MPI introduced several new education offerings from the MPI Academy at MPI WEC 2017, currently underway at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas (June 19-22), as part of its new Executive Education Series, including the Women in Leadership Program and a designation program for the MPI Experiential Event Series.
In addition, the association formally announced it is collaborating with the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi to develop educational programming and resources, with the first course—Emergency Preparedness for Meetings and Events—debuting at MPI’s WEC event. This announcement was shared during the Opening General Session.
MPI’s Executive Education Series is the association’s answer to providing more education for senior-level and executive meeting professionals. The programming is not only designed for individuals with executive-level experience in the industry, but also for mid-level professionals aspiring to advance.
“I cannot be more pleased with the progress we have made with MPI Academy since it launched two years ago. Our members tell us year after year that education is one of the most important benefits of their MPI membership so it is important we continue to strengthen our portfolio of offerings with fresh, relevant and timely courses,” said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. “The average MPI member has between 10 to 20 years of experience and they have been seeking more immersive and insightful educational programs that are comparable to what they may experience in graduate school.
“We believe the MPI Executive Education Series will meet that need.”
Following are more details on the new MPI Academy offerings.
MPI Women in Leadership: Executive Leadership Skills Certificate Course
Developed in partnership with Marriott, this four-hour course examines why it is challenging for women to move into leadership positions and what they can do about it, and helps participants create a personal action plan to overcome some of the common career obstacles women face. It also helps participants identify additional resources available to women seeking leadership roles in the meeting and event industry and involves some pre-work and peer-to-peer mentoring. The course was soft-launched earlier this year and has five program dates scheduled for the remainder of the year.
MPI Experiential Event Series and the Experiential Event Professional Designation
These multi-day immersive educational experiences take meeting professionals behind the scenes of world-class events, such as the Venice Film Festival, SXSW and the Indianapolis 500. After completing 15-25 clock hours of experiential education, participants receive a certificate in one of four main areas of event design: Sports, Culinary, Entertainment or Mega-Event.
Once they have earned a certificate in each of these four areas, they may apply to achieve the Experiential Event Professional (XEP) designation. Candidates have 12 months to develop a final business case and presentation demonstrating application of knowledge gained during the Experiential Event Series, and they have the option to present their final projects live at an MPI signature event or virtually, and receive live feedback from a panel of industry representatives and from their peers.
Emergency Preparedness for Meetings and Events Certificate Course
This six-hour intensive certificate course takes a deep dive into incident management strategies as needed for the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from all-hazard emergency incidents.
Learners will be introduced to techniques to prevent and respond to extraordinary crimes, violence, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and ordinary incidents such as fights, or drunkenness to ensure the safety and security of all attendees, limit damage and restore services in the event of emergencies.
The course was developed in partnership with NCS4, which has a successful track record and proven methodology for creating safety and security best practices as well as strategic partnerships with security resources such as Interpol, the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. The MPI Academy will present the course in January 2018 during the SITE + MPI Global Forum in Rome.
Additional risk management program dates will be published online soon.
To learn more about these new education programs, visit http://www.mpiweb.org/MPI-Academy.
