Creating Something Enduring: The Pandemic Compliance Advisor Course

Enduring. It is the hope the Pandemic Compliance Advisor team wished for our course to be something that could carry on, support, and help our industry to operate during, or come back from, a pandemic.  Starting on the journey to create a course from scratch, we “penned” a term that is now recognized in the industry, while unsure, ourselves, at times of our employment status.  It has been daunting and worth it.

Where/when/how did this journey start? Let’s go back to May 1st of 2020, when the word of the day for me was blindsided – and for many others, it was pivot. While COVID-19 had quarantined so many, I kept busy with projects in my role as the Event Manager for U.S. Operations of Fishawack, a Medical Communications Company.  Unfortunately, on that date, my position became, as the Brits call it, “redundant” (eliminated) due to the impact the pandemic had on the company.

What next? That was my first thought.  Here I was scheduled to move in 15 days (truth).  Should I cancel those plans, not knowing what was next with my career and how long it would take to secure a new role?  I chose a leap of faith in God, myself, and skills, and while at times there were bumps, I am forever grateful I leaped into the move as planned.

Once I moved, while applying to every role I thought appropriate, educating myself and building skills became my focus.  I spent each week in courses and programs to enhance my skills, looking to gain a competitive edge for my resume and interviews.  Along the way, I stumbled up a course created for the T.V. & film industry, the COVID-19 Compliance Officer Course, offered by Health Educational Services (HES) of California. 

As I listened, I began recognizing parallels between the T.V. and film industry and what we as meeting professionals would be tasked with once programs resumed.  My first thought was that the information could be tailored to apply to meetings and events. It addresses what no one else was articulating – implementing new protocols on site.  I knew I needed to convince HES to partner in the creation since they already had a course.

Next, I thought, what and who do I need to do this?  Other planners with a passion for our industry.  I sought out two other CMPs. Heather Seasholtz, also a pandemic casualty and a recognized PCMA member. Heather is insightful, passionate about mentoring, especially students, a great leader, and a social media aficionado. The last member of the trio Shannon Majewski, a furloughed planner who, as she describes it, serendipitously met us through the National Meeting Planners Group on Facebook, as she was seeking the same end goal of navigating through the situation. Shannon has become invaluable in researching, writing, and editing.

Fast forward to now, spring of 2021. All three of us are back in the workforce. Shannon was reinstated at her role, while Heather and I have new ones.  There have been countless hours of research, Zoom calls, presentation deck revisions, revisions, shifts in how we presented the program, opportunities to inspire other MPI & PCMA chapters on what we’ve done, earned media interviews and online articles about our work, and award nominations both individually and as a team. Over 2,500 industry professionals have benefited from the knowledge we shared.

Accolades of us being visionary, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders are mentioned when the story of building the PCA course is shared.  While those words are lovely, this journey has never been about any of us. Our affirmation came this morning during a search of the website Indeed.com, which had nearly 200 job postings for Pandemic Compliance Advisors throughout the U.S.  Something enduring has, "indeed" been created: jobs for the industry along with a role and a blueprint to get us back to meeting Face 2 Face.