PCMA Convening Leaders Strikes Global Tone for 70th Anniversary

"This organization's leaders have set for me a completely impossible task," began The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes in an afternoon keynote session at PCMA's Convening Leaders in Philadelphia last week. "You want me to tell you where the world is going. I have no idea."

To underscore the immense challenges facing business leaders, Beddoes went on to outline the events of the nine days preceding her Jan. 12 session, including: a Hollywood-worthy extraction of the now ex-president of Venezuela from his bedroom in the middle of the night, and his subsequent transport to a Brooklyn jail; the largest protests taking place in Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution; a U.S. president informing Europe that he will get Greenland the easy way or the hard way; and a criminal investigation launched against the president of the Federal Reserve. "It is clear that the old world is dead and a completely new world is being created," she noted.

It was an interesting time to convene leaders in the global events industry, to put it mildly, and the Beddoes session was a refreshingly straightforward analysis of the geopolitical, economic and technological upheaval affecting the industry (and the world), as well as our collective ability to prepare for the future.

Such conversations were all the more appropriate given PCMA's global expansion efforts over the past few years. While the overall Convening Leaders registration numbers at last week's event were down year over year (from 4,500 in 2025 to 4,211 this year), actual on-site attendance increased, from 3,800 to 4,098. (There was a fee to attend virtually this year, whereas last year it was free to do so.) Notably, participants came from 43 countries last week, and more than 1,000 were first-time attendees.

Anniversary homecoming and rebrand

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Convening Leaders, PCMA returned to Philadelphia, the site of the organization's first annual gathering in 1956. Hosting the event had been a goal for Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau president and CEO Gregg Caren since he took the reins of the organization; and for Pennsylvania Convention Center president and CEO John McNichol, Convening Leaders was "the most important event we'll do this year. If I had to pick between the World Cup, the Super Bowl and PCMA, I'd pick PCMA," he said.

PCMA took the momentous occasion as an opportunity to refresh the brand, unveiling a new look and colors, and highlighting a more unified global platform. And there may be no more memorable a way to imprint a new organizational color scheme than by unveiling an official tartan, modeled by the kilt-wearing leadership of the association and host destination: Outgoing (Scottish) PCMA chair Neil Brownlee, PCMA president and CEO Sherrif Karamat and the PHLCVB's Caren will always have the honor of being the first to don the colors.

Beyond the tartan, the new brand design can be seen across all PCMA entities and events. There are a couple of name changes as well: The APAC meeting formerly known as The Business of Events has been rebranded as Convening APAC, and the education-focused event formerly known as edUcon is now the Business Events Summit. CEMA's name (for the Corporate Event Marketing Association) remains the same, but its visual branding now matches the new PCMA design.

Global reach

Brownlee, head of business events at VisitScotland, was the organization's first non-North American chair (and, as he noted, the "best-ever Scottish chair of PCMA"), reflecting the group's international aspirations. "All of the global expansion has been in addition to the North American core," he noted, "not instead of it. But I leave you with a truly global organization, talking the talk and walking the walk."

During the conference, PCMA further expanded international collaboration by signing a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Europe-based International Association of Professional Congress Organisers, focused on education, research and emerging leaders. The agreement stipulates that for at least two years, the two organizations will work together on a program of joint initiatives, including a thought-leadership exchange, reciprocal education access, joint research projects, student and emerging-leader engagement, and at least one joint education session annually at an international industry trade show.

While incoming chair Kelly Ricker is North America-based, the COO of the Global Technology Industry Association also stressed the importance of global collaboration — citing the coming year's slate of international events, intended to foster diverse voices and critical conversations.

Convening Leaders 2027 will take place Jan. 10–13 in Miami.