ONSITE
ON
SUNDAY, JULY 29
2012
The OFFICIAL award-winning daily publication of MPI’s World Education Congress 2012
@wec
What are you
looking forward to
most this week?
WELCOME TO ST. LOUIS!
“Just one-stop shopping…seeing all the hotels in one
place in one city.”
Luana Scott, managing member, On Par Productions
General Session:
Connectivity is the Key
“Just the networking. Also the events—it’s always
good to see the different productions that they do for
some of the evening events.”
Kelly Lowe, senior meeting manager, Kellogg Company
“I think these hosted buyer appointments are what I’m
most looking forward to. It’s a good opportunity to sit
down and really spend some time with good customers. It’s two days of that, and I think it’s great for a new
hotel like us to be able to showcase ourselves right in
front of the customer and get that quality time.”
Paul Buchheit, CMP, senior account executive, The
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
WEC’s Opening General Session will bring the notion of connectivity full circle. Forty years ago,
MPI started on the foundation of connections and authentic relationships before technology
was used as a tool for everyday communication.
During the Opening General Session, Jonah Lehrer—scientist,
staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Imagine: How Creativity
Works—will discuss the undeniable power of being connected to others
and how that affects our creativity and innovative abilities. He will focus
on the need for human interaction and how authentic relationships create the possibility for new ideas.
The underlying message of the OGS is that together, we can achieve
more than we imagine; together, we do change the world. The session
will get to the heart of where good ideas come from and will reinforce how connectivity is a vital
part of how we innovate. In the meeting and event industry, it’s our relationships with others
combined with our “good ideas” that impact those we serve and leave a lasting impact on the
events we plan and the industry we’re a part of.
Lehrer’s participation at WEC is courtesy of The Lavin Agency.
“I’m looking for sites that meet the needs of the
groups that I represent at the cost that I can do, and
in the local vicinity so that we can get out and move
around at night with the hotels.”
Becky Peterson, director of logistics and administration, Association of Procurement Technical Assistance
Centers
Play All Night.
Network Like
There’s No
Tomorrow.
The MPI Foundation invites you to a funfilled evening of high stakes tournament
poker at The Big Deal. One lucky tournament
player will win a seat valued at $10,000 to the
2013 World Series of Poker®
Main Event—the
largest, richest and
most prestigious
gaming event in the
world! (Registration
to play in the WSOP
satellite tournament is
by invitation only from
tournament
table sponsors.)
The excitement surrounding The Big
Deal goes beyond the World Series of Poker
satellite tournament—it’s an event with all
the thrills and sophistication of a high roller
affair.
continued on page 3
Follow the latest news
and insights at WEC on
Twitter at #wec12.
Hosted Buyer
RISE Awards
Ceremony Shines Bright
“The most is the educational opportunity—obtaining
some CEUs for my CMP. I’m also part of the hosted
buyers group. Also getting some new destinations
for some clients that are tired of going to the normal
destinations.”
Richard Waits, director for CWT Meetings & Events
Join us for the annual RISE Awards, an inspiring event Recognizing Industry Success
and Excellence. After Sunday’s Opening General Session, MPI will present the RISE
Awards for achievements made by individuals, MPI communities and organizations.
Experience firsthand who is making an impact on the meeting and event industry.
Read all about this year’s RISE winners on page 16.
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MPI’s Hosted
Buyer Program
Means Business
The Hosted Buyer Program serves as your catalyst
for business at WEC, putting you face to face with
your choice of qualified industry professionals and
leading companies within the meeting industry.
The Hosted Buyer experience is about getting
business done—at one time in one location. It’s
about doing business smarter, faster and better.
Suppliers will fill their pipeline with millions
of dollars in potential business, and planners will
walk out the door with months of legwork accomplished in two days.
So if you are asking yourself how to get your
objectives accomplished for your next meeting
or how to fill your pipeline with qualified business
for next year, the answer is the Hosted Buyer
Program at WEC.
Hosted Buyer means Business. Done.
Olympic Pride
As of press time (6 p.m. Saturday),
the total medal count for the 2012
Summer Olympic Games in London
is as follows.
Excellence
in Research
MPI is excited about the results of the first annual call for research papers, and
would like to thank George Fenich, Ph.D., for his efforts and for making the
connection with the editors of the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism,
who did the assessment of the abstracts and judged the best paper out of the
number submitted.
We’re committed to encouraging the forward-thinking research and critical examination that this round of papers exhibited so well and in building a
stronger relationship with the faculty and academic community that provides
much-needed formal education and research findings for this profession.
We want to give academics the encouragement that they need to produce these
papers and get them published and presented to an interested audience. Out of
this program we hope to increase the dialogue between colleagues and cultivate
the subject matter experts who will help us to establish and grow communities of interest, and who play a major part in the development of curriculum
beyond our current exposure. Most importantly, we hope to encourage research
into topics that examine the future of meetings and events. These are the topics
and the people writing about them that inspire movement and progress in our
profession.
The award for best paper went to “Sustainable Event Marketing in the MICE
Industry: A Theoretical Framework,” which examines topics of significance to
our profession. Sustainable practices have never been a hotter topic, and as the
industry deepens its understanding of what sustainability actually pertains to, this
is exactly the type of thinking and subject matter that magnifies that understanding. MPI is grateful to Sue Tinnish and her co-author Sapna Mangal for the time,
thought and thoroughness of their examination of this important topic.
Dr. Sue Tinnish is an assistant professor at Kendall College who teaches
management classes including strategy, organizational behavior, leadership;
sustainable tourism; and meeting management classes. Outside of her teaching
activities, she chairs the ASTM committee that established the APEX/ASTM
International Standards for environmentally sustainable events and served as
the U.S. chair for the International Standards Organization (ISO) 20121 effort to
develop a worldwide sustainable events management system.
Associate Professor Sapna Mangal has more than 15 years of international
hospitality and teaching experience and has worked around the world in hotel
and event management, and also as a marketing consultant for some of the top
brands in the hospitality industry.
6 – China
5 – Italy
5 – United States
3 – Brazil
3 – Japan
3 – Korea
1 – Australia
1 – Kazakhstan
1 – Russia
1 – Colombia
1 – Netherlands
1 – Poland
1 – Romania
1 – Belgium
1 – Hungary
1 – Norway
1 – DPR Korea
1 – Serbia
1 – Uzbekistan
Silent Auction:
WIN. BID.
ESCAPE.
The MPI Foundation Silent Auction comes with
an escape clause: if you happen to win, you escape.
Stop by the Level 2 Plaza Atrium to bid on exciting luxury escape packages. Stay and play at the
world’s finest destination hotels, resorts and spas.
There’s also a smorgasbord of fitness, sports and
gaming packages. With trips worth hundreds, even
thousands of dollars, you can snatch up a fabulous
value! Find your own best way to excite, explore and
unwind.
And it’s all for a worthy cause. The MPI Foundation is passionately committed to bringing vision
and prosperity to the meeting and event community
worldwide by investing in results-oriented initiatives
that shape the future. Funds raised are immediately reinvested into the community in the form of
research, scholarships and grants.
“The MPI Foundation is one of my single most
important contributions of the year. The Foundation supports the dreams of so many with individual
grants that help members find, build and transition
their careers. I view my check as an investment in
the future of our industry and in my future as a
global meeting professional,” said Alisa Peters, national account manager for Experient and a member
of the MPI Chicago Area Chapter.
The Big Deal
continued from page 1
A lively Chapter Leaders Reception was held last night at
the Hard Rock Café - St. Louis. Many thanks to Hard Rock
Hotels & Casinos, as well as David Schenberg and Sarah
Nungesser from the MPI St. Louis Area Chapter, for putting
on a great event, set to a Christmas in July theme.
