Mariela McIlwraith
CMP, CMM, MBA
Executive Editor, Convention Industry Council Manual,
9th Edition;
President, Meeting Change
Want to know what’s up in the meetings industry? Mariela McIlwraith is probably the person to ask.
As the executive editor of the ninth edition of the Convention Industry Council Manual, scheduled to be released in October, McIlwraith has a front row seat when it comes to new issues impacting the profession.
“When you’re looking at the manual this time around, you’re going to see more on hybrid meetings and mobile applications,” McIlwraith says, adding that global meetings will also take a much more prominent role. “Apps are also going to be a much bigger part. You’ll see them woven into the manual more than in years past.”
Mobile computing in particular is going to reshape the way planners do business.
“It’s helping us to change the lead-time that’s required,” she says. “Now you can upload real-time data to your mobile apps. They are becoming so cost-effective and easy for people to use. You can have something very simple and effective that replaces your program book—or more elaborate.
“Within the meetings and events industry, people are becoming much smarter about technology—how we leverage tech to add new dimensions to what we’re doing,” she continues. “It’s not just adding an online component to your keynote, but making events not start and stop when people come into and leave a room.”
McIlwraith is nothing if not busy. Besides editing the new CIC Manual, this Toronto-based mega-multitasker is the executive director of the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) Sustainable Meetings Foundation, the interim executive director of the GMIC, and president of Meeting Change, which specializes in providing sustainable business planning. She also is a frequent speaker on the meetings industry association circuit and co-author of Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Meetings and Events Industry.
She entered the industry after a “little summer job” working at a hotel during her college years, and soon found herself planning events. Helping along the way was a scholarship from the MPI Foundation that helped her get a double-major in Strategic Management and Organizational Behavior.
It seems that McIlwraith is one of those people who is constantly in motion, adjusting her meetings industry mission as underserved topics come to her attention.
“I usually find myself saying something along the line of ‘the more you do, the more you get done,’” she says. “I didn’t start out to be a professional speaker, but when I got out [of college] I discovered there were a lot of topics that weren’t being covered, and speaking at industry conferences seemed to be the best way to spread the word about certain topics, with sustainability being one, along with pricing.”
Green meetings in particular are trending.
“A lot of exciting things are happening,” McIlwraith says of her work for the GMIC Foundation. “We’re launching a new certificate—the Certificate in Sustainable Event Planning—an eight-month program. And one of the things I’m really excited about is that we’re working on a new cookbook called Unspoiled, interviewing chefs on how to reduce food waste—it’s estimated that more than 30 percent of food is wasted. It will help our supplier members be more cost-effective as well as aid environmental concerns.”
McIlwraith expects the book to launch during the GMIC’s annual Sustainable Meetings Conference, held April 14-17 in San Francisco.
Until then, you can expect her to be busy with about a million other things.
