MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC), held July 11-14 here, drew approximately 2,400 attendees, and according to statistics discussed at the event, the meetings industry may be seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel of the debilitating downturn that has seen meetings spend, attendance and the number of events held drop dramatically since the beginning of the economic crisis.
“Business is getting better—that’s the bottom line,” said Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI, during a press conference at WEC, adding that U.S. government scrutiny over meeting programs at the beginning of the economic crisis is waning after the coalition of travel industry associations lobbied Congress and the president about the value of meetings. “Clearly, the anxiety over the government rhetoric has stopped…and cancellations are not as rampant as three months ago. I think the rhetoric has stopped and there’s a feeling that the economy is not getting worse.”
MacMillan pointed to the most recent American Express/MPI Foundation Business Barometer survey to illustrate his positive statements.
Results from the Business Barometer released in February showed only 23 percent of industry leader respondents believed that meetings business would be better in the six months following the survey when compared to the six months prior. That number increased to 42 percent in the June survey.
Bookings are also starting to pick up, according to statements from a presentation by Mitchell Beer, president and CEO of The Conference Publishers, an Ottawa-based company that specializes on conference content, and Bill Voegeli, president of Association Insights, a Smyrna, Ga.-based market research and consulting company for nonprofits.
“The macro view is that the economic rate of descent is slowing, and a spark of optimism is emerging,” Voegeli said. “We’re starting to see reports that [hotels] are getting [increased] bookings at the end of 2010 and for 2011.”
In other MPI WEC news, 2009-2010 Chairwoman Ann Godi, president of Atlanta-based meetings management firm Benchmarc360, stressed the importance of meeting planners to increase their business acumen, especially in the current economic climate.
“The overarching theme is speaking the language of business, and improving the overall value of meetings,” Godi said, adding that MPI has offered educational content such as webinars on ROI to further the effort.
Major announcements during the WEC included the opening of three Global Training Centers for Meetings and Business Events as an extension of the MPI Global Knowledge Plan. San Diego State University, France’s CERAM Business School and QMDI in Qatar are the first of an anticipated 14 training centers scheduled to be activated over the next two years, according to the association. The three schools are recognized as having strong meetings or event management courses, including bachelors and masters degree programs, as well as having a strong business management focus.
MPI said it will collaborate with the faculty and others at the three schools to deliver a broad range of educational content.
Representing a major milestone, the MPI Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary at the 2009 WEC, and reported raising $1.7 million this year.
According to MPI Foundation Chairwoman of the Board Margaret A. Moynihan, director of financial services firm Deloitte, the foundation reinvested $1.1 million back into research and education, as well as $175,000 into chapter grants, which represented a 257 percent increase over the previous year.
In response to the economic crisis, MPI also announced a six-month complimentary extension of member benefits.
On the international front, the association said it has formed two new partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region. The Beijing Tourism Administration is the newest MPI Strategic Partner, and will work with MPI to develop the MICE market in Beijing, and Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong, which is under the umbrella of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, was named as the first Asian supporter of MPI’s Global Partner Program.
