The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and IMEX America have entered into a new Industry Partnership agreement that will see the two organizations collaborating on a range of marketing and educational initiatives, including the co-location of an important PCMA educational event alongside IMEX America when its launches in October 2011.
Working with PCMA will also give the IMEX Group access to a membership of over 6000 in many regions around the world. Both organizations intend to actively develop the partnership and use it to generate high quality hosted buyer groups for IMEX America as well as target potential new US trade show attendees. PCMA plans to host approximately 150 buyers to IMEX America and will target top-level association and corporate buyers from the major industry sectors.
The announcement follows a long-standing and highly effective partnership between the two organizations that has been developed and enhanced over many years at IMEX in Frankfurt.
As Ray Bloom, Chairman of the IMEX Group, explains: “We will be using the experience and knowledge we’ve both gained over many years in Frankfurt as a springboard for IMEX America. With PCMA’s unparalleled reputation and authority the new show is in an excellent position to reach out to new visitors and buyers and to use PCMA’s network to raise profile and increase understanding of the IMEX model.
“Our joint message is a very clear one: We work well together. We know what PCMA members want from professional education, business and networking and we intend to deliver it in a lively, engaging and business-centred yet entertaining way. We are also focused on making sure that all members understand that IMEX is different and that the IMEX model, and especially its hosted buyer program, makes it unlike any other trade show they are likely to have seen before.”
Says PCMA President and CEO, Deborah Sexton: “Forward-thinking and global are just two attributes of IMEX so it’s fitting that PCMA has aligned itself with IMEX in a brand new partnership. PCMA has been participating in IMEX in Frankfurt for several years now by providing our signature educational offerings. That will continue. But with its brand-new show, IMEX America, the group is blazing a fresh trail and PCMA is pleased to be helping to pave the way by offering high-level education at this event.”
The addition of PCMA’s co-located educational event to the IMEX America calendar means that Bloom has now confirmed that 40 separate educational seminars and workshops will be available free of charge to attendees over three days in Las Vegas in 2011.
He concludes: “An educational program of this size and quality adds enormous value to IMEX America. That, plus our reputation for facilitating fast and easy communication between buyers and exhibitors, before, during and after the show, that leads to tangible new business. These are the distinguishing marks of the IMEX business model. They ensure that every IMEX adds up to so much more than trade show.”
