Bryan Lavin - MPI New England Chapter

I got started in the meeting and event industry completely by luck. As a senior in college studying to complete a degree in business administration concentrating in marketing, I had the chance to intern at the local CVB. Three of the seven people on staff left for bigger opportunities and I begin working full time as a convention sales coordinator. My first program was executing the first and second rounds of a large, rather popular basketball tournament—after that, I was hooked. I couldn’t believe that people did this type of thing for a living and I wanted to immerse myself in the industry.  

I would love to see our industry become a normalized career path. In my current role as a faculty member I work with high school seniors who are looking to get into the industry. They love to travel and have a passion for events, but just don’t see the obvious career paths that are out there. Our industry is much different than, say, accounting, and to have prospective students and their families come to us with a similar base knowledge will allow us to do so much more in the program to help prepare these students for their careers.

Working in this industry is pretty amazing—it’s borderline addictive. I am continually challenged to push outside of my comfort zone and experience things that I never would have thought I’d be experiencing 15 years ago. Every day is something different. It’s an industry that truly does allow you to be a lifelong learner. I have been open to every opportunity that has come my way, and because of that openness I have had an incredibly rewarding career thus far.

I joined MPI because my position was a sales role and I was the organization’s designated MPI representative. I would go to events and hope to make connections with meeting planners. I quickly found that the key to MPI was involvement at the chapter level. A good friend and colleague “suggested” (read: “volun-told”) that I join the MPI New England Chapter Education Committee. I chaired my first program in October 2008 having never actually planned a meeting before. In that moment I realized the value of MPI. A supplier could plan a meeting and learn what it was like to walk in the client’s shoes. I began to align my skill set with chapter needs and started speaking on marketing strategies. This offered value to the membership and helped me build trust and rapport within my market.

MPI taught me how to be a leader. I got a crash course in leadership the day I joined our board, as our chapter was in financial hardship and tough decisions needed to be made. MPI gave me hands-on training in financial management, leadership strategy, marketing, event production, education content development and conflict resolution—all for free, and all as a volunteer. I’ve said probably 1,000 times that MPI has been a part of every good thing that has happened in my career, and I believe that to be true 100 times over. 

This has always been a relationship business. However, in today’s landscape where we have technology changing communications, threats and challenges from new regulations and political decisions, more options, less budget and more things on our plates, relationships matter more now than they ever have. 

I married my high school sweetheart and we have an amazing daughter, Hope, and a little man on the way this fall!

After an incredible loss to start 2018, my focus has never been clearer on being my best self. I’m a five-day-a-week CrossFit athlete and have revamped my lifestyle to be the best version of myself so that I can take care of my loved ones for as long as possible.

Bryan Lavin is an assistant professor in the College of Hospitality Management at Johnson & Wales University and president of the MPI New England Chapter. He has been an MPI member since 2007.