Big Ideas

9 Memorable Quotes From Convening Leaders, Day 1

Here are nine quotes that made us think during the first full day of sessions at Convening Leaders 2018.

PCMA Convening Leaders 2018 Keynote Speaker Neri Oxman. Photo by Jacob Slaton.

1. “The secret to life: have one philosophy, and apply that philosophy to everything you do.” — Neri Oxman, professor, MIT Media Lab

2. “My company spends more time on preventing slips and falls than on sexual-harassment policies.” — Woman attending sexual-harassment session who wanted to remain anonymous.

3. “We’ve got to get outside of our industry and start talking about what we do, to other industries that don’t understand us. We can’t be speaking to ourselves.” — Deborah Sexton, president and CEO, PCMA

4. “If we are not good stewards of the environment, eventually [foreign governments] are going to shut us down and won’t encourage travel tourism.” — Christopher Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton

5. “Choose Instagram-able moments [when planning for F&B]. It’s going to get out there, so it might as well be out there in a good way.” — Darlene Somers, senior meetings manager, Association Management Center

6. “Your job is to create content that can actually add to someone’s world and create value in their lives.” — Nick Borelli, president of Borelli Strategies

7. “One of the major road blocks is that you don’t have enough resources to make [crisis preparedness] a priority.” — Brenda J. Rivers, JD, HMCC, president and CEO, Andavo Meetings & Incentives, after polling session attendees on why they don’t have a comprehensive crisis plan and 48% responded, “not enough resources.”

8. “Sometimes we forget when our job is to solve a problem — not to be creative.” — Dave Owens, professor for the practice of management and innovation, Vanderbilt University

9. “We have moved past [proving] the business case for diversity. What people are struggling with now is the how. And that’s where you come in.” — Dorri McWhorter, CEO, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, and Ascent Thought Leader

Convene Editors