It marks the third edition of an event which is attracting all 41 Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) members.

Leadership and high performance strategies were two key themes on the opening day.

The former area was addressed at length by Menville "Flip" Flippen, a psychotherapist and author of the 2007 book "The Flip Side: Break Free of the Behaviors That Hold You Back".

He focused on how the best leaders identifies and work to eradicate their own weakness in order to benefit their organisations.

This is a theme important both to sporting competition and administration as PASO continues to modernise under new President Neven Ilic following 40 year of rule by Mario Vázquez Raña.

The concept was then given a more practical slant during an address by USOC high performance director Finbarr Kirwan.

Kirwan, who occupied a similar role at the Irish Sports Council until 2012, used two case studies of Irish boxing and US swimming.

He highlighted the importance of themes such as values, adaptability and trust in the individual as well as a results focus.

The Brazilian and Guatemalan Olympic Committees also gave presentations today along with the Oceania National Olympic Committee.

The Best Practices Seminar will continue with a second and final day tomorrow.

It follows the first official meeting of the PASO Executive Committee since Ilic was elected President in April.