Try your luck at Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and other
games. Delectable hors d’oeuvres, an open bar and
entertainment round out the evening. There’s “no
limit” to how much fun you will have!
WEC attendee planners get in free, but must
register to get entry tickets. Everyone must have a
ticket to enter—no exceptions.
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
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The ‘Enormous Magic
in Storytelling’
WHEN SHE TAKES THE STAGE AT SUNDAY’S
Opening General Session, slam poet Sonya Renee Taylor will demonstrate a storytelling style
designed to unlock the powerful experience
in each of us and knit it together into a shared
commitment to action.
“There’s this universal language that slam
poetry offers,” Taylor said. “It exists at the intersection of so many art forms.”
Those forms include theater, literature, comedy and musicality.
“There’s an enormous magic that happens in
storytelling,” she said. “So for me, the aesthetic
angle in slam poetry is the possibility of letting
free our stories.”
Based on her work as a performance poet,
Taylor attested to the possibility of empowering
others by sharing your own experience.
“There’s a permission-giving that happens
in storytelling,” she said. “Something about me
telling my own story gives people permission to
tell theirs, and that freedom is oftentimes what
starts people toward individual and community
change.”
Taylor’s own experience shows that slam poetry can be an effective tool that helps maximize
the impact of face-to-face meetings and events.
“[So many] people have come up to me after
certain pieces and not only said they loved it, it
spoke to them, but that an action step was a part
of it,” she said. “This is not an art that is flat or
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Tweets
@LadyPhenomena
My twitter feed is blowing up
with tweets from #eventprofs
about #mpi #WEC12. Can’t wait
to get there!
@SeaJet01
#wec12 “in today’s society we
are all used to finding what we
want in 3 clicks or 5 seconds”.
MPI foundation q&a. -- Jordan
Clark
one-dimensional. Slam poetry is a multi-dimensional experience that moves people beyond just
feeling, to doing.”
The original piece of slam poetry that Taylor
will perform on site will be a memorable highlight of WEC.
“MPI is already doing such amazing work
around connectivity, what it means for meeting
professionals and what it means for the human
spirit,” she said. “I’m really hoping to focus in on
the feeling of what that means, the idea of connection and what it looks like on an interpersonal level, and at the core of what we do.”
Revolutionizing 360Degree Photography
A REVOLUTIONARY NEW TECHNOLOGY for
producing panoramic photography will be on
display during WEC.
“It’s photojournalistic,” said Pat St. Clair,
owner of Henrietta, New York-based St. Clair
Photo-Imaging, who came up with the concept
behind the four-camera system. “We bent the
math. Pure mathematicians say it can’t be done.”
But over a 20-year period, St. Clair and a colleague figured out how to take a high-resolution,
fully panoramic photo
with a single click.
The trick was to
solve the “parallax”
problem that anyone
can experience by
holding up a finger and
viewing it through one
eye, then the other:
the two images won’t
line up because each eye has a different optical
center.
“Mathematicians work in a vacuum, but we
don’t live in a vacuum,” St. Clair said. “So we
found our way around it. So far, nobody is following us.”
After years of assembling his own equipment, St. Clair has just taken delivery of his first
production rig, an array of four cameras that
are networked to capture a 360-degree view in
a single shot. Since 2004, he has photographed
Sweet
everything from an underwater environment
to a political convention to a downtown parade,
but one of his passions is to use 360-degree photography to bring conferences and trade shows
to life.
At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, he
shot 39 panoramas in two hours. With older
technology, the process would have taken 13
hours.
“Here’s where it gets interesting,” he said.
@MeetInSF
We’re an hour away from the
most wonderful time of the
day... Puppy cuddling! Methinks
there’s a mission that needs to
be completed #wec12
@HillmanEvents
Listening to #MPI Foundation talk about the importance
of Advocacy in the meetings
industry. Couldn’t agree more!!!
#wec12
@TraceySpeak
Mexican food at #WEC12 in St
Louis? Say what?
@MeetingPlanner5
#WEC12 hosted buyer lunch.
Great presentation by #Orlando
CVB. Nice touch to donate the
dog theme centerpieces to the
puppy shelter
@chetjasinski
Great session with Brad Bebell for chapter VP Marketing/
Communications @ #WEC12
#MPINJ
@ShawnCEvent
Wish #WEC12 a huge success!
Learn, connect and tweet madness for people can’t attend
(like me)!!! :) #eventprofs #mpi
Are You
Watching?
HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS CREWS running
around the conference? MPI would like to thank
CNTV for providing a daily news recap of
all the best of WEC. Be sure to check the “hotel
channel” in your room each morning for a
chance to see yourself on television.
Visit Your
Member
Services
Lounge
STOP BY TO RELAX IN OUR SPECIAL LOUNGE
area built just for you. Visit with the Member
Services team to learn more about getting the
maximum value from MPI membership. This is
where badge ribbons are available, too. You can
browse the newest additions to the “I am MPI. I
Love What We Do.” program, and we will also
be demonstrating how to use all the features of
MPIWeb.org and MY MPI. Membership up for
renewal? We can take care of that on the spot.
Not a member of MPI? Join at WEC and we
will waive the $/€50 administration fee. The
Member Services Lounge is open throughout
conference.
@lcalderwood
Holy crap, goosechase has
exploded with new missions!!!
I think I’m sunk @bigkid.
#WEC12 #sofarbehind
“When you go to a trade show booth, the
panoramas are populated with links, so now
you can watch the product videos the company
produced for that show. You can download their
brochures. You can go to the stage, call up a
video presentation and watch it.”
The result is a unique new opportunity for
exhibitors to repurpose their marketing and
communications and turn a three-day show into
a 365-day user experience that delivers ROI for
all concerned.
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
@GhostofWEC
Just got in to St. Louis for
#wec12. Flight delays are the
worst, amirite? #mpi
@hduckworth
If you enjoyed @JonPetz at
#WEC12 Chapter Leadership
don’t forget to pick up his book
in bookstore “Boring Meeting
Suck”
Headshots
Anyone?
THANKS TO THIS YEAR’S OFFICIAL conference
photographers—Orange Photography. Be sure
to stop by MarketSquare booth #42, outside The
Hub, to have your free professional headshot
taken. Photographers will be available: Saturday
2 - 4 p.m.; Sunday 8 - 10 a.m. and 5 - 6 p.m.;
Monday 8 - 10 a.m. and 5 - 6 p.m.; and Tuesday
10 a.m. - noon.
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Face Time
Scientist, author and WEC 2012 Opening General
Session speaker Jonah Lehrer believes that purposeful connections lead to continuing success
and that meeting professionals are true innovators
fostering those connections. By Jason Hensel
“OH GOD, THIS IS GOING TO BE A TEDIOUS
CONVERSATION,” Jonah Lehrer thought as he
stood backstage. Small talk with a man in the
flooring business didn’t bode well for an exciting
conversation. But then the man started to tell
Lehrer a story about the Swiffer mop.
“And this became the first story in my book,”
Lehrer says. “I always think of that—when in
doubt, ask a question. Don’t be afraid. Talk to
the person next to you. You could learn a lot.”
Cross collaboration, diverse social networking
and random interactions are some ways to foster
creativity and innovation Lehrer details in his
latest book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. As
with his previous New York Times bestseller,
How We Decide, Imagine appeals to a wide audience curious about the brain’s inner processes
and how these can help us solve problems basic
and complex.
Lehrer’s view is that we either work together
or fail alone, that in order for any individual or
industry to succeed and grow, there need be
purposeful connections.
