Sunday, 1 March 2009
Pre Conference Sessions
Chapter Leaders Forum
Stephane Baillee-Gee
10:00-16:00
This session is especially designed for MPI’s chapter leaders (board members of MPI’s chapters). This year’s Chapter Leaders Forum will focus on leadership conversations and will be brought to you in a challenging and exciting format by Stephane Baillie-Gee. This session is based on advanced collaborative techniques that allow the participants to generate and share concrete ideas and solutions. Make sure you don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to connect yourself with the energy of many.
Leadership conversation topics include:
- Economic challenges
- Engaging, retaining and satisfying members,
- Volunteer involvement/board engagement
- Succession planning
Leading and Negotiating Effectively Across Cultures:
Utilising the CultureActive® Tool for Your Needs
As your organisation becomes increasingly international, there are more demands placed on you. It is not easy to get your message across and influence people with your same background, but the challenge is greater when they have different values and beliefs, organise their world in different ways, and communicate and listen differently.
In this session, you’ll learn to apply MPI’s Culture Active Tool® to improve your ability to understand and communicate with other cultures. By using Culture Active, you can more effectively execute meetings by accommodating the cultural expectations and preferences of your clients - a critical skill for doing business in today’s global environment.
Community Knowledge Plan Informational Session:
Life-Long Learning with MPI
15:00 – 16:30
Are you interested in an industry designation, but not sure which one is right for you? Come and learn about MPI’s Community Knowledge Plan. The Community Knowledge Plan is intended to ensure that your development needs are met throughout the entire course of your career within the meetings and events industry, with multiple points of entry and engagement for personalized 24/7 professional and career development. This session will sort through the various options and opportunities that MPI has on offer.
MPI New Member Orientation
Eric Rozenberg
15:30 – 16:30
Did you recently join the MPI community? Is this your first time at an MPI conference? Are you not sure if you are getting everything out of your membership yet? If you have answered any of these questions with “yes,” then this orientation session is for you.
You will learn more about what MPI is, how you can benefit from your membership, and what our latest projects are. We will also give you ideas on how to work the conference, i.e. how to pick the right sessions and how to network during the social gatherings. If you want to be fully informed about MPI before the conference has even started, than this is a must-attend session.
IMEX/MPI Future Leaders Forum: Welcome Briefing
Tom Hulton
The Future Leaders Forum is run jointly by IMEX and Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and is designed to encourage the best and brightest students to enter the meetings and incentive travel industry post-graduation. Approximately 2,400 students have passed through the programme since it launched in 2003, and 80 percent of participants have reported they are more likely to enter the industry as a result of attending the Future Leaders Forum. The new Future Leaders Network is aimed at offering former student attendees a network of peers from around the world, as well as continued career guidance and opportunities. The Welcome Briefing will kick-off this year’s Future Leaders event.
Tom Hulton is from IMEX.