Interesting to follow the story of poor business management decisions made by the General Services Administration (GSA) in conducting a meeting, as well as some of the industry reaction. I certainly do not see the executive resignation and terminations as condemnation of the meeting industry or meetings and events as ineffective business vehicles. 

As a meeting professional, I see it as a reminder that as professionals we are accountable for our actions and compliance with the established policies of our employer or client—and also for the exercise of sound professional judgment with personal integrity. And if we make poor personal choices, we have to face the consequences—which is clearly the case here. I am comforted that our members, and in fact the vast, vast majority of meeting and event professionals everywhere, do not exercise the type of poor professional and personal judgment noted as facts in the proceedings. 

As a taxpayer, I am further comforted that the government has the necessary systems and policies in-place to ensure compliance is monitored.

As MPI completes its research into the Business Value of Meetings and complementing tools that will help planners measure their success (due out at AIBTM June 19-21 in Baltimore), it's more important than ever to insist that meetings like the one in 2010 are simply no longer acceptable (if they ever were at all). The final step to proving the business value of your events in analysis and reporting, at which point you find out whether or not your goals were accomplished, and why. This stage is critical for ongoing improvement and success, and a step it is clear the GSA never considered. Here is a list to current MPI resources that will help you prove the value of your events.

Research
Business Value of Meetings
The Value of Virtual Events
The Future of Meetings

White Papers
Perception vs. Reality
Stakeholder Commitment
Defining Your Objectives
Meaningful Measures
Analysis and Reporting

Recent Articles
Fear of Measurement
Show Me the Value
The Case for Change 

Podcasts/Webinars
Business Value of Meetings Research Part 1
Business Value of Meetings Research Part 2
Business Value of Meetings Research Part 3
Business Value of Meetings Research Part 4

In reviewing the proposed amendments to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) in the ethics rules for US government employees issued on Sept. 13, MPI acknowledges that these amendments impact the meetings and events of more than 1,800 of our association planner members directly and has cascading impact to our industry at large.  Per the recent US Economic Impact Study the meeting and event industry alone contributes $106 billion in annual GDP, supports 1.7 million jobs and generates $25.6 billion in combined federal and state tax revenues to the US economy.  This is not a time to be putting this economic engine at-risk by having the government impose restrictions on participation.

The proposed amendments are clearly the OGE’s efforts to extend the current gift ban which defines free attendance to events (both professional and social) as a gift.  The proposed extension prohibits not only political appointees (as it does currently), but also all US government employees from participating at no cost. This at a time when their participation within trade association events could be the very thing that helps find solutions and implement best practices to the fiscal challenges the country is currently facing- all at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

In a time where our government faces financial shortfalls and the need to collaborate on solutions to the challenges we have domestically, economically and across all industries is critical, limiting government participation in trade association education, networking and events will create barriers to engagement at a time where collaboration is the key to working out our challenges.  

We need federal government employees at all levels to engage with business, labor and community leaders to shape solutions that are going to affect the future of our country.  We are all part of the solution. The best way to develop collaborative solutions for all stakeholders is through fiscally responsible, well-designed and professionally implemented face-to-face meetings and events.

We encourage our membership and our industry peers to review the proposed amendments quickly and consider their impact.  Comments on these proposed changes are due to the OGE before Nov. 14, 2011.  ContactOGE@oge.gov

Notes:
Economic impact statistics are gathered from the US Economic Impact Study conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers that MPI jointly funded with the Convention Industry Council, US Travel Association and other leading industry associations.
ASAE has provided a thorough review document which is located here.

It's #WEC11, and I have no fewer than four event flows to review, three sets of remarks to rehearse, two apps to download and one back to crack. But I’m PUMPED. As I connect to the energy of the banter on the various social networks, I get the digital equivalent a caffeine jolt. The relentless speed and breadth of our industry never ceases to amaze me, as does the constant thirst for information and connections.

It's all part of the new rules of engagement that inspired the redesign of WEC 2011 in Orlando.

At the Sunday OGS, TED-speaker Simon Sinek is going to first make sure we focus on the “WHY” as in “why should you care?" That’s not just an axiom for #WEC11 but for all of us on how we manage our businesses.

