The meetings industry is continually striving to improve and enhance the status of meeting planners as a profession. All of the industry associations offer educational sessions at their annual meetings and conferences to help planners understand concepts such as return-on-investment (ROI) and return-on-objectives (ROO) for their meetings, along with strategic meetings management.
Meeting planners are encouraged to view themselves as more than
just tactical managers—to see that meetings and events play a strategic role in their companies and organizations. For those individuals who entered the meetings industry more than 20 years ago, these terms were not part of their original vocabulary because they began their career in a more roundabout manner.
In many cases, planning meetings and events was only a part of their original job responsibilities as an administrative assistant or maybe a marketing coordinator. They learned the business of planning meetings and events without any textbooks to guide them through the process.
The situation has changed because there are an increasing number of colleges and universities worldwide that offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in meetings and/or event management. MPI maintains a list of schools that offer courses in the meeting planning, hospitality and tourism fields. (Go to www.mpiweb.org and click on the “Knowledge Education” tab, where you’ll find a “List of Universities and Colleges.”) Another good source is on PCMA’s website (www.pcma.org). In its “Student Membership” section, PCMA maintains a list of colleges and universities worldwide that have student chapters.
At the University of Florida, the Rosen College of Hospitality Management offers a bachelors of science degree in Event Management. Some of the core courses students are required to take include Hospitality and Event Risk Management, Event Technology, and Event Design and Production. This program also requires them to take a total of 15 elective hours from courses such as Meeting Management, Exhibit and Trade Show Operations, Convention Services, Entertainment Arts and Events, Fairs and Festivals, Destination Management, International Events, and Advanced Trade Show Management.
Other colleges and universities offer minor degrees or concentrations in special events and convention management.
Within the College of Business at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., students can obtain a bachelors degree with a minor in Special Events and Meeting Planning. The Metropolitan State College of Denver offers a bachelors degree in Hotel, Tourism and Events Management with a Convention Management concentration. This program prepares students for “management positions in such areas as independent or corporate meeting planners, conference, convention, trade show, and association management, and conference and convention services in the lodging industry.”
The George Washington University School of Business offers a Masters of Tourism Administration with an Event and Meeting Management Concentration within its Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management. The emphasis of this program is placed on “the management competencies required for successful events and meeting professionals.” Students “learn best practices for planning, designing and managing events and meetings of various types, sizes and complexity” and “conduct effective event and meeting management research, including needs assessment, situation analysis and feasibility studies.”
These programs provide students with the opportunity to delve into the theoretical elements of meeting and event management as well as learn the tactical elements involved in the process. The difference is that they learn how to approach a program with a more strategic and holistic point of view.
One Student’s Experience
Helen Davisson is a second-year graduate student in George Washington University’s masters program. She came to this program after working in Japan as an English teacher. While Davisson was involved with the Association of Japanese Exchange Teaching Programme she coordinated conferences and events and maintained a corporate sponsorship program.
While the internships and research projects she completed this past year have given her additional experience, Davisson does not see the masters degree as a replacement for practical experience. Instead, she views it as a way to help advance her career because the degree is providing her with knowledge about best practices, multiple approaches and strategies.
Internships are a great way for students to explore and experience different aspects of the meetings industry before they enter into the workforce. It’s a great way for an individual to process through and clarify the types of jobs they enjoy doing, instead of getting a job and then finding out that it’s not to their liking.
“You can try on hats in different organizations and go through the process of elimination more rapidly,” Davisson says. “In many cases, it may take someone a number of years to figure out which area of the meetings industry they are most interested in pursuing.”
By tailoring her experience, she hopes that she’ll hop around less.
Here are the five most important things she has learned so far from the masters program:
- Learning how to assess meetings and events from a strategic viewpoint.
- Understanding that relationships and connections are an important part of this industry. It’s likely that your paths will cross again at some point, so it’s important not to burn any bridges.
- Gaining knowledge of best practices standards such as APEX, risk management, ethics, leadership, and contemporary issues such as green meetings.
- Awareness of the resources available to obtain information needed when researching a potential program and/or destination: “I know where to go for answers, whether it is people, texts or the Internet,” Davisson says.
