2015 YEARIN REVIEW

THE BEST IS YET TO COME
A Voice for
Our Community
Founded in 1972, Meeting
Professionals International(MPI) is the largest and mostvibrant global meeting andevent industry association.
Vision: To be the first choicefor professional career development and a prominent
voice for the global meetingand event community.
Mission: To provide MPI
members, chapters and theglobal meeting and event
community with innovativeand relevant education,
networking opportunities
and business exchanges,
and to act as a prominent
voice for the promotion andgrowth of the industry.

2 MPI 2015 Year in Review

I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PLEASED I am with the progress made at MPI in 2015. It is so exciting to not only
hear that our members are taking notice of our changes, but to also observe the groundswell of newfoundenthusiasm stirring within our community.
This MPI global team has been working hard to
implement a strategy focused on three key areas tocontinue to strengthen MPI as we evolve and transform
as an association:
1) Offering Professional Development
2) Enhancing Your Membership Experience
3) Advocating for Our Industry

Here’s a brief recap of our 2015 strategic efforts.
We introduced the MPI Academy and significantly
expanded our education offerings, including launching
our Experiential Event Series, the Sustainable Meeting
Professional Certificate, the Meetings and Events at Sea
Certificate and Meeting Essentials courses. We also reintroduced learning webinars and rolled out the Professional Development Roadmap to help members plan theirpersonal continuing education strategies.
With our partner the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), we delivered four classes of the updated
Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM) program—all receiving high satisfaction scores from participants,
with almost 100 percent saying they would recommend
it to others. And now there are more than 1,000 professionals who have earned the prestigious designation.
We launched a digital edition of The Meeting Professional magazine in an effort to increase convenience andsupport our sustainability efforts, as well as launched

MPI NewsBrief, a curated email news blast delivering
timely industry news and updates.
In addition, we made tremendous strides with redesigning our membership model and laying the foundationfor enhancing and expanding the infrastructure that we
provide to chapters and chapter leaders—all with theobjective of providing a more consistent experience forour entire global community.
And in support of our industry, MPI championed
the launch of the first annual North American Meetings
Industry Day last April, which expanded to Global Meetings Industry Day in 2016. MPI participated in several
industry lobbying efforts led by the U.S. Travel Association and the International Association of Exhibitions andEvents (IAEE) to educate political influencers about theimportance of our industry.
MPI also experienced a strong financial year. Our
total revenues were up 9.1 percent, and we relocated our
Dallas headquarters to a nearby location that is more
affordable and offers a more collaborative environment.
I am extremely optimistic and excited about our future.
But we are not nearly done.
As the old saying goes, thebest is yet to come!

Paul Van Deventer 		MPI President and CEO

Plenty to Be Proud Of
In 2015, we were committed to evolving MPI,
on all levels and through all member touchpoints. When I visited chapters last year, I
likened MPI’s evolution to a home renovation.
We were restoring the infrastructure and ensuring that the foundation was sound. And by
the looks of the educational offerings, special
events and marketplace opportunities that wereand continue to be developed, we have plenty
to be proud of and look forward to! I want tothank all of the individuals who served on theinternational board of directors since July 2014
through the end of 2015. You were all an inspiration to me throughthis journey.

Kevin Kirby
2015 MPI Chair

SEE WHAT MPI ACCOMPLISHED IN 2015

COMMUNITYI AM MPI AND I LOVE WHAT WE DO.
Members are the heartbeat of MPI, and their continued
development and success is central to every initiative weundertake. We couldn’t be more proud of the passion our
members show for MPI and the industry we love. Ourcommunity is strong and getting stronger.
MPI and other associations were not immune to thedifficult economic climate that we all faced in recent years,
and realized the need to rapidly and effectively adapt
our business practices. Although none of us could havepredicted the magnitude of the uncertain financial climate
and scrutiny we would face, we are stronger for it.
A STRONG AND GROWING COMMUNITY

We are very pleased to report that in 2015 we had the most
new members join MPI since 2011. Our expanded education and networking opportunities are resonating with ourmembers, resulting in higher retention rates as more members make MPI a critical piece of their professional success.
MPI is committed to being the first choice in professional
development, networking and business exchanges in the
midst of our constantly evolving industry and the increasing demands on our members to demonstrate a return on
investment for the meetings and events they produce.
We strive to exceed our members’ expectations every
day and we are thankful to our members for providing
us the necessary feedback and engagement to make that
happen. In our most recent membership and chapter
survey our members provided MPI with a global overallsatisfaction score of 8.23 (on a scale of 1 to 10), up from
8.1 the previous year. We saw similar increases in member
satisfaction across the board, including likelihood to renew
4 MPI 2015 Year in Review

and likelihood to recommend MPI. Our members’ supportand engagement in growing the MPI community is ourgreatest asset.
MEMBERS LEADING THE WAY

