2009 ACOM Summer Education Conference
Always Bet on Services

June 14-16, 2009
Westin Casuarina
Las Vegas, Nevada

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our summer conference, held earlier this week at the Westin Casuarina Resort in Las Vegas.

As summed up by ACOM board member, Bob Desautels, CMP, Senior Manager, Convention Services, Indianapolis CVB...

The 2009 Summer Conference stressed several key issues: 1) Adapting to and learning from the downturn in the economy, and 2) The need to pursue our role of servicing in a more vigorous way. Staff reductions and budget cuts may make the job tougher, but the client is still looking for quality and efficiency in our service. It’s easy to service when budgets are flush and staffing is plentiful. However, doing the great job in today’s economy, though more demanding, demonstrates what real value quality service brings to our customers. In essence, today’s challenges offer us the best opportunity to succeed—not only for our clients but ourselves as well.

One of the highlights of the program was a meeting planner discussion forum, featuring some of the industry’s leading planners, discussing a variety of topics in small discussion groups, with our CSMs, as well as a panel discussion on the economic impact to the meetings industry, featuring Moderator: Sharon Gronowski, CMP, Vice President, Positively Cleveland and panelists: Chris Meyer, Vice President of Sales, Las Vegas CVA; Brian Hardee, VP of Sales & Marketing, The Mirage; and Doretha Wiggins, Convention Services Manager, Richmond Metropolitan CVB.

We would like to thank Melissa Laskowsky for her role as Chair of this event, along with her hard-working committee members, for making this a valuable member event.