April 2011 Issue: Live!

One of the things we work hard at with Convene is trying to make the abstract more concrete. A great example of that (I'm comfortable saying, since I didn't write the article) is the cover story in our April issue -- the digital edition of which is now available -- in which Hunter Slaton digs into the oft-discussed, oft-misunderstood health-care law to find a very tangible relevance for the meetings industry. Seriously. Do you know about the impending law's "Sunshine" provision? And the cover story has two more components, both related to continuing medical education: "Proof of Learning," about the growing emphasis on demonstrating that CME participants are learning what they're supposed to be learning; and "Do You CME What I CME?," which traces the evolving missions of the Alliance for CME and the Global Alliance for Medical Education.

Also in this issue:

CMP Series: "Going for Green," Barbara Palmer's preview of the long-awaited APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards, which are scheduled to be released later this year.

So long, Bubba!

When Apple opened a pop-up shop in Austin during the 2011 SXSW@Interactive Festival as part of the launch of the iPad 2, the first in line was -- not a gadget-crazed techie -- but event planner John Muehlbauer.

Among the many reasons that meeting planners are embracing the iPad is its ability to store massive amounts of information in pixels, rather than paper, and still fit under your arm. In our April issue, we talked to meeting planners who have made the jump from using traditional binders during conferences to storing information on iPads and tablets -- and who aren't looking back.

PCMA's meetings and events team -- Kelly Peacy, CAE, CMP; Sarah Corrandino, CMP; Mandi Kasper, CMP;  and Dyan Couch, CMP -- is part of that trend: The team used an iPad during 2011 Convening Leaders in Las Vegas.

How did it go? See Mandi Kasper's video report above to find out.