Our members are helping build the MPI of the future tobest serve the needs of our diverse membership and ourindustry. In 2015 we had 896 members serve as volunteer
leaders to advance our chapter network across more than
80 chapters and clubs in 22 countries. Our focus is on
bringing our chapter leaders the resources and support
they need in order to focus on the most important priorities to bring value to their chapters. MPI brought 280
chapter leaders together for a Chapter Leaders Forum in
San Francisco prior to World Education Congress (WEC)
2015. This well attended and extremely successful event
was expanded to include boot camp training for three
key chapter leader roles (presidents-elect and VPs ofeducation and membership) to ensure they are ready andinspired to lead our chapters in the year ahead.
MPI conducted the first annual European Chapter
Business Summit as part of the annual European Meetings and Events Conference (EMEC) in Krakow, Poland. As a complement to the North American Chapter
Business Summit, this European version allowed leaders
to receive the same professional development and chapter
training in a local setting. More than 40 European leadersparticipated in this day-and-a-half summit. The successof the summit will continue as part of EMEC conferences in the future.

A growing number of members are stepping forward
to serve on global committees, task forces and advisory
councils. Today we have more than 200 members assisting MPI Global as we continue to focus on what’s next
and redefining our future.
CONNECTING OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY

The strength of our community ensures that the best
and brightest minds in the meeting and event industry are at your fingertips, thinking through your same
issues and empowering you with information, ideas andresources that do more than meet challenges—they give
you the tools, support and inspiration to succeed.
MyMPI, our online member community, was relaunched in the fourth quarter of 2015. Members
embraced it and are using the tool to connect with peers
across the globe. A growing number of members are engaging in the conversation and more than 88 percent ofour members are receiving regular digest emails to learn
from the ideas and opportunities being shared.
CELEBRATING OUR BEST AND BRIGHTEST

2015 EUROPEAN CHAPTER BUSINESS SUMMIT
31 JANUARY - 1 FEBRUARY • RADISSON BLU • KRAKOW, POLAND

We are humbled by the number of members who aremaking a significant impact on MPI and the industry every day. We are so pleased to have the honor of celebrating our best and brightest.
The 2015 Chairman’s Award was presented to Janet
Sperstad, CMP, in honor of her efforts to successfully
have the profession of meeting planning recognized as an
official job definition by the U.S. Department of Labor.

MPI 2015 Year in Review

5

COMMUNITY

the

MPI

RISE

CONTINUEDAW A R D S

2015 RISE
Award Recipients

6 MPI 2015 Year in Review

MPI’s Recognizing Industry Success and Excellence(RISE) Awards are prestigious awards presented yearly thatrecognize and honor individual, community and organizational achievements for their innovation, global transferability, impact and influence. We were honored to present thefollowing RISE awards in 2015.
• RISE Award for Meeting Industry Leadership, presented
to David Peckinpaugh of St. Louis for his strategic global
influence on the meeting and event industry.
• RISE Award for Member of the Year, presented to Tara
Liaschenko, CMM, of St. Petersburg, Fla., for her
volunteer leadership with the MPI Tampa Bay Area
Chapter as well as other MPI chapters.
• RISE Award for Young Professional, presented to Kinga
Socko of Poland for her unique contributions to MPIPoland, EMEC 15 and the meeting and event industry.
• RISE Award for Community Achievement in Knowledge
and Ideas, presented to the Meeting Industry Councilof Colorado (MIC) for its MIC Educational Conference
and Tradeshow.
• RISE Award for Community Achievement in Marketplace Excellence, presented to the MPI Potomac Chapter
for their annual Flipped Marketplace program.
• RISE Award for Organizational Achievement, presented
to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities for its
refined strategy on its use of meetings and events to help
support its five key goals while producing fewer, yet moreenhanced, high-quality events with greater member
engagement.

