The Water Coolers did an incredibly funny take on Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” satirizing meeting professionals’ lives.

Amanda Batstone, senior program manager, CBI, welcomes the Pharma Forum attendees with Betsy Bair, content director, MeetingsNet, looking on.

Conference chair Michael Mahoney, director, meeting and convention services, Genentech, emceed the Pharma Forum general sessions. He asked attendees to tweet him their conference takeaways each day and recapped them the next morning.

James Vachon, CMM, associate director, events, meetings, and conventions for Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, took a look at where the pharma meeting world was in 2005—the first year of the conference—and where it is today in his Reflections Address on the opening morning.

Tammy Routh, vice president, global sales, U.S., Marriott International, welcomed attendees on Monday morning as the event’s Titanium-level sponsor.

Judy Johnson, president emeritus, Rx Worldwide Meetings Inc. (center), is clearly enjoying the Water Coolers.

A cross-industry exchange called “Event Innovators—How to Revolutionize Content-Driven Meetings and Events,” gave attendees a non-pharma perspective from some high-profile leaders in the tech meeting space. From left are moderator Linda McNairy, head of business development NA–Meetings, American Express Global Business Travel; Paul Salinger, vice president, corporate marketing, Oracle; Scott Schenker, general manager, Events and Production Studio, Microsoft Marketing; and Liz Lathan, CMP, director, event & experiential marketing, global event marketing, Dell.

Paul Salinger of Oracle, who is past president of the Green Meeting Industry Council, at left, makes a point during the cross-industry exchange panel.

Brian McArdle, Actavis Inc., absorbs some key takeaways during the cross-industry exchange panel.

Ryan Mazon, senior manager, client services, Educational Measures, described how to use the iPads supplied at each general session, which allowed attendees to follow along with the PowerPoints, take notes and capture slides, and e-mail them to themselves. It also allowed attendees to ask questions of the speakers anonymously. 

At Tuesday morning’s general session, Bill Levisay, former chief customer officer, Bolthouse Farms, and now principal of his own consulting firm, offered some important lessons about life and leadership, including “change is certain, progress is not.”

A life sciences luminaries panel on Tuesday morning showed that not every large pharmaceutical company approached compliance in exactly the same way. From left, moderator Kimberly Meyer, Meetings Analytics; Christian-Claus Roth, co-president International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association; Meredith Smith, executive director, enterprise shared services, Merck; Martin Hess-Janorschke, senior global healthcare compliance manager, F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ltd.; and Aynn Furie, senior director, global meetings category lead, Pfizer Inc.

On the final morning, Chef Thomas O’Gara, senior culinary manager, Americas, Marriott International, gave attendees tips on how to live within a tight F&B budget at their meetings.

Back by popular demand, a panel of pharma industry sales leads from four major hotel chains discussed pain points for pharma planners and hoteliers. From left, moderator Amber Heintz, CMP-HC, associate director, program operations, Bishop-McCann, skillfully facilitated a discussion between Suellen Bolles, Starwood Hotels; Bonnie Weiss, Hyatt Hotels; Michelle Irwin, CMP, Marriott International; and Julie Hills, Hilton Worldwide.

Michael Dominguez, senior vice president, global hotel sales, MGM Resorts International, delivered an address on the state of the meetings and events industry, including how the world’s economics and political situations have far-reaching effects.