It’s been five years since Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest association for those in the meeting and event industry, acquired the Plan Your Meetings (PYM) brand. In that time, we grew the free education and networking PYM live events—even taking them into the digital sphere this year, complete with avatars!—and transformed the magazine into a dedicated guide for professional development resources in order to serve the needs of non-titled planners seeking growth. The impact of this change will ideally be minimal for PYM planners. For instance, over time, the most p ..read more

“Should I get a master’s degree or a certification?” It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot over the years. And my answer is usually an ironic, “Yes.” Asking, “Should I get a master’s degree or a certification?” is like asking, “Should I have an apple or should I have turkey and dressing with giblet gravy?” A certification and a degree are not equivalent. Believe me, I know. I have both. I’ve taught in both kinds of programs. Thus, it makes me irrationally crazy when I see a certification described as “the MBA of” any field. It’s not the MBA of a field. An MBA is an MBA (did I mention I’m a pro ..read more

If you’re like many corporate meeting planners, planning meetings and events may only be part of your job and you learn as you go, without formal training. But if planning meetings and events are a passion of yours and you want to become a meeting professional, there are 33 skills you need to master. The Meeting and Business Event Competency Standards (MBECS) The MBECS were created jointly by Meeting Professionals International and the Canadian Tourism Human Resources Council. The MBECS comprise 12 categories. A: Strategic planning B: Project management C: Risk management D: Financial man ..read more

Unprecedented and incredibly difficult. That’s the 2020 in which we find ourselves. While the coronavirus pandemic has decimated the live, face-to-face meeting and event landscape, there’s some reason to be hopeful. The meeting industry thrives due to the creative innovation of its community. Many assistants and non-titled planners have had to learn and embrace videoconferencing on a regular basis; many others have been furloughed or find themselves out of a job. However, for most of these situations, the best way to move forward is through education, professional development and acquiring/ho ..read more

To help combat the widespread in-person-event disruptor—the coronavirus—the Plan Your Meetings live event team is leveraging another disruptor by holding events in a virtual world. Don’t be confused, these are not videoconference calls; these events take place in an online virtual world. No one will be able to see the real you—there’s no camera involved—they’ll only see your avatar. Confused? Watch this video for a basic overview: Doing a test run with some other Meeting Professionals International and Plan Your Meetings staff, I was reminded—only in the most basic sense—of the first online ..read more

Successful managers develop a knack for knowing the right time for making key decisions, brainstorming and conducting meetings, among many other aspects of meeting management. When to make a key decision Psychology professor Timothy Monk, Ph.S, D.Sc., from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, asserts that in the late morning, as your body temperature rises, along with your alertness, your brain is prime to be at its peak in processing information. Likewise, your problem-solving capabilities are enhanced at that time. As your body temperature continues to rise, your mind is able to ..read more

I haven’t written a post here in a while as I wanted to wait until I had something important to say. Today is the day. Protestors across North America and the world are calling out for justice and equity. Police chiefs and country leaders, such as Canada’s Prime Minister, have joined them with supportive words. Some have even taken the knee. From the CEOs of Ben and Jerry’s to Salesforce to Canadian bank executives, there has been a call for racial equity. The main focus has been to demand equity and fair treatment in policing and the social justice system, but this is just one VERY large and ..read more

  In times of tumult, it’s easy to get caught up on nearly every major issue making the news. This is an ill-advised practice. It doesn’t matter on what side of the political spectrum you fall: These days, it’s easy to open a newspaper, surf the web, flip on the TV or tap your smartphone to find news items from around the world that are not to your liking. If this happens to you once a day, consider yourself lucky. For most people, it happens multiple times a day. All we can do is all we can do. Become the master of your own domain and that will be fine. Open up your intellectual kimono ..read more

This might come as a shock to you, but most of the interruptions you experience in the course of the day are self-induced. How so? Either you invited them and actually encouraged them to happen, or you failed to safeguard your spaces and places so that interruptions became likely. Invited it to happen? Anytime you proceed throughout the course of the work day, after work, and on weekends, with your cell phone nearby and the ringer ‘on,’ you are inviting an interruption. It might be one that you desire, such as to know who’s calling you. Still, you are the one who is in control of that immedia ..read more

To help educate professionals during this unprecedented crisis and to help prepare them for the inevitable recovery, many industry groups are amping up their online offerings and making them freely available, as the MPI Academy has done for much of its content. Following are some excellent, live online programs throughout May 2020. If you miss the original live broadcast, still click through as you’ll likely be able to view the recording. These are free but require registration. U.S. Travel launched a new weekly webinar series that looks toward the recovery of our industry and the broader eco ..read more