STREAMLINING OPERATIONS TO
BETTER SERVE OUR MEMBERS

In 2014, MPI changed its fiscal year to a calendar year
schedule to better align with some key priorities, including MPI’s WEC, which takes place over the summer
months.
In 2015, MPI began operating with new bylaws voted
on by our members to better serve our members by allowing us to respond to market changes and increase ourability to provide products and services to our members.
After a governance review, the MPI bylaws were updated
for the purpose of adopting a streamlined, strategicallyfocused board and governance model that maximizes theimpact of qualified, knowledgeable board members who
add value through expertise, insights and consistency inthe board focus and direction. As a result, the size of ourboard is smaller and we now operate without an executive committee, which simply added another step in ourreview and approval processes.
EXPANDING OUR COMMUNITY

In November, MPI acquired the assets of Plan Your
Meetings, a leading, privately owned educational and networking resources company based in Atlanta. Plan Your
Meetings (PYM) produces live education, networking
events, an award-winning annual meeting planning guideand a variety of digital resources and tools for meeting
planners in the U.S.
With the addition of the PYM team and suite ofproducts and services, MPI has the opportunity to deliver quality, timely professional development program-@MEETING PROFESSIONALS INTERNATIONAL
ming to Plan Your Meetings’ broad audience of morethan 90,000 non-traditional planners, such as executive
assistants and other business professionals with meeting
planning responsibilities.
This expansion allows us to extend our reach andinfluence within the U.S. meeting and event community.
With this growth in our audience we will bring new
resources to our members and connect with more of the
non-traditional planner market and help this segment
grow professionally, supporting MPI’s ongoing efforts toelevate our great industry.
With the integration of the Plan Your Meetings
assets, MPI member benefits will expand to include
access to more digital resources and tools and regional
events, as well as the subsequent growth of MyMPI—
the online member community of MPI. In addition, MPI
supplier members, sales partners and sponsors will havethe opportunity to raise their brand visibility among animportant and often difficult-to-reach segment of meeting planners affiliated with the prominent MPI brand.

MPI 2015 Year in Review

7

EVENTS
TRANSFORMING MEETINGSAt MPI, we have a great honor that is also a great challenge and responsibility: to create events for the true
experts in the field—professional meeting and event
planners. We aim to take as many risks as possible with
our events, which are essentially learning labs, so that ourattendees can absorb as much as possible and take their
newfound knowledge back to the office for immediate
application. Through our events, MPI is committed toproviding industry-leading professional development, networking and marketplace opportunities for our members.
MPI SIGNATURE EVENTSThe annual World Education Congress (WEC) is thesignature event through which MPI delivers industry-leading education, unparalleled networking andcritical business opportunities to the meeting and event
community. For three days, WEC attendees are immersed
in a variety of learning experiences designed to transformthe way they plan meetings. WEC features programmingand people that allows attendees to think and grow in new
ways. The 2015 WEC in San Francisco featured an overallsatisfaction score of 97 percent and education satisfaction
score of 98 percent.
MPI has held an annual conference in Europe since1988. The European Meetings & Events Conference(EMEC) provides innovative meeting design formats,high-level education and quality networking opportunities
to meeting professionals throughout Europe, and the morethan 340 participants of the 2015 gathering in Krakow,

8 MPI 2015 Year in Review

Poland, gave the event a satisfaction score of 98 percent
and an education satisfaction score of 96 percent.
MORE IMPORTANT GATHERINGS

A strong partnership with IMEX America also continued in 2015 with Smart Monday powered by MPI. We
again offered a wide range of educational opportunities
and four daily keynotes to buyers and sellers at theshow. Survey results from 884 Smart Monday attendees
and over 2,000 MPI booth education session attendees
gave MPI education satisfaction scores of 99 percent(Smart Monday) and 93 percent (daily keynotes).
In fall 2015, MPI launched the Experiential Event
Series, which takes participants behind the scenes ofhigh-profile events, enabling them to experience eventsfrom the attendee perspective and also earn certificatesin specialized areas of event management. These arealso unique opportunities to earn significant clock
hours through first-hand experiences, with very limitedclassroom time. The first program in the Experiential
Event Series, the Miss America competition, earned
a 100 percent satisfaction score, with 100 percent ofrespondents saying they would recommend the series toothers.
SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS

Sustainability is an important societal and businessfocus for MPI, as well as a concern for many of ourmembers, both professionally and personally. We continue to strive for ways to deliver positive value, while

minimizing negative impacts by proactively incorporating a variety of corporate social responsibility (CSR)
practices into all of our live events, including WEC.
Results in 2015 included the following:• 70 percent waste diversion at WEC host venue, theLevel 1 APEX/ASTM-certified Moscone Center.
• Working with SAVOR, the in-house catering
company at Moscone Center, approximately 2,735
pounds of food was donated to San Francisco
Impact, a local non-profit agency that servesindividuals in need.
• More than 350 WEC participants assembled 59,500
individual components into 3,647 welcome kits for
infants, toddlers, young children, teens and newmoms, benefitting the UCSF Benioff Children’s
Hospital San Francisco.

