Peggy Love Conference Summary
In 1999 I attended my first EuRA conference in Barcelona and since then I have attended all but 3 conferences. As many people through the years have said, I grew up in my professional life with EuRA and it is truly the professional family that we all cherish and love. As an expat kid and an expat adult my role as CEO of the small Destination Services company I founded was perfect for me. EuRA was perfect for me. Through the years I tried to be as active as I could in the organization. That meant being a speaker or a moderator at almost every single conference. Preparing a presentation for a global audience is a lot of extra effort while working full time, but absolutely worth the trouble. Now, in my role as Strategic Consultant Intellectual Content, I have achieved my goal of not having to “let go” of EuRA even in my retirement.
As Strategic Consultant for Intellectual Content I am a liaison to the EuRA COO and to the Board. I oversee the development of the sessions as well as provide support to the speakers and moderators throughout the year as they prepare for the conference. The selection process for speakers and moderators begins in mid-summer with a call for proposals with a deadline for submission mid to late October. The EuRA Board meets in early November when they select the number of presenters and moderators to fill the number of sessions previously determined by the layout and capacity of the conference site. This is a consensus driven process and very fair. Once the speakers and moderators have been selected, and I have written to them with the board’s selections my “real” work begins. Mainly I am responsible for keeping all the speakers on track with deadlines and making sure they have what they need as they prepare for their big day.
As was evidenced by the sessions in Dubrovnik in April, the hard work of the presenters paid off. The conference was, if not the best, one of the best EuRA conferences in my memory. Despite the gorgeous weather and beautiful hotel with world class views of the Dalmatian coast, the sessions were mostly very well attended. Each year, EuRA has a theme and the sessions all have something to do with that theme. This year’s theme; Embracing Change, Thriving or Surviving brought out incredible creativity in the speakers. Even GDPR which could be boring was far from boring because of the quality of the moderator and speakers. Well done to everyone who contributed to the intellectual content of 2018 EuRA conference in Dubrovnik.
Each year we learn new tricks and tips, and each conference builds on the last. The standards are high. Dubrovnik will be a hard act to follow. No doubt the challenge will not be a hard one for the many talented EuRA members who would like to share their knowledge and wisdom with the EuRA family. Watch for the Call for Proposals at the start of September and please consider submitting a proposal for our consideration. The theme will focus on the next generation of mobility professional and the future of our industry, with the working title being “Defining the Future | The Future of Change”. See you in Munich, April 30 - May 3 2019.