Incoming ACOM President Sets New Goals
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 2/7/2005
Janice Telstar, newly named president of the Assn. for Convention Operations Management, plans to increase membership, cooperate more with other groups and improve the quality of educational programs.
Telstar, assistant director of convention services for the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, outlined the goals for her one-year term during the group's 17th annual conference, Jan. 7–9 at Renaissance Iliaki Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu. She succeeded Mary German, director of convention services for the Arlington (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Telstar said she intends to increase ACOM's membership to 500, an 80-percent increase. She also aims to improve the quality of ACOM education and build on cooperative efforts with related associations, like the Professional Convention Management Assn., which met in Hawaii at the same time as ACOM.
Telstar said she would like to offer members a salary survey and online toolbox, and create a better way for convention services managers to demonstrate their value to employers.
Attendee Bob Desautels, senior manager of convention services at the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Assn., said ACOM is progressing well, thanks to the hiring of a new association management company, Creative Marketing Alliance. The new manager has instituted a strategic plan, and as a result, the association is adding more hotels and convention centers.
Desautels said this year's annual meeting featured more educational opportunities. The conference session drew about 125 attendees with sessions on how CVBs, convention centers, hotels and planners can work together to accomplish goals like making meetings safer.
Next year's annual conference will be held Jan. 6–8 in Philadelphia. The group's Summer Leadership Conference will take place in Las Vegas, June 12–14.
