What do you call a person who is part supplier, part meeting planner? John Potterton, CMP, director in charge of business development at Summit Executive Centre (previously the KPMG Center for Leadership Development) in Chicago, jokingly calls himself a "supplanner."
"I wear the hat of the supplier in providing the conference center meeting space," says Potterton, "and then wear the hat of the planner in that I work with the hotels and coordinate ground transportation and get involved in planning as well."
Until September, when Potterton and Louise Silberman, managing director of the center (formerly director of sales), formed the company Conference Center Concepts and purchased the center, he had managed internal KPMG meetings. Other staff people had handled external meetings, which accounted for some 75 percent of the meetings booked at the nonresidential conference center.
Now, Potterton says, helping clients fulfill needs for educational resources is a top priority. "We can point people in the right direction when they're looking for a program on time management or teambuilding, for example," he says. "Our purpose is to support learning and inspire personal and professional growth. We're more than simply four walls and food and beverage."--Sharon Buchbinder
UPCOMING MEETINGS May 20-23, 1998
Sonoma (CA) Mission Inn & Spa/Westin St.Francis,
San Francisco
November 4-7, 1998
The Adam's Mark Hotel,
San Antonio, TX
Contact: Mike Mazur
(404) 355-9932
Fax: (404) 351-3348
E-mail: assnhq@mindspring.com
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We're Listening
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Online Resources