Since a late December announcement by MPI and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) that they are partnering to alter MPI’s prestigious Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM) program to include both meeting and travel professionals, a firestorm of opposition has erupted throughout the meetings industry.
At the center of the controversy are concerns about new eligibility requirements and program branding changes opponents say devalue what has been a prestigious certificate since 1998 and is now held by over 900 meeting professionals--a sort of PhD, if you will, in meetings management.
The program has mandated five-and-a-half days of on-site education in meetings management. New requirements call for three-and-a-half days on-site plus two webinars focused on business education presented by faculty from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, as well as a one-day boot camp during either association’s conference on a meetings or travel-focused topic. An application for program acceptance is no longer required for the new program.
Many professionals who hold MPI’s CMM are also outraged that some 90 holders of GBTA’s discontinued Strategic Meetings Management Certificate (SMMC) program will have CMM designations under new guidelines. SMMC was a program to enable consolidation of corporate business and meetings travel management rather than meetings management.
Ann Rebentisch, CMP, CMM, of Handshake Events and leader of the LinkedIn CMM group, says 88 percent of the professionals who hold the CMM oppose the changes. Online discussions and a series of conference calls among the LinkedIn group have averaged 50 CMM participants each from around the globe she says. MPI has also hosted conference calls about the CMM controversy.
“The joint program is still called ‘CMM’ but reduces the experiential requirement from 10 to five years and eliminates the acronym, making CMM a trademark: CMM Designation Program,” Rebentisch says. PageBreak
A mid-February online survey gleaned a 20 percent response among current CMM holders, she adds.
“Only 5 percent agreed with the choice to grant CMM credentials to SMMC holders,” she says.
An online petition based on the survey drew 411 signatures, and on March 5 the data was submitted to MPI executives.
A March 14 letter to MPI members from Paul Van Deventer, MPI’s president and CEO, relayed that feedback about the “updated program” is under consideration, and changes to the proposed program are in motion.
Meetings Focus requests to both associations for comment were declined.
Senior planners and CMM holders remain puzzled about why MPI wants to alter the program. Rebentisch believes the association has had a difficult time managing the program, so they’ve sought collaborators and partners including GBTA and UVA’s business school. Some believe the proposed less-rigorous program will glean more revenues from a larger pool of takers.
Shawna Suckow, founder and president of SPIN (Senior Planners Industry Network), maintains the CMM community has been loud and passionate about its opposition to announced program changes. She says that whatever additional changes the associations make in response to recent feedback will govern actions by the CMM community and others.
“MPI can restore the experience-level requirement of the CMM designation and restore the acronym of “CMM,” Suckow says. “Respondents to the survey and petition would be happy with that.”
Suckow says her group and others are prepared to take independent actions in the face of anything less.
“Together with The Hive Network, our sister community of veteran meetings suppliers, SPIN will continue to respect and protect the prestige of what more than 900 people have earned,” Suckow stresses. “In my opinion, CMM is the highest designation one can earn in our industry, and if what our CMMs have accomplished is devalued in any way, SPIN is prepared to take action. I’m waiting for MPI and GBTA to act on our petition. If they don’t then we will take action. That’s as specific as I can get at this time.
“Whatever the outcome may be,” she adds, “it’s absolutely maddening that it’s taken so long to come to fruition.”
For a list of frequently asked questions, provided by MPI and GBTA, click here. For additional information about the CMM designation, click here.
