Spotlight: Stuart Ruff

Stuart Ruff's hilarious recollection in the October issue of Convene about the gut-wrenching experience he had as a meeting planner at a medical conference in India is not to be missed. (Just don't read it on your lunch hour.)

But it does offer a bit of one-dimensional view of Ruff, CGMP, who is senior meetings planner for the International Trademark Association. For more, I recommend the also-entertaining "Member Spotlight" profile of Ruff on the PCMA website.

The profile, written by PCMA digital marketing specialist Maggie Endres, coincidentally includes more context about Ruff's experience organizing the medical conference in India: Planning for the meeting, which was co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department, was underway at the time of the 2008 Mumbai hotel attacks, and everything had to redone following the attacks -- from invitations to visa applications. The extra expense left no money for a site visit, so Ruff planned the meeting without ever visiting the facility or the country. It was the toughest meeting of his career, he told Maggie: "I cried when it was over, and now I cannot wait to plan a meeting in India again."

While you are there, dive into some of the other Member Spotlights. There are dozens of them, and Maggie adds about three a month to an ever-expanding archive. They are a great way to get to know other meeting planners and suppliers, and to learn from their experiences.