MPI Focuses on International Planners
by Harvey ChipkinMeeting Professionals International is ready to take on the world.
“Our priority is to make MPI more global,” said Sebastien Tondeur, incoming MPI chairman, speaking at last week’s World Education Conference (WEC) in Orlando. “We currently have a membership of 20% outside the U.S. and we will spend the next year working to increase that.”
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MPI membership growth is very strong in China and Brazil, according to Bruce MacMillan, MPI’s CEO, “and we recently added our first affiliate in Turkey.”
The first CMP (Certified Meeting Planner) exam in China will be given later this year. A revised CMP exam will be introduced next year to make it “more universal. It will use the metric system and other non-U.S. based standards,” MacMillan said.
From all corners
There was international representation at this year’s WEC congress, including Alise Long, CMM, manager of corporate events and meetings for DSM in Heerlen, The Netherlands.
Long said she attended WEC because she is planning her first international event, which will probably be in New York.
“There are enormous differences country to country when it comes to planning a meeting,” said Long. “The sourcing process is very different. Also, there are legal aspects and other underlying processes that are different.”
She decided to make the long trip to participate in WEC because, “I like the inspiration of being at a meeting like this with my peers. This is a much bigger event than the European planner conferences.”
MPI also conducts an annual European Meetings & Events Conference; the conference will be in Budapest in 2012 and Montreux, Switzerland, in 2013.
Tondeur is based in Geneva, where he serves as CEO of a meetings management company called MCI.
No more trade show
A big change at this year’s WEC was the elimination of the event’s traditional trade show in favor of one-on-one appointments in a hosted buyer program. MacMillan said the shift was successful; more than 4,000 one-on-one meetings took place during the buyer program.
But at least one planner missed the trade show.
“It was a good opportunity to interact with suppliers. With the hosted buyer program, there is a chance you might not see the people you want to see,” said Angie Galloway, CMP, manager global events and corporate travel for Western Union in Englewood, Colo.
MPI leaders don’t expect big changes at next year’s WEC. “If this year is WEC 3.0, next year might be WEC 3.1,” MacMillan said.
Please see MPI Conference Report: Upbeat Outlook, Practical Sessions, July 28, 2011.
