The Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress welcomed about 3,200 registrants to the Miami Beach Convention Center on Sunday. At the opening session, outgoing chairperson of the board Hugh Lee, president, Fusion Productions, gave an impassioned thank you and farewell speech and then passed the baton to Chistine Duffy, MPI's new chairperson, president/COO of Maritz Travel, whose mantra for her year of leadership was "the power to influence."
Glen Reigheart, CAE, CMM, CMP, director of meetings and conventions for the National Community Pharmacists Association, was named International Planner of the Year; and Coleman, CMM, owner of The Conference Works, was named International Supplier of the year.
Much progress has been made on MPI's Career Pathways Initiative, renamed Professional Pathways, which is expected to launch in January. It is part of MPI Member Solutions, a suite of online and offline personalized products and services aimed at meeting the career growth and resource needs of meeting professionals.
Marsha Flanagan, vice president of professional development for MPI, also announced that six related industry associations based in Washington, D.C., including the American Society of Association Executives and the Convention Industry Council, have pledged cooperation and support for MPI's plan to lend continuity to terminology and to standardize aspects of the career development program that might overlap.
For more on the meeting, look for the August issue of Corporate Meetings & Incentives.