APO Participates in the Association Executives Summit (AES) and joins the newly launched Philippine Council for the Advancement of Association Executives (PCCAE)

by: Dr. Diana Dorothy Lim

The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) of the Department of Tourism, the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) jointly organized the Association Executives Summit (AES) at the PICC last November 19 & 20, 2013. Invited were the association leaders of the various associations in the country who are in good standing and with global affiliations. APO President Dr. Laarni Serraon and President-elect Dr. Diana Dorothy Lim represented APO in this educational and networking event.

The main objectives of this event were the following:

1. To update association executives on the benefits of hosting regional/international meetings and to work on bringing these events to the country.
2. To strengthen the governance and leadership skills of Philippine associations through a series of talks on building high performance boards, membership recruitment & retention and developing sponsorship/ fundraising strategies.

The Keynote speech was given by Mr. Domingo Enerio III, Chief Operating Officer of the Tourism Promotions Board. He envisions transforming the TPB into an aggressive marketing organization which will work to establish the Philippines as a highly competitive and preferred tourism destination worldwide. He challenges local association executives to make the Philippines a top congress destination choice as it had been during the 1980’s.

Resource speakers of this summit are experienced and well-regarded CEO’s, professionals and advocates in the association management circle here and abroad such as Ms. Susan Sarfati, CEO of High Performance Strategies and Ms. Liz Jackson, President of Jackson Consulting, Inc  which holds mentoring projects and internships for association managers. To speak about Association Meetings: Bidding to Win was Ms. Monette Hamlin, President of the Philippine Association of Congress/Exhibition Suppliers and Organizers (PASEOS).

The highlight of this summit was the launching of the Philippine Council for the Advancement of Association Executives (PCAAE) by Mr. Octavio Peralta, Secretary-General of ADFIAP. Its mission is to advance, improve, promote and protect the profession of association management, its institutions and professionals by accelerating innovation and enhancing the capacity and growth opportunities of its members and partner institutions through their collective voice, expertise and experience. The town mall meeting held on the last day aimed to bring out ideas and suggestions, sharing of best practices and creating networks among association members. APO, now a part of this organization stands to improve as a professional organization and will benefit from the support system of the member institutions in organizing better and more professional congresses on the local and international scale.