Member Spotlight: Alanna Joyce, Event Manager for the Watson & Cloud Platform team at IBM

When did you first get involved with PCMA? I joined PCMA in March 2017.

How did you first get involved with the PCMA New England chapter? When I first joined PCMA, I only took advantage of the online education, Catalyst forum, and Convene magazine. When I registered from Convening Leaders this year, it hit me that I was going to be traveling to Nashville alone and did not know anyone else going. I immediately joined the New England chapter and made sure to attend the opening night chapter reception to meet other members. I’m so glad I did because I met so many awesome people and it made my experience that much more fun and exciting.

What are you goals for career or personal development? And How can PCMA help? I would like to get my CMP certification some point in the next couple of years. Always being on the road for work, it’s great that PCMA has so many online resources to earn CEUs, along with the CMP online prep course and quizzes. In terms of career development on a more day-to-day level, the Catalyst forum has been a great resource to exchange ideas, best practices, and advice with others in the industry that can help enhance the events I am working on.

Any advice to people new to the Hospitality Industry? Get involved and know that there are so many different and interesting career paths in this industry. I majored in Hospitality Administration and believed my career would be limited entirely in hotels, only to discover my passion was really on the planner side of the industry. It’s also important to stay connected with people you meet or work with throughout you career, because you never know when someone will have an opportunity pop up that could be a perfect next step for you.