- Having a holistic view of the industry: “I now have an understanding of how events and meetings fit into the overall tourism and hospitality industry,” Davisson says. “I also have an awareness of how economic, environmental, and social issues can impact a destination. This view is important because we already live in a global economy and are being faced with global environmental and social challenges, and events and tourism development have the potential to be damage contributors as well as catalysts for positive change.”
Industry Response
Industry associations such as MPI and PCMA understand that it is important to embrace this new breed of meeting professional because they are our future leaders.
“PCMA’s focus is on creating the future for this industry,” says Susan Salem Euritt, the executive director of PCMA’s Education Foundation. “We promote the industry to students through scholarships, student chapters and internships that allow them to attend the Annual Meeting and network with top association and corporate planners and suppliers.”
PCMA also recognizes that it is important to reach out to faculty so they can teach students to be better prepared.
One way it has achieved this is by producing Professional Meeting Management (PMM5) and by offering online resources. At its 2007 Annual Meeting held earlier this year in Toronto, PCMA offered a roundtable discussion for faculty titled “Effective Use of Professional Meeting Management, 5th Edition.” At its Annual Meeting in 2008, faculty will have the opportunity in an open forum to discuss academic resources and “plans, ideas and future strategies they have for educating the future leaders of the meetings industry.”
“PCMA’s Annual Meeting is the cornerstone of the education we offer,” Salem Euritt says.
The Education Foundation provides scholarships for up to six students to attend the Annual Meeting by assisting PCMA Meetings & Events Department Staff during the conference. In addition, its Student Planner of the Year Scholarship offers one student member the opportunity to showcase his or her talents by developing a session at PCMA’s 2009 Annual Meeting.
At MPI’s recent World Education Congress, 30 students participated in a one-day Future Leaders Forum presented by IMEX (a worldwide exhibition for meetings and incentive travel) and MPI. Student members learned more about the industry and the various opportunities available to them.
“The traditional model of membership for students was that they were at the bottom of the pole,” says Charles Massey, CMP, chair of MPI’s Student/Faculty Committee and Community Architect of the Community of Peers. “We have to change our way of thinking about these student planners. They’re just like a law student coming out of law school ready to practice law.”
MPI also understands that you need to involve the faculty first. They have developed strong relationships with faculty at colleges and universities worldwide. One such school is the University of Westminster in London. Five years ago, the university created a one-year masters course in Conference and Events Management, with Rob Davison as the course leader. He’s recognized as one of Europe’s foremost authorities in conference- and events-related teaching and research, and has written six books on conference management.
Davison encourages his students to get involved in industry associations such as MPI, SITE and DMAI. He believes so strongly in this that the university now provides each a student membership with MPI as part of their enrollment. This year, one of Davison’s students, Milan Culic, earned the 2007 MPI Foundation Youth Award for his paper on the future of tourism and corporate events in Serbia and its potential economic effect. Paul Cook, the 2007-2008 president of MPI’s United Kingdom chapter, has taken this one step further by deciding to invite a student member to serve on the chapter’s board.
The description of the core modules for the University of Westminster’s masters course echo what industry associations have been aspiring to teach meeting planners.
The Conference and Events Industry explores the role and impacts of conferences and events in a global context, critically evaluating the influence of stakeholders and examining the wider significance of these expanding sectors on global communication, culture and sport. Venue and Destination Management analyzes the strategic issues and decision-making process underpinning the development and marketing of individual venues as well as conference and events destinations. Conference and Events Planning critically analyzes the principles and techniques that guide the conference and events organization process. It develops critical awareness of the diverse range of skills required to successfully organize conferences and events.
Guest lecturers and faculty continually remind the students that everyone has to roll up their sleeves and learn the business from the ground level, doing things like packing boxes and assembling registration packets. Although they may start in an entry level position, they progress faster because they have a broader perspective about the industry, combined with hands-on experience.
“In five years,” Davisson says, “I see myself in a leadership position, whatever title that encompasses. In 10 years, I want to be in an environment where I’m facilitating relationships with people through events.”
Meeting planners are being trained to strategically assess meetings and events, and understand how a program can/will impact a corporation’s customers and an association’s members.
When you meet one of these student members at a future industry event, remember that they will soon be sitting on one side of the table from you—either as an employee, your manager, or as a future buyer or supplier.
