The Professional Convention Management Association has introduced a new framework for the delivery of its education called Principles of Professional Performance. The framework is based on input from 403 PCMA members who were surveyed earlier this year.

The initiative goes beyond establishing core competencies, said PCMA Chairman Gregg Talley, president of Talley Management Group, in a press statement. “We’re building a larger structure for creating learning activities for the lifelong learner that will enable everyone from entry-level planners to senior executives to advance their careers.â€

PCMA has categorized educational content into six different principles: planning, people, professionalism, programming, procedures, and production. Within each of these areas, core competencies will be taught.

Here is a break down of what will be covered within each category:

• Planning--strategic planning and business development;
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• People–managing human resources, interpersonal relationships, and leadership;
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• Professionalism–professional development and communication;
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• Programming–program planning
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• Procedures–financial management, event management, using technology, and legal issues;
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• Production–facilities and services, and logistics

Each of these domains can encompass an unlimited number of concepts, skills, and tasks, said Talley, which are essential core competencies that PCMA members have identified as important to the success of their careers.

Content, which will be delivered at PCMA meetings and events throughout the year, is available on three different levels: executive, professional, and essential.

Executive education, designed for top management, focuses on strategic leadership issues within the six “Ps.†Professional education, built for middle management, teaches best practices in meetings and event management. Essential education, targeted at lower management, addresses key concepts and systems essential to managing meetings and events.

PCMA developed the program with the help of a faculty task force, made up of academics, which reviewed the meeting planner competencies and helped design the survey.

PCMA's Professional Meeting Management text, which is a reference book for the Certified Meeting Professional exam, is being revised, and the fifth edition is scheduled to be published in 2006.