MPI 2015 Year in Review

9

PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
FREE YOUR MIND (AND YOUR CAREER)

PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Learning is a lifelong process, especially when it comesto delivering exceptional meetings and events, and
MPI’s vision is to be the first choice for professional
development in our industry. With rapidly changing
technology, evolving business standards and a renewed
focus on strategy, professional development is more
important than ever. Through certificate programs,
streaming education sessions and monthly webinars, weoffer meeting professionals what they need in order togrow their knowledge base and advance their careers.

ROADMAPEDUCATION: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHERMPI now connects all professional development offerings under one entity: the MPI Academy. The academy
offers several notable certificate programs, part of a“best in class” collection we’re cultivating, which includes flagship courses such as the Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM) and the Healthcare Meeting
Compliance Certificate (HMCC).
MPI’s Professional Development Roadmap lets you
identify where you are in your career and lays out thesteps you need to take to get where you want to be. It canbe used as a tool to map out your career, to continue youreducation or supplement your professional development.
In 2015, 111 senior meeting and travel professionals attended three-and-a-half-day CMM immersion
courses taught by Darden School of Business professionals. MPI is becoming the world leader in healthcarecompliance for meeting professionals, as evidenced by
10 MPI 2015 Year in Review

the fact that there was nearly one HMCC class every
other week throughout 2015. More than 450 medical
meeting professionals received the HMCC in 2015
and all 25 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in
the world sent staff to take the HMCC.
In addition to the certificate program offerings, theMPI Academy was excited to launch its webinar seriesin 2015. Internal and external subject matter experts delivered more than 15 unique online education sessions on
topics ranging from SMM to event technology, offering
attendees a great opportunity to earn clock hours.

Practitioner Certificate
In partnership with

PUBLICATIONSRECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE
The Meeting Professional is MPI’s flagship publication,celebrating the successes of our members and offering timely and relevant content in print and online.
The Publications team continued to deliver excellenceacross multiple media platforms in 2015, as evidenced
by awards bestowed by Association Media & Publishing and the American Society of Business Publication
Editors.

Regional Awards:
Gold: Special Section—2014 Year in Review
Gold: Original Research—Meetings Outlook
Silver: Feature Article—Marriage Equality and the
Local Economy
Silver: Feature Article Design—2014 Year in Review
Bronze: Newsletters General Excellence—MPIpulse
Bronze: Magazine Design

EXCEL Awards (Association Media & Publishing) are

MEETINGS OUTLOOK

billed as the largest and most prestigious awards program that exclusively recognizes excellence in nonprofit association media.

Meetings Outlook, MPI’s quarterly signature research
project, offers future-focused data that helps members
identify new trends and innovations on the horizon—
allowing them to budget and plan accordingly and ensuring a strong foundation for building sound strategies
that keep business on the path to success.

2015 Awards (for content produced in 2014)
Gold: Single Topic Issue (Food issue, March 2014)
Silver: General Excellence (for overall writing, content
and design)
Bronze: E-Newsletters General Excellence
AZBEE Awards (American Society of Business Publi-

cation Editors) is one of the most competitive awards
program for business-to-business, trade, association andprofessional publications.
2015 (for content produced in 2014)
National Awards:
Magazine of the Year Top 10 Finalist

DIGITAL DEBUTSMPI Publications debuted two new digital products in
2015.
MPI NewsBrief is a digital newsletter designed tooffer members expanded insight into broad-based
meeting and event industry news. The newsletter ispublished and emailed to members three times a week.
MPI also introduced a digital edition of The Meeting
Professional, creating another platform for members andadvertisers to experience their member magazine andalso reducing our footprint.

MPI 2015 Year in Review

11PARTNERSHIPS& COLLABORATIONADVANCING THE INDUSTRY TOGETHER
Creating a more collaborative environment among
MPI and other leading organizations was an important
goal for 2015, as it will only strengthen our collective
industry. MPI formed strategic partnerships with key
industry organizations such as IAEE, GBTA, HSMAI
and DMAI that leverage the newly formed MPI Academy offering and broaden our distribution of The Meeting
Professional magazine.
In addition, we renewed our IMEX America relationship to continue to provide world-class education
at IMEX America through the Smart Monday poweredby MPI and created a new partnership with the cruiseindustry by partnering with the Cruise Lines International Association to offer a “Meetings at Sea” certificate and promote cruise ships as interesting alternative
event venues.
Perhaps no collaborative effort is more important than MPI’s participation in the Meetings Mean
Business (MMB) Coalition, created in 2009 by the U.S.
Travel Association to showcase the incredible value thatbusiness meetings, travel and events bring to the U.S.
economy.
In 2015, the Convention Industry Council and MMB
expanded National Meetings Industry Day—a wildly
successful event created by MPI’s Canada chaptersnearly 20 years ago—into a North American celebra-

12 MPI 2015 Year in Review

tion. This day of advocacy brought together industry
professionals and showcased the substantial value of
meetings, conferences, conventions, incentive travel,
trade shows and exhibitions. Plans for a global iterationof the event for 2016 were quickly in the works.