One of the key new rules of engagement is what I call “thinking outside the room.” For #WEC11, we’re deploying an armada of mobile and desktop connection platforms aimed at enriching attendee value and also for those members who cannot make it to #WEC11. This includes our mobile apps, which this year also includes a #WEC11 tablet app AND the industry’s first-ever publication app for One+. And for those of our members that cannot make it to fabulous Orlando, you can get the conference experience on your desktop with MPI Live. Our partners at Fusion Productions are working with us to bring you some great #WEC11 content directly to you via the MPIWeb Home Page. While all these will fill up your mind and keep you up-to-date/connected, they’ll also not weigh you down and will reduce our carbon footprint by reducing paper.

Then there is our marketplace experience. Gone is the traditional trade show, replaced with individual hosted buyer appointments and conversations. We weren’t sure how it would resonate. We’re thrilled that it sold out not once, but twice with almost 4,000 appointments scheduled and counting.

There’s also the new formats and networking opportunities. In the spirit of co-creation, our spring Meeting Madness campaign helped guide some key session selection. Flash Point is back and the speakers are already connecting with our attendees in webinars and the like. I predict that the Solution Room is going to be a crowd fave. We rolled it out last February in Dusseldorf, and it was a highlight reel all on its own.

Finally, there’s Orlando. One of the most creative cities on the planet. There’s no better place to seek design inspiration when you’ve got the spirit of Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter everywhere. The host committee is pulling out all the stops to blow us all away.

In closing, reading this…and it's not a complete list…I cannot help but be BLOWN AWAY by what our entire team has delivered. You all ROCK! And that’s probably what’s got me most excited of all.

Safe travels…have a great #WEC11.

From MPI's Getting Business Done insert distributed to 300,000 US business professionals in 26 US metro areas this week through American Business Journals. Get it here

2011 is going to be a better year for business in the U.S. We’ve just endured a year where it seems everything from volcanoes to snow storms and oil spills to bed bugs impacted our respective businesses in some way. So, we dug in. We improvised. We innovated. We connected. And as a result our businesses are in better shape than they were a year ago, with a more positive outlook for the future. American consumer confidence has jumped 33 points in the past 24 months to over twice what it was in December 2008. The old adage “what fire doesn’t consume, it hardens” has never rung more true.

Through it all, we once again discovered that what would power businesses through the great recovery of 2010 was a steadfast commitment by business leaders to the power of being connected to their people and to their customers. During 2009, research done by Forbes Insight, Oxford Research and George P. Johnson confirmed that face-to-face meetings/events and business travel were critical to driving business performance. Businesses across America paid attention.

Despite the overwhelming temptation to eliminate or reduce sales meetings, customer meetings and business travel during a year of uncertainty, successful businesses made an investment in human connections. The MPI Business Barometer of meeting and event industry business activity more than doubled during 2010. Meetings and events were back and they were helping power the recovery.

Answering the call to innovation in a period of discontinuity, successful businesses redesigned their meeting and event experiences to better drive enterprise performance in a post-recessionary America. We’ve tried to capture some of those stories within the pages of this publication. In (“Building Events Around a Story”), Symantec focused their strategy on storytelling for their 2010 Worldwide Sales and Marketing Conference in order to help educate and engage attendees. The result was greater team communication, delivering transformational sales performance and customer satisfaction growth for each quarter of their new fiscal year.

This emphasis on redesigning meetings and events for the new business reality has spurred additional strategic success stories. Across the human connections spectrum, from incentives (“Re-inventing Incentives”) to trade shows (“The Big, Green Apple”) to regional conferences (“Local Favor”), we’re seeing that events must now deliver more than ever before on business objectives, overall organizational ROI and social responsibility.

What’s the outlook for meetings and events in 2011? According to our FutureWatch 2011 study, the number of meetings and business events is expected to see an 8 percent increase. Additionally, businesses are making an anticipated 5 percent increase in what they invest in meetings and events.