“Steve Jobs had this great line that creativity
is just connecting things. That’s true on so many
levels, but the second part of that line is that
most of those connections are going to come
from other people,” Lehrer says. “Every new
idea is actually two ideas reassembled, two old
ideas mashed up together. Now, where do we
find those ideas? Often they come from random
conversations with other people—bumps in the
hallways, chats by the water cooler, waiting in
line at Starbucks, talking to someone at a conference who you would never have otherwise met.
Those are the conversations that clearly seem to
lead to new ideas.”
What’s more is that those conversations can
play a huge role in long-term business success.
“If you’re in the planning business, then I
think you want people to come away with the
sense that, ‘I got something new at this meeting.’
It’s going to be about the human connection,”
he says. “[I believe] the real value of a meeting
is not the keynotes, it’s not the content on stage,
it’s the connections that take place during the
breaks. That’s where the real value is.”
Today, though, event participants are pulled
OPENING
GENERAL
SESSION
Don’t miss JONAH LEHRER’s keynote
at the Opening General Session today at
10 a.m.
between the ease and instantaneousness that
technology can offer via virtual events and the
real-world sensations offered by face-to-face
meetings.
“On Skype, you can transmit the actual
content, you can sit at home in a comfy chair and
never have to deal with the hassles of an airport
or hotel, taxis or TSA security lines; you never
leave your house, you telecommute,” Lehrer says.
“You get the same content if you watch the live
stream. And yet more people than ever are going
to meetings and conferences because they know
they can’t replace the connections. Skype is no
substitute for meeting in the flesh.”
IN ANALOG
It’s late March, and Lehrer sits in a small, Dallas
park. Grackles in the trees compete for conversation. Pedestrians walk past the water fountain
with phones pressed against their ears. Lehrer,
with the sleeves of his gray v-neck sweater pushed
up, looks around.
“In terms of how meetings are going to
change, I think there’s a tendency to want and
make meetings reflect our high-tech world, the
one that’s filled with gadgets and ways to connect
online before and after and instant feedback
through your smartphone or whatever, and that’s
all good,” he says. “That can be very helpful, but I
continued on page 8
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Face Time
continued from page 6
think it’s important to also remember that part
of the allure of meetings is their analog nature.
They are not like the rest of our working life.
“So it’s important to not change meetings too
much. I know this will be disappointing to a lot
of people, but I hope the meeting in the future is
a lot like the meeting in the past, because what
makes meetings so valuable and even more
valuable in this day and age is the fact that they
can be old-fashioned, they can be in analog.
There is extra return on the value of in-person
meetings.”
One of Imagine’s most interesting stories
involves Pixar and the value it places on face-toface meetings. Steve Jobs designed the animation studio with one purpose in mind: random
interaction. He wanted ideas crossbreeding.
“Jobs’ attitude was basically, ‘What if this was
like going to a business conference every single
day.’ [Pixar is] this big atrium, and in that atrium
you put the kid’s store, the coffee shop and the
cafeteria and that still wasn’t enough,” Lehrer
says. “Jobs realized you can build a beautiful
cafeteria and serve great food, but computer
programmers would still sit with computer
programmers and animators would talk with
animators and so on. You have to force people
to mingle. That’s when he had the bathroom
idea. He put two bathrooms in the middle of
the atrium. That’s because he really wanted
people to mingle, and I think that is the big part
of Pixar’s success, creating the kind of culture
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“Every new idea is actually
two ideas reassembled, two old
ideas mashed up together.”
where people are forced to connect. As they play
at Pixar, they’re squished together, they share information and trade knowledge. That is essential
for them. That is essential for everybody.
“That was the genius of Steve Jobs. The guy
didn’t invent the iPhone or the iPad or the iPod.
He knew how to manage the people who did
invent them,” Lehrer continues. “He knew how
to get the designers to work with the engineers,
to work with the computer programmers. If
that’s your business, you’re in the business of
managing innovation, of trying to get new ideas,
and I think that every business is.”
Meeting professionals are innovators and
should constantly ask themselves how they can
get their attendees to make more connections,
no matter how casual they may be.
“Evidence suggests that—all things being
equal—it’s really good to have a diverse social
network and a lot of casual contact,” he says.
“This is best illustrated in a study by Martin
Ruef, a Princeton sociologist, who looked at
766 graduates from Stanford Business School.
He showed that when you measure levels of
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
innovation, those with the diverse social network,
with lots of casual contacts, are three times more
innovative than those with predictable networks.
The research suggests that we still have plenty of
room to have more casual planning and learn
more from other people. The social network is
really an underused potential repository of new
ideas.”
LIKE TALKING TO LIKE
After a few years in Boston, Lehrer is back living
in his native Los Angeles, home for more than
half his life until he left to attend Columbia
University. While there, he pursued undergraduate work in neuroscience and worked in
Nobel-winner Eric Kandel’s lab. He then studied
literature and philosophy as a Rhodes Scholar at
the University of Oxford.
As a popular author and speaker, Lehrer has
participated in hundreds of events, and they all
have one trend in common.
“The big limitation that holds a lot of these
meetings back—and it’s not the fault of the
planner, it’s the fault of human nature—is this
self-similarity principle,” he says, citing the work
of two Columbia psychologists.
“They invited business school graduates to a
cocktail mixer—people working in all different
fields: high bankers, accountants and marketing
executives and all the rest,” he says. “And they
told them the purpose of this mixture was to
mix, that they should spend time with people
that are not like them. What the attendees didn’t
know is that there was a little GPS [tracker] in
their nametags. So they were being monitored
the whole time so the scientists could track who
they were talking to.”
The researchers discovered that throughout
the night like talked to like: bankers to bankers,
accountants to accountants, etc. The bartender
was the only successful networker.
“We’ve got to fight against it. This is a human
tendency. We’ve all got it,” Lehrer says. “It’s more
comfortable to talk to people that think like
us, who speak our language, who use our own
acronyms. That’s always going to feel easier, so
we gravitate toward that. The meeting planner, I
think, is especially important to get people to mix
in ways that may feel a little uncomfortable.
“I honestly don’t know how to do that. I mean,
I think cities do that on a massive collective scale,
but I think it’s important to come up with activities and venues and just ways to force people to
mix even if it’s a little uncomfortable. Meeting
people across boundaries is especially hard to do,
and I don’t think there’s any secret recipe. I wish I
had it. If I had it, I’d be in the meeting business.”
JASON HENSEL is multimedia editor for MPI.
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When the Dealing’s Done
Eli Gorin proudly represents the MPI Foundation and
the meeting industry at the World Series of Poker.
Congratulations to 2011 winner of The Big Deal,
Eli Gorin, who thrived at the official World
Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event last month.
Courtesy of Caesars Entertainment, Gorin
earned a WSOP seat valued at $10,000,
as well as hotel and
travel accommodations for two, by virtue
of winning the MPI
Foundation’s The Big
Deal poker tournament
last year at the World
Education Congress in
Orlando.
Gorin and his wife,
Johanna, were escorted
by a limo and a Las
Vegas showgirl to the Rio
All-Suite Hotel & Casino,
where Gorin also had the
opportunity to meet Jack
Effel, the official WSOP
tournament director who also calls the shots at
The Big Deal.
With only 15 minutes left on the clock on the
first day of the tournament, Gorin—wearing his
MPI Foundation shirt, hat and hoodie and play-
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ing against competitors who started the tournament with $30,000 in chips—took his remaining $5,100 in chips and went all in, proceeding
to beat his entire table and earning $17,000 in
chips. He continued playing
on day two of the Main
Event, finally bowing out of
the tournament nearly two
hours into his second day.
