Chapter President’s Memo
October 2007 Edition
RECAPS, UPDATES & NEWS
Next Steps: Re-imagining the Business Relationship with Chapters
Work on re-imagining the business relationship with chapters is in full swing and we are
on schedule to unveil the new chapter business model in February. Listed below you
will find bulleted next steps in the process that will be of particular interest to chapter
leaders.
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October 24 – November 21: Discussion on Chapter Leaders Message Board at
http://www.mpiweb.org/cms/mpiweb/messageboard/standardboard.aspx?ForumI
d=13
December: Update to chapter leaders regarding proposed dashboard metrics
December/January: Chapter Business Managers will communicate with and/or
meet with each of their chapters regarding current benchmarks.
January: Conduct annual membership satisfaction survey, to include chapter
focused questions.
February 2: PEC-NA Chapter Leaders Forum
March/May: Chapter Business Managers will consult with each chapter to
determine individual chapter performance metrics for the 2008-2008 fiscal year.
April/May: Chapter role specific training
June 20-22: Chapter Leaders Conference
Chapter Leader Events- PEC-NA 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
PRESIDENT & PRESIDENT-ELECT BREAKFAST WITH IBOD
8:00am – 8:45am/ 08.00 – 08.45
At this informal breakfast meeting Presidents and President’s Elect will have the
opportunity to meet and network with peers and members of the International Board of
Directors.
CHAPTER LEADERS FORUM & LUNCHEON
Planning Session- By invitation only
9:00am – 12:00pm/ 09.00 – 12.00
In this exclusive session, chapter executive board members will learn about next steps in
the re-imagination of MPI’s business relationship with chapters, prepare for the business
planning process, and discuss future planning.
Luncheon- Open to all chapter leaders
12:00 pm/ 12.00
Community Building Session- Open to all chapter leaders
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm/ 13.00 – 15.00
In this interactive community building session, chapter leaders will have the opportunity
to participate in best/next practices sharing and discuss relevant issues with their peers.
INSTITUTES: October 28 - November 1, Toronto, Canada
There’s not just ONE…not TWO…but THREE exciting special-value offers for MPI’s
upcoming Institutes program in Toronto! And you can take advantage of one or all of
them:
1. Special bonus registration
2. VIA Rail travel discount
3. Chapter Challenge
The Institutes bonus registration offer works like this…If three people from your
company/organization register to attend any level of Institutes 2007, you receive a fourth
registration for free! This special value rate is active through the final registration date of
Oct. 19. The first three registrations may be submitted online at
http://www.mpiweb.org/cms/mpiweb/inst2007/inst07.aspx?id=5935 and the fourth and
free registration needs to be processed directly through MPI’s Member Services
Department by calling +1-972-702-3053.
The VIA Rail travel discount is an especially attractive offer for our Canadian members
who may be able to attend Institutes 2007 via train. Thanks to MPI’s new partnership
with VIA Rail, Institutes or CMM program attendees may receive a special “VIA One
Upgrade” when they purchase a “comfort/economy” fare. Simply call VIA’s Andrea
Dennis at +1-416-594-4827 to receive the MPI-exclusive upgrade.
And last, but certainly not least, is the Institutes Chapter Challenge, a fun and
rewarding program with 19 MPI chapters participating in one of two categories: those
with 250 and under members and those with 250 or more members. Each chapter’s
challenge is to have the most registered attendees for Institutes 2007. The winning
chapter in each category receives a complimentary full registration for MPI’s 2008
Professional Education Conference-North America in Houston.
And don’t forget…CEUs earned at Institutes count toward your CMP!
2007-2008 Chapter Exchange Program Launch
Dare to share by participating in the 2007-2008 Chapter Exchange Program! The pilot
launch of the program in 2006-2007 proved to be a great success and we are excited to
make this opportunity available to our chapters again this year.
The deadline to apply for the 2007-2008 exchange program is Friday, November 16,
2007.
 Chapter matches will be made by the International Chapter Leadership
Committee between November 16 – December 14th and chapters will be notified
once those matches have been made.
