MPI Creates Industry’s First Global Knowledge Plan
MPI members now have access to a robust knowledge platform that will leverage their careers and train them for the future.
We are experiencing a crucial time in the life of the global meeting and event industry: Unprecedented growth matched with newly realized vulnerabilities and the dire need for workers. Although this represents a significant risk to the industry, it’s a call to direct our collective and individual futures and create a roadmap to success.
The industry has simultaneously seen rapid growth in some regions and sharp decline in others. New and expanded meeting and event infrastructure is booming worldwide, with an explosion of space at convention centers, hotels and all subtypes of venues heading to market. Available meeting space is expected to more than triple in some regions between 2007 and 2011.
Along with this growth arises the need for an expanded and more-skilled workforce. Those developments and the growth of our industry in terms of number of meetings and events has led to an increasing demand for trained and skilled professionals with globally transferable knowledge and competencies. The hospitality sector workforce demand is expected to increase at least 4.9 million by 2015, with an estimated 20 percent specifically needed in the meeting and event industry. Along with that, there is a shift in business to increasingly focus on performance and knowledge generation. Unfortunately, our industry has lacked a body of knowledge to map the needed skills and competencies for meeting professionals. There is, therefore, no clear career pathing and a limited pipeline for talent.
At the same time, we must also be prepared for attacks on the meeting 
industry similar to those which we experienced earlier this year due to misperceptions in the U.S. media and unfortunate and ill-formed statements by politicians. The industry is also vulnerable to seemingly unrelated economic turmoil. It is therefore crucially important to be able to demonstrate clear measurements on the return of meetings.
The MPI Knowledge Plan, the most defined approach yet to address these ever-growing issues and plot a course for personal and industry-wide professional growth. The plan offers a clear career path and a comprehensive knowledge set that will ease recruitment, retention and enhance training. It will deliver a global standard through certificates and certifications providing transferability, employability and increased compensation.
Read the complete story of the MPI Knowledge Plan, and check out the ongoing feature coverage at www.mpioneplus.org.