“Not sure how I did it,
but after 12+ hours of play
I managed to survive to
move on to another day,”
Gorin said at the end of
his first day. “I want to
really thank the MPI
Foundation team, Steven Van Der Molen and
the amazing team at
the Rio All-Suite Hotel
and Caesars Entertainment and Freddie Onsaga and Encore
Productions for being amazingly gracious hosts
and sponsors of what has been one of the greatest experiences of my life!”
The 2012 edition of The Big Deal begins
tonight at 8:30.
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
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Meeting Planner Personas
Adding Value to the Buyer-Seller Relationship
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MEETING
INDUSTRY continues. Meeting professionals increasingly respond to cut budgets
with documented ROI, and seek strategic
partnerships with their suppliers to accomplish this. But, suppliers often lack a keen
understanding of each meeting professional’s
individual needs and priorities when they
need more than anything to custom-tailor
sales strategies.
This new normal in the meeting industry
has increased the competitiveness of the
sales environment as the channels meeting
planners use to collaborate and communicate become more plentiful. Traditional
sources for gaining information about a
venue (websites, national salespeople, CVBs,
word-of-mouth) now compete with social
media, third-party tools, online travel agencies and other review websites.
Proof of this comes from MPI’s own
FutureWatch 2011, which identified strategy,
technology and relationships as key trending
topics for meeting professionals to consider
as they work to meet stakeholder expectations.
It’s the third of these trends—professional
relationships—that spurred the research
herein. The MPI Foundation commissioned
Vantage Strategy to investigate methods
for enhancing buyer-supplier relationships.
Vantage built a framework based on psychographics, commonly used in consumer
marketing to help firms make emotional
connections with consumers by gaining a
deeper understanding of their underlying
attitudes, opinions and preferences. The
aim: to “personify” meeting planners using
key attitudes that differentiate them from
each other. These meeting planner personas
combine planners with similar attitudes into
buying groups, so that suppliers can better
tailor their sales and marketing efforts to
individual planners.
TARGET:
CORE SKILLS
WEC delegates continued
the focus on basics during
the Core Skills Workshop,
Friday and Saturday. George
Washington University faculty
member Kassia Dellabough
led the day-and-a-half workshop, exploring menu planning, audiovisual planning,
space planning and room
sets, content/program planning, site visits, contract
negotiation, budgeting
and more.
INNOVATORS
Innovators are a lucrative meeting segment.
They highly value creativity in service and
an understanding of their client’s objectives.
Innovators are open to using new technologies such as event management tools.
They are comfortable using a multitude of
communication channels including phone,
email, text message and social media. However, don’t discount face-to-face interaction—it’s their preferred mode of communication. They expect tailored and strategic
partnerships. Service is much more important than cost. They seek innovative and
creative ways to create value for their clients
and expect the same from their supplierpartners.
HOW TO ENGAGE INNOVATORS
➢ Perform a diagnostic on their short- and
mid-term objectives, goals, concerns and
opportunities
➢ Identify interests, likes and dislikes
➢ Brainstorm innovative events and partnerships to achieve their objectives
LOYALISTS
Loyalists are collaborators who prefer predictability in their lives and careers. They
place high value on supplier responsiveness
and transparency. Loyalists typically have
a large network of suppliers that they work
with. They are loyal to those relationships
and prefer to work with people they know
and trust. This can be a difficult segment to
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Meeting Planner Personas
continued from page 12
penetrate, but it provides higher lifetime value for suppliers who provide the value they
seek. Service and stability are paramount.
Loyalists want clearly defined expectations
and will measure your value against the
achievement of those expectations.
HOW TO ENGAGE LOYALISTS
➢ Prepare a detailed scope of work in writing to avoid surprises
➢ Enforce short-time response targets
➢ Ask if you are meeting expectations
ANALYSTS
Analysts prefer simple and straightforward
approaches to the planning process. Suppliers should be prepared for price concessions.
Competitive price is the key to gaining
Analyst business. Any claim of success must
be validated by data, so providing examples
of previous successes can validate the sales
proposition. Suppliers should automate the
RFP process and showcase delivery by exposing Analysts to a real-time event at their
venues/properties.
HOW TO ENGAGE ANALYSTS
➢ Prepare proposals with best offers (no
bargaining policy)
➢ Clearly express price concessions and
value add in the proposal
INDEPENDENTS
Independents are tenured meeting planners
who value stability. These planners can be
difficult for suppliers to reach, as they prefer
to make decisions more independently than
the other personas. This segment needs to
clearly see the “win” and understand how the
sales proposition has been tailored to amplify success. Suppliers who provide support,
but defer to the experience and decisionmaking skills of the meeting planner win
out. And peer-endorsement is key. Independents are interested in data to support any
and all claims and look for guarantees that
are both meaningful and realistic. Whenever
possible, involving a senior executive in the
negotiations will help solidify the deal.
HOW TO ENGAGE INDEPENDENTS
➢ Perform diagnostics on their short- and
mid-term objectives, goals, concerns and
opportunities
➢ Identify their interests, likes and dislikes
➢ Brainstorm innovative events and partnerships to achieve their objectives
ACHIEVERS
Achievers are ambitious and value financial success and validation for their work.
They expect personalized service and price
concessions. Forming relationships with
the young planners in this segment will pay
dividends later as they move into roles with
increased responsibility and larger annual
budgets. Achievers prefer the convenience of
email communications to phone or face-toface meetings. In order to gain their trust,
suppliers must clearly communicate simple
and convenient options. Achievers want suppliers who can support them in the planning
process and demonstrate a concise analysis
of ROI that can be used to sell to management.
HOW TO ENGAGE ACHIEVERS
➢ Perform diagnostics on the their shortand mid-term objectives, goals, concerns
and opportunities
➢ Plan for personalized service
➢ Give regular updates in writing and program phone calls
➢ Clearly express price concessions and
value add
PERSONAS ACTUATE
This study wasn’t just designed as an informational tool, but as a way for suppliers to
increase ROI by better understanding where
to invest resources and how to deploy those
resources.
NOW SUPPLIERS CAN:
➢ Create a more robust understanding of
each Persona group
➢ Understand the research’s strategic implications internally
➢ Increase ROI by training sales to better
target, communicate, build relationships and
close
➢ Identify unique personas’ targets by scoring prospects and clients
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RISE Awards: Getting to Know the Winners
This year’s RISE Awards will be presented at a luncheon today,
but here is a closer look at each of the winners.
MPI RISE AWARD FOR YOUNG
PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Representing and recruiting young meeting
and event professionals in her community,
Jill Schroeder is naturally charismatic and
driven to succeed. Jill leads the way in encouraging student involvement in industry-related
programs, which is helping others reach their
full potential.
While studying at Madison College, Jill
served as the Meeting Planners Association vice
president. She coordinated student trips that
provided real-world learning opportunities.
“Attending these events opened the eyes of
many students to the various career choices
available in the industry,” she said.
Now that she has graduated, Jill is actively
involved with the MPI Wisconsin chapter and
has helped develop the MENTORme program,
as well as the Student Involvement webpage. She
enjoys sharing her experiences with students
and encourages them to become active in student clubs and MPI. She actively speaks at her
alma mater on student-life topics and serves on
the Madison College Alumni Advisory Board,
providing input on the direction of the college.
MPI RISE AWARD FOR MEMBER OF
THE YEAR
An educator and mentor to her students at Indi-
ana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
(IUPUI), Dr. Amanda Cecil also shares her
time and talent across industry organizations.
She has been an MPI member since 1999 and
has held several volunteer roles for the Indiana
Chapter, including serving as chapter president.
At her chapter, Amanda focused on evaluating
the level of education for local members and
collaborating with surrounding chapters to
leverage resources, provide quality education
and speakers and encourage networking.