American business has long been a crucible for innovation when conditions are at their most challenging. Instead of retreating to the comfy confines and sterile light of their cubicles, successful businesses in America got out and connected during 2010, and they are not backing down in 2011. It takes leadership courage to take advantage of new technologies and new collaborative community approaches to drive performance from an investment in meetings and events. In the end, perseverance pays off.

The result is irrefutable. Well-designed meetings and events drive enhanced business performance. And that will translate into continued business success and economic growth in 2011 for America. We all need some more of that.

 

 

 

Next Thursday February 17^th Chairman Eric Rozenberg and I will join leaders from 14 other meeting industry organizations and experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to release the long-awaited study on “The Economic Significance of Meetings to the US Economy.” PwC was hired to prepare and manage the year-long study, yielding some staggering findings on the magnitude of GDP, employment and taxes generated by the US meeting and events industry.

The study, the first of its kind in the United States, was inspired by the depth and credibility of a study undertaken in Canada. The Canadian study was conducted in 2008 and paid for by the MPI Foundation Canada. The study became a model around which further studies around the world were designed.

Immediately preceding the press conference at 130PM EST, an industry webinar will be held at Noon EST to brief members of our entire industry on the findings in the study. MPI members can get more info here and we encourage you to sign-up online. It's important that our members and all industry stakeholders tune in to understand the powerful national economic story our industry can tell. The study, webinar and other resources will be housed on a website maintained by the funding partners and the Convention Industry Council.

Following the release of the study next Thursday, participating industry organizations through the Convention Industry Council will begin to disseminate tool kits to constituents to support the delivery of key messages at the local and grass roots level. MPI will activate our powerful chapter network to help carry message. We will also work our own business media contacts. Funders are also exploring ways to sustain a long-term messaging program.

As a companion to next week’s announcement, MPI will release our bi-annual Getting Business Done – How and Why Meetings and Business Events Bolster Your Overall Strategy insert , in conjunction with American Business Journals. More than 300,000 business leaders in 26 metropolitan areas across the US will receive this insert in their local Business Journal. The content, provided by MPI's One+ magazine, provides case studies and business insights on how meetings and events drive business performance. It will also be posted on our websites and disseminated through our digital channels.

As you can see, lots of story-telling going on to support the continued recovery of our members and the public understanding of our industry.

Announcement Webinar:
The Economic Significance of Meetings to the US EconomyThursday, Feb. 17
12 p.m./12.00 Eastern Standard Time

Press Conference:
Thursday, Feb. 17
U.S. National Press Club
Washington, D.C.
1:30 p.m./13.30 Eastern Standard Time

 

The FIFA World Cup uses the storyline: “One game changes everything.” With the World Cup, FIFA is creating incredible national and global communities all around an event. NIKE is even taking it a step further with their “Write the Future” campaign invoking fans and athlete celebrities from around the world to dream their own story of success around the World Cup…and NIKE products of course.

As meeting professionals, we believe human connections are the most powerful forces accessible to mankind—they build community, inspire innovation, activate leadership and create opportunities. That’s why we can confidently say, “When we meet, we change the world.”

There seems to be no end to the challenges facing humans these days: economic crises, volcanic ash, oil spills. But I also believe that connecting people and their ideas are fundamental to finding solutions we could never have imagined on our own. Never have there been so many cultures and perspectives to connect with. Never have there been so many connection channels for people to use (or abuse). The art, science and magic of creating human connections in a complex world has never been more valuable than right now. And meeting and event professionals are virtuosos at creating communities that unleash the energy that proliferates when powerful human connections ignite.

Building community using a meeting as the activation vehicle is not a new idea by any stretch, but its importance as an engagement approach and co-creation engine keeps elevating as our worlds get more complex.

Creating and unleashing community energy is increasingly a powerful and deliberate outcome of a well-designed event in two ways: First, by co-creating innovative solutions to challenges or opportunities, attendees crystallize a powerful spirit of community ownership that almost always results in a greater success rate when the idea is broadly introduced. And for some of the challenges facing nations and organizations at the moment, innovation is essential to their survival. Secondly, meeting attendees develop an enduring common connection to a shared experience, idea or set of values that can be activated at/when needed. Brands such as Apple and Nike use their events by creating experiences to build and activate communities of followers to drive sales and brand buzz that endure well beyond the event itself. The recent iPhone 4 launch event was so successful at driving pre-sales that it overwhelmed the on-line order platform.