 If matched, your chapter will need to:
o Arrange with your Chapter Business Manager a time for a call with your
matched chapter to set
1. joint goals for the exchange;
2. a date for the exchange to take place
o Submit joint goals, in writing, to your Chapter Business Manager using
the template provided
o Use the community message boards provided to communicate the goals
and other discussions
 Once the exchange has taken place, you must:
o Complete a post exchange report, using the template provided
o Complete a post-exchange satisfaction survey (1 week post-exchange)
o Complete a post-exchange implementation survey (3 months postexchange)
o Use the community message boards to exchange information with other
chapter leaders on the program
 The exchange must take place and all receipts submitted for reimbursement by
June 30, 2008.
For more information or to submit your application, please click here.
CVENT
As you may know, MPI has partnered with Cvent - an industry-leading event
management software company - to provide MPI chapters their services at a highlysubsidized rate ($2 per person transaction fee and no annual maintenance fee; optional
web survey $250 per year).
Cvent is already partnered with 20 MPI chapters, and both Cvent and MPI are looking
forward to expanding this relationship and watching MPI chapters experience the cutting
edge of event technology. If your chapter is already using Cvent you have the option to
revise your current chapter agreement to reflect the new agreement’s offerings. If your
chapter is not currently a user of Cvent and you are interested in getting more
information, we will be offering two online demonstration dates to provide you the
opportunity to review the product and ask questions. Those webinars are scheduled
for: Monday, October 15th @ 3 PM Eastern and Monday, October 22nd @ 3 PM
Eastern. You will be receiving an invitation shortly for these dates … so mark your
calendars.
For more information on the Cvent product and how it can benefit your chapter, contact
Jason Wooten, with Cvent, at 703.226.3578 or jwooten@cvent.com.
DATES TO REMEMBER
October 15
Deadline to apply for 06-07 Chapter of the Year Award
CVENT Informational Webinar
October 22
CVENT Informational Webinar
October 28- November 1
Institutes/ CMM- Toronto Canada
January 16
Chairwoman’s Quarterly Call with COCP
February 2-5
2008 Professional Education Conference (PEC-NA)
Houston, Texas
SPEAKING POINTS
MPI Chapter Presidents’ Speaking Points
MPI Hires Branding Agency
MPI has hired the branding agency, Sterling Rice Group, to review our brand
architecture. Their website address is http://www.srg.com/
Sterling Rice is conducting research throughout the world for us, including focus groups
and a quantitative survey, which was released this week. The e-mail survey invitation is
being sent to all MPI members and we encourage all members to complete the survey.
Go to the MPI Web site Wiki to read more on brand architecture and to get an idea of
what we are working toward. All completed surveys will be kept confidential (we won’t
know who said what – all the responses will be dumped into one data bank to be
analyzed – in a quantitative study).
MPI Office in Singapore
On Oct. 25, MPI opened its fourth international office. The office enables MPI to provide
our nearly 23,000 members global access to increased knowledge, rich connections and
abundant marketplace opportunities in a region committed to the travel and meetings
industry. A joint press conference was held by MPI and the Singapore Exhibition &
Convention Bureau (SECB).
“By having a strong presence in Asia-Pacific, the MPI community now has a platform
that will support members who are currently doing business in this thriving and growing
region of the world,” said Bruce MacMillan, CA, MPI president and CEO. “Singapore’s
massive meetings and events industry infrastructure of more than SGD4 billion of total
Tourism receipts, will deliver greater success for our members, and will introduce MPI’s
evolving portfolio of services to a whole new community of meeting professionals.
According to a recent international study, Singapore was named among the world’s top
three cities for meetings and events. The office is staffed by Michael Tay, who also is an
adjunct profession at the University of Las Vegas, Singapore Campus where he teaches
marketing and MICE (Convention, Exhibitions and Special Events.)
Registration for Professional Education Conference-North America
The online registration for PEC-North America opens in late October. Be sure to visit the
MPIWeb often for the latest information on the conference. Hotels, networking events,
the most up-to-date educational sessions, the MPI Foundation silent auction and so
much more!
Would you like to have a member of the MPI staff come talk to your chapter about PECNorth America? Call Amy Fritz at 972-702-3005 for more information about scheduling a
speaker.