In 2009-2010, Amanda chaired the MPI
Body of Knowledge Task Force, which was responsible for creating the Meeting and Business
Event Competency Standards (MBECS). This is
the first occupational standard for the meeting
and event profession and has been adopted by
the CIC to be used in updating the CMP job
analysis and exam blueprint.
Reflecting on her term as chair of the task
force, Amanda said, “I was privileged to work
with a dedicated, focused task force for the
MBECS project. Everyone who participated
gave their time and energy for a project they
knew would benefit MPI and the meeting
industry as a whole. Many of us still refer to this
project as one of our personal and professional
career highlights.”
MPI RISE AWARD FOR MEETING
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP
Ray Bloom is the chairman and founder of
the IMEX Group, which organizes worldwide
exhibitions in Europe and the U.S. His track
record of business success, global profile and
vast network of personal and professional
connections is proof enough of his industry
leadership. But it is Ray’s personal touch—his
accessibility and friendliness combined with
a commitment to extremely high standards of
service—that characterizes him, his company
and team.
Ray Bloom entered the hotel industry in the
1980’s, and shortly later entered the exhibition industry, where he introduced a gamechanger—the hosted buyer concept, which
guaranteed the attendance of targeted buyers
at a trade show and therefore satisfied the business needs of exhibitors. With the launch and
development of EIBTM (which he sold to Reed
Exhibitions) and subsequent launch of IMEX
in Frankfurt and America, Ray has effectively
created a new business trade show environment.
Ray would be the first to say that his success has been achieved through collaboration
with others, and his passion to give back to
the industry is legendary. He has pioneered
or supported several initiatives, including the
annual Politicians Forum, the Green Industry
Awards, the Future Leaders Forum, the IMEX
Challenge and Association Day.
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MPI RISE AWARD FOR COMMUNITY
ACHIEVEMENT IN KNOWLEDGE AND
IDEAS
This year the MPI Tennessee Chapter embarked on a road trip to engage membership in
the three regions that make up the chapter. The
“Let MPI Rock Your World Road Trip” was a
three-day event of education and networking
that took place in Gatlinburg, Nashville and
Memphis, Tennessee.
“It has been the goal of our board to show
our membership that we are One State, One
Chapter,” said Melanie Clifford, 2012-2013
chapter president-elect. The three events were
all similar in design, offering education programming, unique venues, exciting entertainment, networking opportunities and innovative
food and beverage.
The chapter relied on sponsorships for travel
assistance, meeting locations and speakers. Not
only was this a membership drive, but also an
opportunity to build relationships with member
suppliers.
“One of the biggest things that we learned
was to just ask,” Clifford said. “You will be
amazed at what may come your way. The opportunities are endless.”
By presenting the “Let MPI Rock Your
World Road Trip,” attendees in all three
regions were able to experience an event
with elevated educational content that the
regional budgets could not normally afford.
The organizing team made sure current
members were experiencing the value of
their membership while introducing nonmembers to the MPI brand and community.
New members were recruited as a result of
the event, and attendance at regional events
has increased.
MPI RISE AWARD FOR COMMUNITY
ACHIEVEMENT IN MARKETPLACE
EXCELLENCE
In an effort to build brand loyalty and show
the tangible value of being an MPI member,
the MPI Tampa Bay Area Chapter created the
Connections Campaign. Implemented in the
2010-2011 fiscal year, the program tracked
chapter members’ business connections when
they “Buy MPI.”
Utilizing a special Web-based form, members would track their business-to-business
connections. The campaign supported a variety
of interactions, including business gained, planner and supplier member referrals, job leads
and results of obtaining a sponsor. Participants
were asked to put a dollar value for each connection, which was then verified.
“While there are many intangible elements
to prove the value of membership, we knew
that if we could prove it in dollars and cents, we
could be successful. This program did just that,”
said Jason Carroll, 2010-11 chapter president.
At the end of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, chapter members reported more than 260 connections, with a recorded value of more than US$6
million of business. Not only did members’
personal book of business benefit from the
program, but so did the chapter’s overall performance results.
MPI RISE AWARD FOR ORGANIZATIONAL
ACHIEVEMENT
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In the past 10 years, the leadership within Royal
DSM has grown its corporate meetings and
events capability to assist with communicating business strategy, driving engagement and
enabling change. The organization has pushed
initiatives and training through various events,
but in 2011 the department embraced a much
larger communications project.
In February 2011, Royal DSM launched its
new brand identity, “Bright Science, Brighter
Living,” to more than 23,000 employees located
in 172 locations around the globe. Using meetings and events as the method of delivery, the
team was charged with communicating the
company strategy and unveiling the rebranding
to all employees, worldwide, within 48 hours
from start to finish and before communicating
externally to shareholders.
To engage employees, the company created
the “Bright Launch” event. Taking place across
the globe in local cinemas and comprising a
total of 149 events in two days, the program was
a success, with 96 percent of respondents rating
the event favorable.
Success metrics were validated following
the event, as employees were able to explain the
vision and direction of the company and its new
brand. The Bright Launch event proved that
meetings and events are critical to communicate corporate initiatives and drive employee
engagement.
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RUFF-ing It
WHO: Stray Rescue of St. Louis
WHEN: World Education Congress (WEC)
AS YOU CAN TELL, the World Education Congress (WEC) is all about connectivity in today’s
hyper-connected world, in which you no longer
just plan meetings and events. Simply, WEC is
about designing human connectivity.
This year’s WEC has educational sessions to
help inspire you toward that connectivity. But
in between the days chock full of
sessions and bustling audiences of
meeting and event professionals is an
opportunity to create a different type
of connection.
Attendees will be able to unwind
a bit from the packed schedule and
give some attention to those who
could use it most but will never ask
for it: man’s best friend.
Stray dogs from the St. Louis area
are on site at WEC and will have the
spotlight turned on them during Puppy Cuddling sessions.
“We’ve got a lot of cool things going on for
MPI at the convention,” said Jason Schipkowski,
director of marketing and development for Stray
Rescue of St. Louis. “We’re fortunate to have the
opportunity to be approached to do this type of
community event.”
July will mark the second year Stray Rescue
has been a part of a convention such as WEC. In
August 2011, the organization, partnering with
the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission—which is sponsoring the Puppy Cuddling
events—was at ASAE’s annual convention for
the same purpose.
Schipkowski says last year’s first-time event
was a huge success and that participants enjoy
the break in the sessions to do a
CSR project much different than
what they’ve done in the past.
“It was overwhelmingly positive,” he said. “Everybody is there
in really good spirits. They seem
to really understand what [Stray
Rescue’s] mission is all about. It’s a
nice break from the day to be able
to love up on a dog.”
It was because of that success
that Stray Rescue was immediately recommended to MPI for WEC when
the topic of a community service project was
brought up, says Steve Stickford, senior vice
president of convention industry relations for
the St. Louis CVC.
“We just believe the connection with them
and the community service project is well worth
it,” Stickford said. “We want to highlight the fact
that St. Louis is a very pet-friendly community.”
St. Louis is home to more than 30 hotels that al-
Don’t miss Puppy Cuddling today
at the America’s Center.
low pets, and there are many pet-friendly dining
options available throughout the city.
Saturday, Stray Rescue offered two very
unique experiences for WEC attendees. In the
“Doggie Treat Baking Workshop,” bakers, who
specialize in making tasty treats, worked with
participants to make snacks from scratch in a
commercial kitchen.
The second experience had attendees
participate in a “Doggie Day Spa.” Stray Rescue
staff and volunteers were on hand to assist
participants in giving our four-legged friends
well-deserved baths in the summer sun.