Community does not just randomly happen at a meeting or event. It has to be designed by the meeting professional using a balance of provocative inspiration, emotional engagement and attendee participation. Companies such as CISCO are using online games to engage their attendees. TED is so successful at creating community with its attendees (both live and virtual) that the attendees themselves are creating and managing their own TEDx events. A design key to building community at events is unrelenting engagement before, during and after. Resistance is futile. Passive attendance will not change the world.

One game, or meeting, can indeed change everything.

One of the meetings and events industry most outstanding professionals has died today after a long battle with cancer.

Vanessa Cotton gave up her role with Reed Travel Exhibitions earlier this year saying she had completed her role but she had kept details of her illness a secret from all but a few close friends. Vanessa had been in remission for the past couple of years but the cancer returned at Christmas. She fought her illness in secret with the same strength of purpose that made her so successful in her career and went into hospital two weeks ago.

Together with her husband, Mike Selway, she built her business The Event Organisation to become one of the most important conference organising agencies in the country, organising major corporate and even inter-governmental meetings. Vanessa and Mike were a formidable and perfect partnership on many levels.

Vanessa Cotton was dynamic, clever, witty, glamorous, energetic and perceptive. She served in roles on both the MPI Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Her contributions as a champion of MPI’s global evolution will long be remembered but it is the warmth of her personality that will be missed by all who knew her.

Our thoughts and prayers go to Vanessa’s family at this sad time. As soon as arrangements are made public, we will share the details with you.

I was recently informed of the passing of James E. Jones, CM. Jim passed away in April.

Jim was a charter member and was on the original Steering Committee that developed the idea of a formal organization for those who planned meetings and those that provided meeting facilities and services. He also served as MPI President in 1976-1977. Among many industry honors, in 2004, Jim was inducted into the CIC’s Hall of Leaders. Please find attached his obituary outlining the many honors bestowed upon him and his accomplishments.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to McLean Home Care and Hospice, 75 Great Pond Road, Simsbury, CT 06070, Attn: Hospice.
We invite you to share your memories of Jim. We will pass these on to Jim’s family as a tribute to his long and distinguished career with MPI.

Click here to read the obituary.

Recent legislative developments in Arizona are receiving understandable debate from coast-to-coast in the US...and beyond. Unfortunately the effects of the debate are also adversely impacting our industry and members. In light of these escalating effects, I feel it is important to clearly state MPI’s position on the current boycotts surrounding travel and events in Arizona.
 
Our industry is about connecting people, opportunities and ideas. Using travel boycotts as a political weapon in Arizona (or anywhere) only hurts the local communities and the 200,000 workers in the State that benefit from the meeting and event industry. It also frustrates growth and innovation at a time when its never been needed more. We encourage options for dialogue that don’t sacrifice a $7 billion Arizona meeting and event industry in the middle of an economic recovery.

Last night MPI lost a longtime member of our community.  It is with sadness that I share the passing of H. Ted Olson, CM. 

Ted joined MPI in 1972,  and was a charter member and an early pioneer in the formation of our association.  Retiring from an association executive position with Promotional Products Association International, he continued to be active in the industry and Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter promoting and supporting initiatives to improve our industry.  Ted became a MPI Lifetime Member in 2003.  Since his retirement, Ted was an active volunteer in his local community and served on multiple boards. 

Our thoughts and prayers go to Ted’s family at this sad time. 

A memorial service will be held Tuesday, May 4th at Calvary Church in Irving, Texas.   The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. until the service, which will begin at 11 a.m.   The family requests memorials go to the Boy Scouts of America, Circle Ten Boy Scout Foundation, P. O. Box 35726, Dallas, TX 75235; the Dallas Fort Worth Humane Society of Irving (DFWHS), 4140 Valley View Lane, Irving, TX 75038 (http://www.dfwhumane.com/Donate.shtml); and the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) Foundation, PPAI Foundation, 3125 Skyway Circle North, Irving, TX 75038-3526.