As part of its continuing quest to put meeting planning on the professional map, Meeting Professionals International rolled out a Web tool known as Member Solutions in January at its Professional Education Conference North America in Charlotte, N.C.

Members complete a skills assessment survey, which can match their skills to descriptions of jobs they aspire to. The other part of the package is My MPI, a personalized Web site delivering content based on their skills assessment, and the MPI Resource Center, which offers one-on-one career counseling and job searching.

The key to the program's success, said MPI Chairwoman and Maritz Travel Co. CEO Christine Duffy at the launch, is getting planners to participate. With a VIP room specifically set up in the Charlotte Convention Center for the process, more than 450 members had completed a skills assessment by the time the conference had ended.

At the time this issue of CMI went to press, that number had grown to more than 500, said MPI spokeswoman Kelly Schulz. “Our goal by June 30 is to get 2,000 planners to complete the assessment,” she said. “We are a quarter of the way there, and that's a good start.”