“It’s kind of an enrichment exercise for the
dogs up here because the sheltered environment
can be stressful,” Schipkowki said. “So it gets
them out and about. It’s something that’s not
necessarily routine around here.”
Once the baking was done and the baths
were given, all participants from both events
were shuttled to Stray Rescue’s flagship shelter,
where the squeaky-clean canines were given
their delicious, healthy treats.
For those who did not wish to have direct
contact with the dogs, they had the opportunity
to help by stuffing Kong chew toys with peanut
butter.
Schipkowski said these events are great for
the dogs because it teaches them socialization,
allowing the pooches to become more adopt-
able. This becomes beneficial to Stray Rescue
because as animals become adopted, they are
able to take in other strays.
“Even though it’s four hours worth of volunteering, they’re really critical hours and it helps
us save the dogs a great deal,” he said.
Though this experience only lasted for a day,
the care and attention that was given to these
dogs will endure long after. Every time these
dogs are shown love and receive socialization it’s
another step toward successful adoption, which
results in more strays being rescued from the
streets. Donations were also collected to assist
Stray Rescue in its mission.
Stray Rescue also had an area at the conference so attendees could help put together
adoption kits—paperwork—that need to be
assembled.
For the duration of WEC, attendees can stop
by the Puppy Cuddling area, where rescued
dogs will be waiting for your love and attention.
A few adult dogs will also be present, if you’d
like a larger dog to hug. This will be much more
than a re-energizing break from your day. Your
interactions with these dogs provide important
socialization—connectivity—to ensure that they
are more adoptable and better equipped to find
their forever homes.
STEPHEN PETERS is reporter for One+.
Get More in Person
DR. STUART DIAMOND wants to school you on revolutionary new negotiation tools during his session today
from 2:15-5:15 p.m. These tools originate from his course
at The Wharton School (the institution’s most popular)
and his New York Times-bestseller Getting More.
Throughout the session “Getting More: How to
Negotiate for Greater Success in Work and Life,” Diamond will elaborate on what he calls the “12 invisible
strategies” that have been utilized by more than 30,000
CEOs, lawyers, heads of state, parents, administrative
assistants and everyday people to save billions of dollars, improve relationships and get their kids to brush
their teeth and go to bed on time.
So impressed was Google with Diamond’s new model of human interaction, the search giant has chosen it as the basis of a training initiative
for its worldwide enterprise. Now it’s your turn to experience this innovative thought leader in-person, today!
In Print
Read Stuart Diamond’s New York Times-bestseller Getting More:
How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World, and learn
about his process that was used successfully to resolve the 2008
Hollywood writers’ strike!
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Is Your Meeting Worth It?
If you don’t know the business value of your event,
you’re not alone. That doesn’t mean it isn’t time to
start measuring.
Once again, the U.S. government is questioning
the need for conferences and events, this time in
the wake of a General Services Administration
meetings scandal that saw sushi nights, mind
readers and a musical talent award showcase.
Not that fun isn’t acceptable—it is, when it
meets clearly defined objectives that can then be
measured and analyzed. And if GSA’s planners
had these, they certainly weren’t mentioned in
a scathing April auditor’s report. Nor did they
come out in the media carnage that followed it.
If the AIG meetings fiasco in 2008 (and
subsequent slashing of corporate travel and
event budgets) didn’t prove the need to measure
the value of your meetings, maybe the GSA
controversy will.
And this time, you’ll have the tools you need
to get started.
It’s with great timeliness that MPI unveils its
Business Value of Meetings toolkit, supported
by the MPI Foundation and AIBTM. The toolkit
walks meeting professionals through the five
steps of event measurement—from addressing
the “why” to addressing the future.
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
MPI’s 2011 Business Value of Meetings research
revealed great disparity among industry professionals about measuring event value. Many
practitioners want to communicate the value
of their meetings and events, but they don’t
understand the techniques for capturing and
communicating it well. Perceived complexity and cost cause many planners to avoid the
practice entirely.
But the research also unearthed two truths.
1. Many corporate cultures embrace measures
Business Value of Meetings in
The Hub
Visit The Hub today to explore
MPI’s Business Value of Meetings toolkit with members of the
team responsible for delivering
the results.
Measure Your Business Value
4:30 - 4:50 p.m.
Jessie States/Miranda Van Brück
Find out how the new tool kit,
supported by the MPI Foundation and AIBTM, can help you
start the journey to measuring the business value of your
events. Measuring your success
can and will lead to innovation
and ultimately better meetings.
How Do You Measure a
Meeting’s Success?
5 - 5:20 p.m.
John Nawn
Without meeting objectives
you can’t determine whether or
not your meeting was a success. Bring your burning questions about objectives and try
to stump the expert. Learn a
couple of simple techniques for
developing appropriate business
and meeting objectives in the
process.
of value other than traditional ROI. They are keen
to know if a meeting accomplished its stated goals
and objectives, because doing so implies a business
value, even though that value is not reduced to a
monetary quantity. Most corporate cultures don’t
see a need to determine the traditional ROI of
their meetings or events.
2. The organizations that successfully measure
the business value of their meetings actually focus
on only a few key elements, making the process
much less intimidating and much more targeted
than conducting an exhaustive study. So, the actual
costs of measurement are much lower than most
meeting professionals think, and the results much
greater.
With the research, MPI also unveiled five white
papers, each communicating a step in the event
measurement process:
1. Determining the ROI of measurement,
2. Gaining stakeholder engagement,
3. Defining objectives,
4. Creating meaningful measures and
5. Analyzing and reporting results.
But the white papers weren’t enough. They
didn’t provide tools meeting professionals could
use to successfully measure value. Knowing this,
MPI commissioned its researcher, Association Insights, and meeting design firm The Perfect Meeting to create tools around each white paper that
could help industry practitioners navigate the steps
and ultimately launch business value of meetings
measurement programs for their own events.
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Is Your Meeting Worth It?
DOWNLOAD
continued from page 22
Following, find a preview of what’s available.
PERCEPTION VS. REALITY
Companies that successfully measure the
business value of their meetings report that
the measurement process has changed greatly
over time. Early measures centered on accomplishing objectives, but the understanding
of those objectives and the ability to measure
them has improved to the point that they now
The Business Value of Meetings toolkit, five
white papers with multiple tools to help you
measure, understand and communicate the
effectiveness of your meetings. Get it at
provide a good understanding of the ROI
of a meeting. Unfortunately, there are a lot
of misperceptions regarding the case for
measurement.
Perception: Meeting professionals must determine the ROI of every element of a meeting
or event. The expected complexity, tools, time,
personnel and training needed to live up to this
expectation comes with big costs and “career risk.”
WWW.MPIWEB.ORG/BVOM.
Reality: Organizations that successfully measure the business value of their events start off
measuring just one or two key elements. ROI
is seldom the actual measure, because the
successful accomplishment of a meeting’s purpose is more actionable.
Perception: Determining the real purpose of meetings and events is nearly impossible, because the
purposes and goals are unknown. Few people can
agree on a specific purpose for the event, and there
are too many items to measure.
Reality: Events often have numerous, vague and/or
conflicting purposes, but only a few of these usually
matter business-wise, such as increases in knowledge levels, growth in sales or sales opportunities,
new plans or programs or service improvements.
Perception: Understanding and implementing
ways to measure, analyze, report and act upon the
business value of events is time consuming, and
there are inadequate resources to accomplish the
process effectually.
Reality: Because measurement strategies can be
implemented incrementally, meeting professionals
can start with as little or as much time as they have
available. Those who have successfully implemented measurement strategies indicate that the actual
time needed to start the process can be as little as 10
hours over the course of an entire event.
