The new association for independent meeting planners, Meeting Planners Unite, has taken the next steps: launching a website, including an online membership application, and announcing the dates for its first conference.
David Bruce, managing partner at CMP Meeting Services, created the group in February in reaction to the drop in Marriott International’s commissions from 10 percent to 7 percent. While it started as conversations on LinkedIn and Facebook, Bruce saw the need for a dedicated group. “Three months ago, I wouldn’t have believed I was going to do this. But having an association that deals with only independent planners is a change we’ve needed for quite some time,” he said. “Meeting Planners Unite is the first time in history that independents have gotten together as an organization with the same goals, a place to share their concerns and their fears.”
Bruce hopes to grow the organization “to a point where our membership is equal to the largest companies which have independents working under their umbrella,” he said. “Once this happens, we hope to be able to negotiate with all chains to discuss our influence in the marketplace.”
The new website, www.meetingplannersunite.org, includes background on the association and membership information. Meeting planners (independents, corporate, and association) will be charged $249 annually. The supplier membership fee is $499, and after May 30, all supplier applications will need to be paired with a planner application to keep an equal balance of members.
Bruce also announced the tentative date of December 4-6, 2018, for the first Meeting Planners Unite conference. The fully hosted-buyer event will be held in Washington, D.C., with more details expected to be released soon.
The members of the MPU Board of Advisors include Bob Schuster, national director of meetings and conferences, CMP Meeting Services; Paul Trapp, CEO, EventPrep and Federal Conference; Suzanne Spaner, owner, Meeting Matchmakers; Robyn M. Mietkiewicz, CMP, CMM, senior director, global meeting services, Meeting Sites Resource; Jeff Berger, president and CEO, Conference Planning Resources.
