Highlights from FICP’s Northeast, MidWest/Great Lakes, and Canadian summer chapter meetings.
It was a busy summer with three FICP chapter meetings:
The Northeast chapter met at the Hilton New York, July 27-29. An interactive education agenda included speaker Victoria Labalme on how to focus on what really matters in life, and protocol expert Judith Bowman on business etiquette. A three-hour session on industry issues, using very cool audience-response devices from Turning Technologies, was moderated by Regina Baraban, editor, Financial & Insurance Meetings. Panelists included Matt Davis, NYC & Co.; Sean Hennessey, Lodging Advisors; Mary Jane Paris, Positive Impact Consulting Services; and Brian Porter, Turning Technologies. Panel organizer Marie Schlump, CSEP, Prudential Annuities, pulled together an eye-catching and nontraditional meeting room environment. Education on day two featured insights on the financial markets by Tulane University's Peter Ricchiuti, and a panel of seasoned department heads — Debbie Boschee, CMP, Prudential; Martha Bunker, Fidelity; and Jeff Calmus, CMP, MetLife — sharing insights into how to advance meeting planning careers. Chapter chair Jennifer Squeglia, CMP, introduced new co-chair Lindsay Maloni, MetLife.
The Midwest and Great Lakes chapters met jointly at the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis, August 3-5. Education included a planners-only session and a discussion of revenue management by Sandra Rath, Hilton Minneapolis and The Marquette Hotel, and Andy Paschke, Hilton Minneapolis. An interactive session featured hospitality partners Shari Wallack, Buy the Sea; Julie Stovroff, Preferred Hotel Group; and Linda Burley, CMP, MGM Grand Hotel asking planners tough questions in their effort to build stronger relationships between planners and HPers. The agenda closed with an update on the ever-changing airline group rules from Linda Tack of Van Zile Travel Services. “It was a very informative and enjoyable meeting,” says Morgan Murphy, CMP, Bankers Life, chairman of the Great Lakes Chapter.
The Canadian Chapter met August 21-23 at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau-Ottawa, Québec. Speaker Patrick Leroux encouraged all to “unleash the fire within.” That attitude was put into practice when groups were assigned an event to market and brand. Nick Bontis took attendees on a “knowledge journey,” covering the future of language, technology, and careers. Roundtable discussions featured CMP training, contingency planning, and green meetings. The chef from Hilton Lac-Leamy spoke about F&B trends. Learn2, a Toronto-based teambuilding company, led group “expeditions” to build leadership skills. “On the final morning, we held exchange sessions similar to the FICP Annual,” notes chapter chairwoman Kathy Lind, Sun Life Financial, Waterloo, Ontario. The meeting closed with speaker Dr. J. P. Pawliw-Fry, an emotional-intelligence expert.
FICP education continues year-round, including a first-ever “talk radio” session held in late August on trends in international meetings and incentives. FICP Vice President of Education Kim Boriin, CMP, Guardian Investor Services LLC, facilitated an exchange between James W. Hensley, Allied International; Natalie Restorick, InterContinental Malta; and Padraic Gilligan, Ovation Global DMC. In October, FICP hosted its second 2008 webinar, on e-mail communications, led by Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, High Impact Presentations. FICP plans two talk radio sessions and two webinars in 2009.
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