Perception: Measurement is cost-prohibitive, time
consuming and difficult. Proper implementation
could even require consultants, in addition to new
software and materials.
Reality: The cost of implementing an effective
measurement strategy is controllable, because
meeting professionals decide the speed and type of
implementation in advance. Meeting professionals make progress in understanding the value of
their meetings simply by having candid, no-cost
discussions about precise expected outcomes and
objectives.
Meanwhile, a well-implemented business value
of meetings measurement strategy provides stakeholders with the following benefits.
Clarification of purpose: By clearly understanding the measurable outcomes, meeting professionals can make their meetings more cost efficient
and align their activities, content and environment
with clear objectives.
Quantification of success: Meeting professionals and the organizations they serve learn just how
much needs to be done to accomplish their goals
by creating, deploying and reporting on measures
of meeting success. This allows them to establish
budgets, make strategic decisions about meeting
logistics and design, set future goals and establish
realistic expectations.
Identification of strengths and weaknesses: By
understanding a meeting’s strengths and weaknesses, meeting professionals and stakeholders can
better concentrate resources where they are needed
most and leverage their assets.
Improved meetings: Successful strategies for
understanding the business value of meetings lead
to a process for improving meetings. As meetings
become “better,” they become more clearly aligned
with objectives, and therefore more efficient.
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Sunday Education
Sessions
2:15 - 3:30 p.m.
Collaborating in the Connected
World
Room 225
Best-selling authors Jonah Lehrer (Imagine,
How We Decide) and Howard Rheingold
(Net Smart, Virtual Reality) are masters of
creativity and online collaboration. During
this session, these two minds will share
with meeting professionals the knowledge
and best practices essential for thriving in
today’s evolving landscape driven by technology and business innovation.
Speakers: Jonah Lehrer, The New Yorker; and
Howard Rheingold
Hotel Sales Giants Talk About
What’s Keeping Them Up at Night
Room 122
Produced in partnership with HSMAI, this
session is specifically designed for hotel and
destination sales professionals and will review the top issues impacting the profession
as it relates to meetings business as seen
through the lens of the chief sales officers of
three leading hotel brands.
Speakers: Stephen Powell, InterContinental Hotels
Group; Bryan Gay, Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino; Bob Gilbert, HSMAI; and Gus Vonderheide,
Hyatt International
Master Excel Lab: Taking Your
Spreadsheet Skills to a Higher Level
Room 280
Excel users who are already comfortable
with Excel fundamentals should attend this
class to learn more about advanced Excel
functionality. Using sample hospitality
industry workbooks, this course focuses
on functions and other advanced features
that will enhance the user’s knowledge of
Excel and ability to customize the software.
Prerequisite: “Critical Excel Tools for the
Meeting Professional” or similar Excel skills
and knowledge.
Speaker: James Spellos, Meeting U
Myth-Busting on the High Seas:
Perception vs. Reality When It Comes
to Cruise Meetings
Room 240
The presenters, joined by other meeting
professionals with cruise ship experience,
will discuss how cruise ships can be used as
cost-effective, memorable venues for meetings and incentive events. You’ll hear reallife examples about how cruise ships offer
safe, unique and remarkable venues and
experiences in a cost-justifiable and productive manner to host meetings for groups
ranging in size from 10 to 6,000 people.
Speakers: Christine Duffy, Cruise Lines International Association; and David Kliman, The
Kliman Group
There’s an App for That
Room 263
Mobile conference programs, interactive exhibit guides and floor plans, lead retrieval,
mobile blogging, hotel sales kits, portable
conference specifications and guides, “event
way finding” and a wide range of travel
tools are just a few of the applications available. Planners, exhibitors, attendees and
event suppliers now have many new options
to improve their participation in and collective experience at events.
Speaker: Corbin Ball, Corbin Ball Associates
2:15 - 5:15 p.m.
Creating a Web of Influence
Room 260
As the needs of the industry change, meeting and event professionals are tasked with
thinking and planning meetings in a more
strategic way. Creating a “web of influence”—building strong relationships with
key stakeholders, co-workers, clients and
others—is an increasingly critical aspect of
strategic thinking and meeting management.
Speaker: Stephanie Harris, American Express
Getting More: How to Negotiate for
Greater Success in Work and Life
Room 224
In this afternoon workshop, Dr. Stuart
Diamond describes the revolutionary new
negotiation tools from his most popular
course at The Wharton School and New
York Times bestselling book, Getting More.
It includes the “12 invisible strategies” that
have helped more than 30,000 CEOs, lawyers, heads of state, parents, administrative
assistants and everyday people save billions
of dollars and improve relationships.
Speaker: Stuart Diamond, Global Strategy Group
Word Education Congress 2013:
Designing the Meeting You Want to
Attend
Room 123
This is your chance to collaborate with
meeting design experts and MPI staff in
designing possible scenarios for next year’s
World Education Congress. You’ll interview
and hear from key meeting staff regarding their overall goals and objectives. That
information will form the basis of strategies and tactics recommended by session
participants for consideration in designing
next year’s conference.
Speaker: John Nawn, The Perfect Meeting
4 - 5:15 p.m.
Corporate Social Responsibility
in Practice: Your Meetings, Your
Delegates, Your Communities
Room 261
The final roundup of year one of MPI’s
global CSR study provides insights into how
and why the industry is engaging in CSR
and explores the value and importance of
CSR to international delegates and client
organizations. Using case studies of CSR
in practice, interview results and survey
findings, the key takeaways for meeting
planners will be revealed.
Speakers: Alexandra Kenyon and Simon Woodward, both from The International Centre for
Research in Events, Tourism and Hospitality,
Leeds Metropolitan University.
Sunday
Schedule
Making WEC a Better Place for
People to Connect
Room 274
Renowned conference facilitator Misha
Glouberman has agreed to partner with us
in developing ideas to make future WEC
conferences more participatory in order
to make it easier for participants to pursue
their own particular interests, to find others who share those interests and to learn
from each other.
Speaker: Misha Glouberman, Collective Intelligence
Mobile Meetings: Earning Snaps with
Killer Apps
Room 280
This interactive session will offer ideas on
the use of smart devices in the management
of meetings and events and in meeting the
needs of business in general. Attendees are
encouraged to bring your devices, share
your best practices and enlighten your colleagues on your favorite mobile tools and
applications.
Speaker: James Spellos, Meeting U
The “Melting Pot” Perspective:
Incorporating Values from a Wide
Array of Stakeholders
Room 240
The meeting and event industry is evolving, thanks to a growing “melting pot” of
involved parties, all with unique perspectives adding to the mix. Attend this
presentation for a “melting pot” perspective and gain a broader understanding of
how stakeholders with differing values and
viewpoints can work together in “Creating a New Connectivity” toward collective
success.
Speakers: James Ruszala, Martiz Travel Company; and Melissa Nahama, Maritz TravelPhiladelphia
Venue Contracts: The Current Trend,
Interesting Case Studies and Looking
Ahead
Room 263
In this informative program, we will
explore the latest and greatest in negotiating event contracts, including how and
whether bargaining power and negotiating
strength have changed due to the recent
recession. We will take a look at significant
legal language from the venue, planner and
group position to help increase understanding of the changes in the contracting
process.
Speaker: Gregory Duff, Gravey Schubert Barer
All events held at America’s Center
Convention Complex unless otherwise
noted.
6 - 8 a.m.
5K Fun Run - A Visit Salt Lake
Wellness Event
Location: The Gateway Arch
Sponsored by Visit Salt Lake
7:30 - 8:30 a.m.
Calgary Stampede Pancake
Breakfast
Location: Room 221 (Invitation Only)
Sponsored by Meetings &
Conventions Calgary
7:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Registration
Location: Room 106
8 - 9:30 a.m.
