MPI’s World Education Congress is wrapping up in Las Vegas, having set an attendance record for the association.
According to the latest figures at press time, the four-day event held at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino drew 4,467 conferees, which reflected an approximate attendance ratio of 60 percent supplier to 40 percent meeting planner.
Carrying the theme “Your Future is Showing,” MPI President and CEO Bruce MacMillan used his opening speech to address concerns facing the future of the industry.
“There are still those who would say that the future of our industry is in trouble,” MacMillan said at the opening general session of the event. “The axiom that we’ve accepted for years is that when times get hard, organizations cut their meetings and events. That’s not what any future looks like I see.”
MacMillan also said that rather than perceiving advances in technology as a threat to displace face-to-face meetings, planners and their organizations should look at it as an enhancement to their programs.
Major announcements at the World Education Congress included the revamping of MPI’s awards program as well as its magazine, “The Meeting Professional,” which has been renamed “One+.”
The association’s awards program was renamed the MPI RISE Awards, the acronym of which stands for Recognizing Industry Success and Excellence. MPI said the new awards program, with some categories open to non-members, better reflects the association’s new vision, mission and strategic objectives.
Having completed the framework for the new program, which is supported by the MPI Foundation, the MPI RISE Awardswill be phased into the World Education Congress. The first new award, for Organizational Achievement, will be given at the next WEC, scheduled for Salt Lake City in 2009. The full awards program is set to be presented in 2010.
MPI also announced the formation of a Community of Honorees, which will be composed of all past MPI award winners, charter and life members, and past presidents and chairs.
In a post-Opening General Session interview, MacMillan said that the record-setting attendance at the WEC is cause for celebration, especially in light of concerns facing the meetings industry, such as an economy that has stagnated and jitters caused by rising fuel prices and airline fare and airlift issues.
“We’re thrilled,” he said of the record-setting attendance. “I think people have reason to say that the business is going to change—where are we going to go from here?”
MacMillan said that MPI’s “Business Barometer” member survey, which tracks meeting planner attitudes toward the economic climate, reflected a very bullish sentiment in April, but had shifted from bullish to neutral with a trend toward caution by the end of June.
To make sure face-to-face meeting programs remain a priority with businesses, MacMillan said that meeting planners and the industry that provides them tools and educational resources need to concentrate on giving attendees bang for their buck when it comes to content. “People go through a lot and it costs a lot of money now [to attend a meeting],” MacMillan said, “so we owe it to our attendees to give them something remarkable. It’s not just a return on investment, but a return on time that’s important.”
