2010 Annual Conference
January 8-10, 2010
Dallas, Texas
Westin City Center

It’s a Wrap!
- ACOM CSMs enjoy a great Conference in New Orleans
- ACOM Congratulates Award Winners
- New Board of Directors and Officers
- Our 2009 Annual Conference

- ACOM CSMs enjoy a great Conference in New Orleans
Thank you for attending the ACOM Annual Conference - we hope those of you who attended enjoyed it and went home with plenty of take-away messages, tips and learning tools.

The city of New Orleans was a wonderful host to our program – attended by 230 CSMs, planners and industry suppliers. The highlights are many! And the whole program was kicked off by our amazing keynote Sam Glenn, who none of us will soon forget.

We will soon be posting a photo album to capture all of the great memories and networking moments throughout our time in the Big Easy.

Additionally, we have posted the papers and notes from the conference online, accessible via the following link: ACOM conference handouts Please visit the page, browse the handouts, and decide which ones you’d like to download.

- ACOM Congratulates Award Winners
We would like to recognize the many deserving award winners, all presented at the Awards luncheon during the Conference.

Member of the Year: Ade Harris, Greenville CVB
President’s Award: Eric Blanc, CMP, Freeman
Executive Excellence Award: Al Hutchinson, VP of Sales & Services, Virginia Beach CVB
Meeting Professional of the Year Award: Lynn Brewer, Sr. VP, Meetings & Meeting Services, American Bus Association
And the Successful Meetings CSM of the Year Award recipients are:
Convention Center: Sher-Rhonda Cabean, Baltimore Convention Center
CVB: Robert L. “Bob” Berry, CEM, Irving, TX CVB
Hotel: Paul Ruby, CMP, Westin Park Central, Dallas TX

- New Board of Directors and Officers were elected in New Orleans:
President: Lyan Tassler, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau
President Elect: Marilyn Healey, CMP, Hyatt Regency Long Beach
Immediate Past President: Tina Stark, The Housing Connection
First Vice President: Eric Blanc, CMP, Freeman
Second Vice President: David Dvorak, CMP, Starwood Hotels
Secretary / Treasurer: Robert Desautels, CMP, Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Authority

Directors:
Madonna Carr, CMP, Meet Minneapolis
Felicia Davis, Atlantic City CVA
Ade Harris, Greenville CVB
Melissa Laskowsky, CMP, Georgia Mountains Center
Leta McVeety, CMP, The Jefferson Hotel
Julie Pingston, CMP, Greater Lansing Convention &Visitors Bureau
Denise Suttle, CMP, Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau
Chad Wilke, Indiana Convention Center & RCA Dome
Shawn-Ta Wilson, CMP, Tampa Convention Center
Michelle Yeager, CMP, Omni Hotel at CNN Center
Advisory Director (Ex-Officio): Vanessa Kane, CMP, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States

Thank you for all of the efforts of outgoing Board members Philipa Blair, Baton Rouge CVB and Melinda S. Burnett-Parrish, CMP, Trussville Civic Center.

Our 2009 Annual Conference
Submitted by: Lindsay Casey and Samaria Williams, Greater Houston Convention & Visitor Bureau

ACOM held its Annual Conference January 8-11, 2009 at the Westin Canal Place in New Orleans, LA. Themed “The Soul of Service,” this conference began with fabulous New Orleans tours on January 8th and 9th. We participated in the “Shaken Not Stirred” tour on January 8th and the French Quarter Historical Walking Tour & Luncheon on January 9th. Our guide for the “Shaken Not Stirred” tour took us to some bars off the beaten path, which was extremely neat because we thought all the historical bars were mainly on Bourbon Street. The French Quarter Historical tour was very educational and interesting and we would recommend it to everyone from first time visitors to reoccurring visitors. Our tour group then met up with the members of the Cemetery and Voodoo Walking Tour and Garden District Tour at the Red Fish Grill for a delicious lunch.

On Friday afternoon, the educational sessions began with an Opening Keynote: A Kick in Attitude, which was our favorite session. Sam Glenn made an excellent point on how attitude can affect your outlook in life and your day to day activities. He recommended that we use humor to relieve the stress in our lives. That afternoon, we attended the Welcome Reception sponsored by the Morial Convention Center with true New Orleans flare!

On Saturday, we enjoyed the Engaging Your Community and Overcoming Adversity general sessions. We thought the Baton Rouge’s program that was presented, “Seein’ Red,” is an excellent program to bring the hospitality community together. Since the effects of Katrina touched all of our hearts, it was great to hear members of the New Orleans hospitality community talk about overcoming adversity and what they planned for the future. The most beneficial session on Saturday for us was the Mentoring Program and Leadership Academy. The experienced leaders in our industry had eight minutes at each table to discuss different topics. For example, one topic was Career Advancing Moves. Since we are new to this industry, it was great to learn from our experienced peers. Our only wish would be for more time with each of them!

On Sunday, the general session on Green Meetings was great! As a big supporter of “Going Green”, it is wonderful to see how different cities are doing what they can to contribute in helping the environment.

This was our first ACOM Annual Meeting. Lindsay did attend the 2008 Summer Education Conference in Chicago but this was our first experience at the annual conference. We had a wonderful first experience and enjoyed meeting our peers in the industry! We did gain a lot of beneficial information for our CVB as well as personally. For future conferences, we would like the opportunity to have more time visiting and learning from our experienced peers. We look forward to attending again and we hope you all have a wonderful year!

Take care,
Lindsay and Samaria