Knowledge Co-Creation Session
Location: Room 123
8 - 9:45 a.m.
Hosted Buyer Appointments
Location: Hall 2
8 - 9:45 a.m.
Cruise Lines International
Co-Creation Session
Location: Room 116
8 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
MPI Foundation’s Silent
Auction
Location: Level 2 Plaza Atrium
8:45 - 9:45 a.m.
MPI Publications Focus Group
Location: Room 231
10 - 11:30 a.m.
General Session
Location: Hall 3
11:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
RISE Awards Lunch
Location: Hall 4
2:15 - 3:30 p.m.
Education Sessions
3:30 - 5:05 p.m.
Hosted Buyer Appointments
3:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Puppy Cuddling
Sponsored by St. Louis CVC
Remember:
Your conference
badge is required
for admittance
to all WEC
activities
4 - 5:15 p.m.
Education Sessions
5:15 - 6:15 p.m.
MarketSquare Reception
8:30 - 11:59 p.m.
The Big Deal
(TIcket required)
26 ONE+ ONSITE
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
ON
ONSITE
All photographs by Orange Photography
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
ONE+ ONSITE
29
ON
ONSITE
Bring Your
Résumé
& Career
Questions
to the Hub
The Future is Now
Human Bingo kicked off Saturday for the nearly
20 delegates that applied for and were granted a
scholarship to attend the IMEX-MPI-MCI Future
Leaders Forum (FLF) at this year’s World Education Congress (WEC).
To make the bingo scheme work, organizers
collected an interesting fact from each participant
in advance and presented the info to all, without
naming names. The goal then became determining
who said what without specifically asking. The
game transformed a day of upcoming meetings
with strangers immediately into a fun, personable
form of speed networking. Responses included
the following.
“I love to roller skate, but can’t go backwards.”
“I served as a high-school mascot for three
years.”
“I am a master cupcake maker.”
“I am a renowned air guitarist.”
“I want to be a kid when I grow up.”
Thus, at the FLF, delegates had to leverage
amateur CSI skills in the course of meeting peers.
Investigative skills also had a place as Miguel
Neves, knowledge and social media manager for
the IMEX Group, discussed professional networking in-person and online—essential skills as 25
percent of those at the FLF are seeking their first
position in the meeting industry.
The group was further educated (and entertained) as Patrick Delaney, vice president of industry
relations for the MCI Group, gave an inspirational
lecture on how to take your first steps professionally
and investigated the mindset of job applicant and
interviewer—a presentation playfully titled “World
Peace / Gun Control / Awesome Career.”
Future leader Tiffany Graham then gave a brief
STOP BY AND SIGN UP FOR SESSIONS with one
of nine career coaches for one-on-one, 20-minute
coaching sessions in The Hub: Career • Health •
Knowledge (Room 121, 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.).
While you sign up, grab a healthy snack and learn
about MPI’s knowledge research, case studies and
products. Here’s a look at today’s speakers.
2 - 2:20 p.m.
Simon Woodward and Alexandra Kenyon
IS NOW THE TIME FOR CSR?
More and more businesses are requesting socially
responsible event management. Learn headline
findings from MPI’s recent CSR research, and
focus on what your delegates really want to know.
2:30 - 2:50 p.m.
Jackie Mulligan
PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE
presentation on her project for the FLF University Challenge, “Mastering a Mosaic Mentality:
Demystifying Multicultural Issues in Meeting
Management.” Graham takes her program to
IMEX Frankfurt next to challenge four other
future leaders from around the world.
Check out the FLF Facebook page to engage
with future industry leaders: www.facebook.
com/ImexMpiMciFLF.
And no, I’m not going to reveal which
future leader is behind each of the Human
Bingo admissions/statements. That’s your
job—and my gift to you. As you’re chatting
with future leaders at WEC over the next
few days, consider this: You may be speaking with a former mascot or a renowned air
guitarist.
30 ONE+ ONSITE
3:30 - 3:50 p.m.
Miguel Neves
SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES FOR
EVENTS
Learn how to best combine social media with live
events to benefit the attendee experience. Taking
IMEX America as a case study we will look at the
overall strategy and the practical solutions that
can enhance any conference or event.
Dogs’ Day
of Summer
JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS INTO THE 2012
World Education Congress (WEC), conference
goers gathered in the America’s Center Convention Complex (ACCC) lobby to partake in the
community service project, which benefited Stray
Rescue of St. Louis.
The group split into two, with one segment
staying behind at the ACCC for the “Doggie
Treat Baking Workshop,” while the other boarded
a bus to Stray Rescue’s nearby animal shelter to
help in a “Doggie Day Spa.”
The second of its kind to happen in St.
Louis—the first taking place last year at an ASAE
conference—Jason Schipkowski, director of
marketing and development, says these types of
events are simply incredible for the organization.
“There are a couple components to it—it
gives us general awareness about what we do and
responsible pet guardianship,” he said. “As far as
[the participant’s] direct contact with the dogs—
they get socialized and get lots of attention—it
helps them become more adoptable.”
Schipkowski added that the quicker the dogs
are able to become fully adoptable, the quicker
the organization is able to rescue other stray dogs
within the city. He says Stray Rescue holds more
than 500 dogs in its locations.
Back at the ACCC commercial kitchen, par-
What will the future of meetings look like? Find
out about the latest trends from MPI’s research
team at Leeds Metropolitan University, and learn
what skills you may need for the future.
4:30 - 4:50 p.m.
Jessie States/Miranda Van Brück
MEASURE YOUR BUSINESS VALUE
Find out how a new tool kit, supported by the
MPI Foundation and AIBTM, can help you start
the journey toward measuring the business value
of your events. Measuring your success can and
will lead to innovation and, ultimately, better
meetings.
5:30 - 5:50 p.m.
John Nawn
HOW DO YOU MEASURE A MEETING’S
SUCCESS?
ticipants learned from experienced bakers who
specialize in making tasty dog treats.
At the Stray Rescue headquarters, WEC
volunteers manned three different stations—
bathing, drying and grooming—to essentially
spoil the dogs with a spa day. One-by-one,
dogs were brought from their kennels, in the
air-conditioned shelter, to the yards outside to
receive their pampering.
“It’s important to get shelter dogs ready for
adoption,” said Sarah Ferreira, senior corporate
event specialist for SVB Financial Group. “I’ve
always had shelter dogs, so for me, this is kind of
a perfect fit to give back and get the dogs clean
and ready for adoption.”
For Megan McGuire, event specialist for
Express Services Inc., it was an opportunity that
World Education Congress 2012 • Sunday, July 29
she couldn’t pass up as an avid animal lover.
“Being able to come here and do this while I’m
here to learn about my industry is a really great
incentive,” McGuire said. “The things that [Stray
Rescue] does here is really amazing, and for 63
people on staff to take care of these wonderful
animals is pretty cool.”
At the conclusion of the project, the group that
stayed at the ACCC met with the other volunteers
at the shelter to bring the freshly baked doggie
treats to complete the dogs’ day spa.
If you missed the CSR project and the first day
of Puppy Cuddling, there are ample opportunities
at WEC to give some love to energetic puppies
at the Level 2 Plaza Atrium from 3:30-6:30 p.m.
today, 9:30-11 a.m. and 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Monday
and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday.
Without meeting objectives you can’t determine
whether your meeting was a success or not. Bring
your burning questions about objectives and try
to stump the expert. Learn a couple of simple
techniques for developing appropriate business
and meeting objectives in the process.
Scan the
Microsoft Tag
to check out a
“Doggie Day
Spa” online
video.