One + February 2011 - (Page 54)

The exact right combination of venues made the Volkswagen Group of America’s 2010 dealer meeting at Atlanta’s Georgia International Convention Center a memorable milestone. Accidentally on Purpose BY ROWLAND STITELER SUCCESSFUL EVENTS DON’T JUST HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT, AS ANY MEETING INDUSTRY VETERAN KNOWS. But in the case of Volkswagen Group of America’s 2010 dealer meeting at Atlanta’s Georgia International Convention Center (GICC), it was in fact an accident that ultimately led to the 1,300-attendee conference’s status as a memorable milestone in the opinions of planners and participants alike. One should not draw the conclusion that success of the conference was “accidental,” or something serendipitously stumbled upon by planner Camille Paluscio, CMP, manager of travel, meetings and events for Volkswagen Group of America, and her staff. The accident in question threw up some signiﬁcant hurdles that Paluscio and her team had to overcome. But the accident that came late in the process for this annual, North America-wide meeting set into motion a process in which both the 54 one+ 02.11 GICC

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + February 2011

One + February 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
The Productivity Cloud
Overheard
Agenda
MPIWeb Connect
Thoughts+Leaders
Events for Life
Gateway to the Future
Top Spots
It Was Not Interesting
Irrelevant
The Wrong Words
Up to Snuff
That’s Enough Facebook
Super Foods to the Rescue
Shoring Resources
Jack and Smoke
Accidentally on Purpose
Staying on Top of Tech
The Joy of Work
Plan to Run
Productivity on the Go
Angel of the Favelas
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again
MPI’s 2011 Meeting Guide to Canada
Contents
Banff Centre
Ottawa Tourism
Tourisme Montréal
The Buzz
InterContinental Canada
Caesars Windsor
Vintage Hotels
The Great Green North
Whistler, British Columbia
Meetings and Conventions Calgary
Scotiabank Convention Centre

One + February 2011