For its upcoming World Education Congress at the Miami Beach Convention Center from July 10 to 12, Meeting Professionals International has designed an educational track for the fastest-growing segment of its ranks--independent planners and business owners--as well as a summit for association meeting planners. Attendance is limited to 140 participants per summit.
The educational offerings seem to be striking a chord with members, as registration for the WEC is running at a brisk pace, says Kelly Schulz, manager of communications at MPI. As of llate April, 900 were preregistered, putting the 2005 conference ahead of the pace set by the 2001 WEC in Las Vegas, which holds the record for attendance In addition, three of the conference hotels are already sold out.
The two new summits follow the success of the ROI Summit held at last year’s WEC in Denver. This year, “there is not a separate summit for ROI or corporate planners,” says Schulz, “although there will be several sessions on these topics as part of our regular professional development schedule.”
The Independent Business Owners Summit, July 11 and 12, features sessions such as branding and marketing; strategic alliances; human resources; financial matters; legal, contract, and liability issues; and mentoring staff and successors. “We think there’s a niche there and we want to be able to provide business skills for owning and running a business,” says Marsha Flanagan, vice president of professional development and strategic events at MPI.
Running concurrently is an educational track targeted to MPI’s 1,200 association planner members--the Association Planner Summit. To open the forum, Flanagan is putting together a panel of association chief executive officers to discuss the roles of association planners. Other sessions will address working with boards and volunteers, legal issues facing today’s associations, making boards strategic in order to take your organization to the next level, sponsorship, and the ways in which association planners and their roles within their associations have become much more strategic.
To register, visit www.2005wec.mpiweb.org.
