Lead with Strategic Influence Certificate

After mastering the fundamentals of your role, what’s next for your career? If you are ready to emerge as an influential and trusted voice within your organization, this is your opportunity to shift from delivering outcomes to directing possibilities.

In this self-paced online course, industry leader Anthony Vade, CED empowers you with the tools and frameworks needed to design innovative event strategies, inspire teams, and earn your seat at the executive table.

COURSE OVERVIEW

What You’ll Master

• Move beyond execution to influence with a skillset designed for impact:
  Discover hidden needs – Apply structured frameworks to uncover deep audience and stakeholder needs, making every event meaningful and effective.
• Translate creativity into business value – Build trust with leadership by framing bold event concepts in business terms that resonate with executives.
• Inspire innovation at scale – Lead teams through proven ideation models that spark breakthrough ideas and transform them into actionable strategies.
• Position yourself as indispensable – Anticipate industry shifts and drive decisions that secure your role as a strategic leader.

Who Should Enroll

This course is built for experienced professionals who want to influence at the highest levels, including:

• Corporate, association, or nonprofit event planners.
• Event marketers and experience designers.
• Consultants, suppliers, and CVB/DMO professionals seeking strategic advancement.

Recommended Learning Path: While this course is designed as a standalone program, it works best as part of a progressive learning journey. We recommend completing Mastering Business Acumen for Event Professionals and Becoming a Trusted Advisor first for added context—but you can also begin here and continue with those courses later.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Articulate how a strategic approach addresses personalized stakeholder needs and desired outcomes.
• Build an environment that supports experimentation and trust.
• Translate creative event concepts into business-focused formats that resonate with organizational leaders.

COURSE FORMAT

Facilitated cohorts are led by industry experts and delivered online over five to twelve weeks. Course content is delivered via pre-recorded materials broken down into weekly modules. Students are encouraged to devote time each week to keep up with their cohort by taking advantage of live office hour sessions and/or the cohort discussion forum.

The PCMA Institute has been approved by the Events Industry Council (EIC) as a Preferred Provider of continuing education on all professional development certificate courses, which qualifies for CMP continuing education credit. Determination of continuing education credit eligibility or Preferred Provider status does not imply EIC’s endorsement or assessment of education quality.