Preparing meetings and events industry professionals for the business landscape of tomorrow has been the No. 1 goal behind Meeting Professionals International’s (MPI) quarterly Meetings Outlook report ever since its inception more than seven years ago.
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has, of course, shaken up the near-future business needs of people throughout our industry. For instance, in the fall 2021 Meetings Outlook report—published in the November issue of The Meeting Professional—37% of respondents said they were finding it difficult to fill job vacancies with suitably skilled staff. That’s up slightly from the previous quarter, in which 29% said the same. (Respondents indicating uncertainty about whether or not their organization is having hiring difficulty remained consistent, at around 21% for each of those quarters.)
[Related: How to Embrace the New Era of Meeting Professional Skill Sets]
Keep in mind, the staffing equation is more complicated than just workers needing new skills to adapt to COVID-19 safety protocols or to become better acquainted with virtual and hybrid planning and execution. However, as the adage goes, it’s best to only worry about that which you can control or affect change. In this instance, new and updated professional development for meeting profs is something upon which individuals, organizations and associations can all directly induce some degree of change.
The good news is that, overall, the majority of Meetings Outlook respondents (64%) believe the education necessary to prepare for the role of tomorrow’s meeting professionals is readily available. There was a slight variance in survey results when comparing planners and suppliers (63% and 65% answered in the affirmative, respectively). With 24% of respondents indicating uncertainty about this topic, a mere 12% believe the necessary education is not, at this time, readily available.
“The education seems to be readily available,” says Crystal Chism, HMCC, senior sales executive, Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin.
Based in Georgia, Chism notes that her local MPI chapter helps a great deal to connect members with needed study groups, professional development courses and certifications.
“I received my Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate (HMCC) from MPI and this is where I will always look when I have a need for new education or certifications,” she says.
Chism does point out, however, that challenges remain for many seeking to update existing skills or learn new ones.
“Education that has a hard cost, though readily available, may not be an option for many [who may be struggling due to the pandemic],” she says, adding that there are still quite a few scholarships—including from MPI chapters and the MPI Foundation—for professionals unable to afford continuing education. “Many hotels are experiencing significant costs for PPE while group business has drastically declined, and as a result cannot fund the continuing education for their associates as they have in the past.”
On the planner side, Chism says her peers are experiencing virtual meeting fatigue, feeling taxed and unsure of their abilities.
“They feel called upon to learn a new job in addition to the job they signed up to do,” she says. “Many are unhappy and considering other potential career paths as the hesitancy to return to face-to-face meetings continues to plague our industry. Knowing this, I believe it is important to our industry to find more education to help these planners understand how to navigate the virtual world with more confidence and less stress. If 2023 truly is the year we can expect markets to fully recover, our planners have another year to weather this stress.” (Indeed, data from the latest Meetings Outlook found that 35% of respondents anticipate a return to pre-pandemic business levels in 2023—this is later than was predicted in this summer’s survey, but roughly on par with expectations from the spring survey.)
[Related: Hospitality School Professors Share What Skills Future Planners Will Need]
But which skills will meeting profs most need to learn or expand upon to be competitive in the industry’s future? Given 11 topical buckets from which to choose, Meetings Outlook respondents expressed the greatest concern for and/or interest in technology design/programming (54%); creativity, originality and initiative (43%); and event design and architecture (35%).
For her own development during the pandemic, Chism earned a Cvent certification and wanted to work on the CMP but hasn’t been able to fit that into her schedule just yet. While she believes that designations and certifications may not always be necessary, “when an individual has them and applies for a job, I believe it shows deep commitment to our industry.”
Molly Marsh, CMP, director of engagement and event design for AMR Management Services in Kentucky, is one of the survey respondents who does not think the essential education and skills for meeting pros of the future are readily available. Her response, however, is more nuanced than a simple, binary yes or no.
“As we look at what is most important—flexibility, adapting to change, critical thinking—these are not things you can train in traditional ways,” Marsh says. “They are not tasks to be done or boxes to be checked, they are ways of working, perspectives and attitudes. The industry is doing a good job of trying to tackle the ‘what’ that is changing in meetings and events, but success for us will be much more reliant on ‘how’ we approach our work, our clients, our events and our participants. Education increasingly needs to focus on that side of our business to really help us take the next steps forward.
“The challenge for more soft-skills training is that it’s not necessarily just a knowledge set to be delivered or content to be consumed,” Marsh adds. “By its very nature, it shifts and changes as the environment and circumstances change. When success is found more in the day-to-day decision-making and how we respond to new challenges than it is in mastering any set of material, short-term events and programs can only inspire ideas, they can’t help people maintain that long-term change.”
To really address these education and skill updates/changes, Marsh recommends interspersed learning.
“For example, a learning cohort that works together over a set of weeks or months to learn and apply the concepts is much more effective, but getting people to really commit and change the mindset about learning is its own obstacle,” she says.
In her own position, Marsh says her company has continued to invest in employee professional development throughout the pandemic and that one of the most beneficial tools has been an emotional intelligence assessment and training.
[Related: Is the Hospitality Industry Talent Pipeline Drying Up? Leaders Chime In.]
“It helped me to recognize and understand where my leadership gaps are and compare how I communicate and respond to change with how other team members and key decision makers do,” she says. “Navigating what’s next is so much more about having the right conversations and asking the right questions, rather than providing the right answers. [Emotional intelligence] resources give us personal insight so that we can empathize with and understand others. When you do that, you can be flexible, adaptable, creative and innovative. You’re not afraid to learn new things or try new technologies. I truly believe that is what will help us all be successful moving forward.”
MPI Meetings Outlook Skills Poll
What skills will you most need to learn/expand upon to be competitive in the meeting industry of the future? (Fall 2021 MPI Meetings Outlook)
All respondents:
- 54% Technology design/programming
- 43% Creativity, originality and initiative
- 35% Event design and architecture
- 31% Analytical thinking and innovation
- 31% Leadership and social influence
- 30% Critical thinking and analysis
- 30% Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
- 28% Emotional intelligence
- 27% Complex problem-solving
- 23% Active learning and learning strategies
- 17% Systems analysis and evaluation
Top planner choices:
- Technology design/programming (62%)
- Creativity, originality and initiative (42%)
- Event design and architecture (39%)
- Analytical thinking and innovation (32%)
- Critical thinking and analysis (19%)
Top supplier choices:
- Creativity, originality and initiative (47%)
- Technology design/programming (41%)
- Emotional intelligence (39%)
- Leadership and social influence (34%)
- Critical thinking and analysis (31%)
This article was created in conjunction with MPI as part of a collaboraton with Meetings Today to produce the Future Skills eHandbook.
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