The meeting management company formerly known as the Professional Meeting Planning Network, or PMPN, has changed its name to PlannerNet and expanded into worldwide markets.
The name change was made in May to better reflect the company’s growing service offerings, says James Montague, president and chief executive officer of the Durham, N.C.–based firm. “We are still known as PMPN in the world of medical meetings, but we offer so much more than onsite logistics and audiovisual—and to more than just the medical vertical—that it just made sense to change the name."
PMPN was founded in 1982 by Rod Abraham as a network of meeting planners around the country that could provide a range of on-site meeting planning and logistics services. The focus was on medical meetings, specifically dinner meetings. Medical meetings remains PlannerNet’s largest market segment, but they also handle corporate meetings. “Medical is still our biggest market and actually our fastest-growing niche right now,” says Montague. Currently there are about 1,500 meeting professionals in the PlannerNet network.
The company has also been growing internationally, said Montague. The PlannerNet network includes about 500 planners outside of North America in 110 different countries, including Australia, India, France, the U.K., Turkey, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Kenya.
“It has taken some time to do, but we now have a robust network of meeting professionals all over the world,” says Montague. PlannerNet devotes internal resources exclusively to the recruitment of planners based outside of North America. As the network has grown, so have the clients, he adds. “The need is there and until recently, unfulfilled,” says Montague, particularly given the tightening regulations for healthcare meetings and the need for on-site compliance.