The Trade Show Exhibitors Association Certified Manager of Exhibits™: An Interview with Rick Rinderle, CME/H, CMP
Rick Rinderle is a 13-year veteran of the exhibit and events industry. He is presently Senior Manager of Shared Business Solutions at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. In his present position, Rick develops strategic programs in the areas of face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid events. These programs include on-site meetings, conferences and conventions, as well as studio-produced web, IP, teleconference and hybrid mixture of face-to-face, and digital-based events. Rick is also Vice Chair on the TSEA Board of Directors and is Chair of the Certified Manager of Exhibits (CME) accreditation council.
Nary: What is the value of the TSEA Certified Manager of Exhibits™ (CME® and CME/H®) to someone in the trade show industry?
Rinderle: First and foremost, as with any certification, the TSEA CME® and CME/H® recipients usually command greater salaries. In Exhibitor Magazine’s Annual Salary Survey, that increase in annual salary amounts to approximately $10,000.
Nary: When was TSEA’s CME program approved as accredited by the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) and what was the process that resulted in that approval.
Rinderle: As of March, 2011, TSEA’s CME and/or CME/H was approved by UNLV. For the 18 months prior to that, TSEA’s Education Committee and CME Advisory Council created a comprehensive list of skills we determined were required for us to issue a certification. We then sat with a sub-committee that included members from both Education and the CME Advisory Council and created a curriculum of classes that would educate applicants in the areas identified. Then, for each class, learning objectives were defined. Last, we reached out to educators, industry experts, who could teach the classes.
Although that covered our mandate, we went further and created classes for what will eventually be an advanced certification that we will introduce in 2012. For all those who have completed their certification, this will be a great next step beyond recertification.
Nary: How is TSEA CME® curriculum developed?
Rinderle: The most difficult task we tackled was identifying the skill set a Certified Manager of Exhibits™ should have. Because the TSEA’s membership is comprised of exhibit and event managers from all industries, we focused on the skills they had in common and would need no matter what industry they worked in.
In the US, there are very few schools that offer a degree program in exhibit marketing or even include classes in this aspect of marketing. In addition, most business marketing textbooks have almost no information so, without a certification, people have little opportunity to learn how to do this specialized job. And it is very specialized. Just a few of the responsibilities exhibit managers may have in their job descriptions include: Corporate Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Exhibit Strategy; Exhibit/Event Planning & Development; Budgeting; Exhibit/Event Production; On-Site Management; and Postmortems (reporting). This list barely scratches the surface of all the actual tasks they need to complete. In addition, some exhibit managers handle hundreds of shows in a single year. If your company exhibits internationally, there is even more to learn as the rules change based on the countries you’ll be visiting.
We are also updating the curriculum constantly as we identify additional areas for which we can add classes.
Nary: Why is there a three-year requirement for completion of the CME®-accredited courses after registration?
Rinderle: The CME® requires 70 hours of education. It’s pretty difficult to acquire that many hours and hold a full-time job. Experience also counts toward the CME® so the time frame allows for education, experience, and the third part, service, to be accomplished.
Nary: Why does a person have to keep their membership in TSEA to use their CME® designation?
Rinderle: After much discussion by the TSEA Education Committee, the CME ® Advisory Council and TSEA’s Board of Directors, membership will be mandatory. Only those who hold the certification upon retirement will receive an exemption. This is a requirement of almost all certifications that are received through an association.
Nary: I know how busy you are with the development of the RDC 2011 Education Curriculum and we appreciate your time for this interview.
About the Interviewer
Gordon Nary Is Editor of ABOUTFACE and Education Coordinator
Trade Show Exhibitors Association