margarita (on the rocks)

Combine, mix and mingle!  We hope to see all of you at the Chapter Reception and you can experience which of these Gold sponsors ingredients will help you with your future meetings!

From Katie Bender, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2012 GMC PCMA Chapter President

As the year comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to review the successes of the Greater Midwest Chapter for 2012. The Board of Directors and Committee leaders and volunteers have been nothing short of amazing.  I am so honored to work alongside such a devoted group of volunteers.  I wanted to call out some of the major strides we’ve made this year.

Operations
We implemented a number of administrative tweaks to operate more efficiently and tightened the scheduling of steps leading to the fulfillment of annually recurring initiatives.  This will help improve the timeliness of things and how our Chapter presents itself.  But more importantly, it will help to better engage our current volunteers, as well as entice future volunteers and Chapter leaders among our entire membership.

We closed 2011 with a $20,000+ year-end budget deficit.  That’s not where we wanted to be.  However, over time our operating expenses have gone up and our budget needed to catch up. Going into 2012, we approved a budget that moved us closer to more realistic expense forecasts, while simultaneously calling for us to watch every penny in order to turn things around.  I am thrilled to report that we succeeded.  Final numbers are not yet in but we anticipate a healthy 2012 year-end surplus that will make up for the two prior years’ deficits as well as fund our reserve allocations as we’d hoped for this year.

This financial turnaround truly comes as a result of the hard work and ingenuity of our committees.

Sponsorship Committee
In 2011, the Sponsorship Committee architected a revamped 2012 sponsorship program.  The 2012 rollout of this program has resulted in opportunities with increased ROI that existing and potential sponsors could more easily support.  Its adoption has successfully revitalized our sponsorship revenues, and positively impacts our deliverables across every initiative we now undertake as a Chapter.

Membership Committee
The Membership Committee worked hard this year to facilitate more face-to-face experiences among existing and prospective members.  Their creation of “Member Mixers”, informal social gatherings, helped strengthen the common bond of Chapter membership, enabled networking in a more relaxed and cost-free setting, and turned out some prospective members to facilitate the committee’s goal of potentially growing membership.

Program Committee
The Program Committee utilized member feedback to deliver highly industry specific as well as useful general business content across the four quarterly education events in 2012. Deliverables included content on the sweeping labor union changes in Chicago (which was also webcast live for the general PCMA membership), as well as effective communication, organizational relevance, and the foundation for ethical business relationships.  All received high marks from those who attended these sessions.

Awards Committee
The Awards Committee revised the nomination and selection criteria for our Annual Awards to become better aligned with PCMA National’s methodology.  The process has enhanced and updated how we identify future award recipients who are the very best at what they do.  This was no small task and exemplary of the committee’s commitment to recognizing the best of the best.  They also worked diligently in cooperation with 2012 Committee Chairs to recognize stellar volunteers on a quarterly basis.

Chapter Relations Committee
Our Chapter has a wide net to cast in making sure we deliver quality education to our members outside of Chicagoland.  The Chapter Relations Committee once again organized a compelling Spring educational event in Milwaukee that turned out more than 60 member and non-member attendees and generated revenue.  In July, we delivered compelling educational content and a notable from the industry as a speaker to OrgPro – an annual Michigan-based 2-day conference for that state’s meetings industry professionals.  This committee remains committed to, and is still currently working on bringing more education to other Chapter states including Minnesota and Indiana for the future.

Student Membership Committee
The flagship accomplishment of the committee this year was the inaugural Student Outreach Program held in September at Northern Illinois University’s Naperville Campus Conference Center.  Students came in from multiple states in our Chapter to meet with and learn from meeting planners and industry suppliers.  This initiative took the committee’s student outreach efforts to a new level – and students are more engaged than ever.  It has been refreshing to see more and more student faces at our quarterly events and at Convening Leaders – a definite outcome of the hard work of this committee.

Community Services Committee
The committee’s primary focus this year was in the service of our 2012 and 2013 feature charity, Off The Street Club (OTSC). The Bowl-a-Thon is the main event through which we successfully raised over $20,000 to benefit OTSC.  Additionally, Chapter volunteers contributed to and joined in the fun of a picnic for the OTSC kids in July.  And through raffle tickets sold at quarterly events, additional monies were raised and will be donated.

The Annual Service-in-Sync project was also a huge success. This year’s November project generously benefitted Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC).  Through the incredible networking power and amazing compassion of our industry, GMC was able to donate three van loads of much needed clothing items, toiletries, household goods and winter outerwear to CAWC.  The committee deserves tremendous praise for coordinating these activities with such success, and they make “giving back” so easy – even though their work was so involved.

Communications Committee
In spite of the challenges of an ever-shrinking committee due to member job demands and personnel changes, the committee did an excellent job of keeping our members informed by regularly maintaining our blog, The Pulse, and updating us weekly through the newly launched GMC e-News.  The committee’s initiative to move to an entirely digital platform has saved us money and kept us well-informed.

Finally, it has been such a rewarding experience for me, personally, to serve GMC PCMA as the 2012 President.  I am so inspired by, and so grateful for the dedicated people that comprise this Chapter.  I want to personally thank every member for their contribution, large or small, in making us so dynamic.  And I want to extend a tremendous note of thanks to our management team at Bacon Hedland for attending to our needs and helping us to keep things running smoothly.  They have been most patient with me in my quest for keeping us the very best Chapter.

Very shortly, Colleen Donohoe will take over as your President for 2013.  She’s amazing, and I truly believe that her years of service in this industry and to the organization will continue to promote our Chapter’s initiatives most successfully.

May you all have a blessed, warm, wonderful holiday season and a prosperous 2013!

Thank you to all GMC-PCMA chapter members who participated in this year’s Service In Sync.  For the week of November 3-13th , collections were made for CAWC.

CAWC – Connections for Abused Women and their Children in downtown Chicago committed to ending domestic violence. Using a self-help, empowerment approach, they provide a shelter for women and children, counseling, advocacy, and a 24-hour hotline for people affected by domestic violence. They work for social change through education, service collaboration and institutional advocacy. They serve the Humboldt Park area and assist over 150 families per month.

Co-chairing the committee for the fifth year, Kris Marinelli of MGM Resorts and Leslie Sargent of Starwood Hotels researched local Chicago charities that needed some extra help this time of year.  The results were outstanding as many local offices decided to make it a company project as well.

The Hyatt Deerfield, IL (pictured) ran a week long campaign for guests and employees and were able to collect a van full items that were donated Thanksgiving week.

GMC-PCMA Bowl-a-Thon was also a great venue for collecting items as well.  Donation items included Socks and Underwear-for women and children; Wash Cloths; Towels; Family- Size Toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, lotion etc); Laundry Detergent; Blankets or Throws; and Winter gear including gloves, scarves and hats.

Thanks to the chapter member’s generosity, three van loads of items were delivered to CAWC following Service in Sync week.

Former charities for this week have included Dress for Success for two years and Off the Street Club (2  years).  Off the Street Club Service in Sync was so successful that the charity was named GMC-PCMA charity for 2012 and 2013.  All proceeds from Bowl a Thon, fundraisers and raffle ticket sales will be presented to Off The Street club in January of 2013.