MPI
FOUNDATIONINVESTING IN OUR FUTURE
The MPI Foundation is powered by its vision to secure
tomorrow by strengthening today. Scholarships, grants
and investment into pan-industry research continue toprovide education to our members. As we strengthen ourpartnerships with corporate contributors and expand our
networking and fundraising events, the opportunities
for professional development and career growth for MPI
members and the industry will multiply. Key 2015 highlights include the following:• Awarded more than US$1.3 million in grants,
		 scholarships and funding for pan-industry research
		 over the last 18 months.
• Awarded 35 chapter grants, a 59 percent increase		 over 2014.
• Awarded 230 total scholarships, a 207 percent
		 increase over 2014.
• Provided 60 meeting and event professionals with		 2015 World Education Congress (WEC) scholar		 ships, up from eight in 2014.
• Raised more than $435,000 at MPI Foundation
		 fundraising events at WEC 2015, a record high,		 and a record-setting $350,000 at Rendezvous at		 IMEX America.

13

THANKS TO OUR
2015 PARTNERSSTRATEGIC PARTNERSELITE PARTNERS

2015 INTERNATIONAL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chairman of the Board
Kevin Kirby
The KIRBY Consulting Group LLC
Chair-electFiona Pelham
Sustainable Events Ltd.
and Positive Impact
Vice Chair of FinanceErin Tench, CMP, CMM
The Pennsylvania State University
Vice Chair
Brian Stevens
ConferenceDirect

PREMIER PARTNERS

Immediate Past Chairman
Michael Dominguez
MGM Resorts International

Gerrit Jessen, CMP, CMM
MCI Deutschland GmbH
Allison Kinsley, CMP, CMM
Kinsley Meetings
Michael Massari
Caesars Entertainment
Audra Narikawa, CMP
Capital Group
Alisa Peters, CMP, CMM
Experient Inc.
Ken Sanders
Freeman Audio Visual Solutions

Amanda Armstrong, CMPEnterprise Holdings

Marti Winer
Drew University

Krzysztof Celuch, Ph.d.,CMM, CITE, CIS
Warsaw School of Tourism
and Hospitality/Poland
Convention Bureau

MPI Foundation Representative
Stephen Revetria
Giants Enterprises

Angie Duncan, CMP, CMM
Touch Associates
Annette Gregg, CMP, CMM, MBA

14 MPI 2015 Year in Review

Anne Hamilton
Walt Disney Company

Legal Counsel
Jonathan T. Howe, Esq.
Howe & Hutton Ltd.

Looking at the Year Ahead
WHEN WE MEET, WE CHANGE THE WORLD. I joined MPI
because I was inspired to be part of a community that
understood that bringing people together to collaborate andinnovate (in other words, meetings and events) is how theworld changes.
I believe 2016 is going to be exciting for MPI as our association continues to innovate to be an education, community
and advocacy partner for our members. Gone are the days
when you joined an association and sat back waiting to see
what your membership fee would deliver! In 2016, MPI will
go further than before to make it possible for our community
to create our careers the way we want them to be with a hostof new education certificates from the MPI Academy and anincreasing number of MPI Foundation scholarships.
MPI will also make it possible for members around theworld to create their association membership in a way thatworks for them with the launch of its new membership model.
Change can be a challenge, but also an inspiring opportunity. I am honored and proud to be your 2016 chair,and I can’t wait to meet even more of you. As membersof the MPI community we all have the opportunity to get
involved, take action and make a difference both in our association and in the wider meeting and event industry.

Fiona Pelham 		2016 MPI Chair

MPI 2015 Year in Review

15About MPI
Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is the largest meeting and event
industry association worldwide. The organization provides innovative and relevant education, networking opportunities and business exchanges, and acts
as a prominent voice for the promotion and growth of the industry. MPI has a
global community of 60,000 meeting and event professionals including morethan 17,000 engaged members and its Plan Your Meetings audience. It has
more than 90 chapters and clubs in 24 countries. For additional informationor to join, visit mpiweb.org.