With this week’s return of IMEX America in Las Vegas, the Meetings Mean Business Coalition has released the details of the seventh Global Meetings Industry Day that will showcase the value of business events across the worldwide economy.
MMBC Co-chairs Fred Dixon, president & CEO of NYC & Company, and Michael Massari, chief sales officer for Caesars Entertainment, issued a statement about the day of awareness and advocacy set for Thursday, April 7, 2022. While the 2020 and 2021 versions of GMID took place virtually, the destinations where planners and suppliers will gather in 2022 are aiming to “shine a light on value of safe, successful in-person meetings and events—the building blocks of recovery and the future of work.” GMID allows planners and suppliers to demonstrate to corporate and political leaders the educational and financial impacts that conferences, conventions, and trade shows have on people, businesses, and overall economic health.
Dixon (photo here) and Massari (photo below) noted that “the United States and other countries are taking steps this month to lift travel restrictions for vaccinated foreign travelers. We applaud these actions and understand that GMID 2022 may be one of the first moments we have to unite at scale and champion the industry’s value globally.
“The services provided by the meetings industry often go unnoticed, but the economic impact is unmistakable. Prior to the pandemic, in-person meetings supported 5.9 million American jobs—more than the telecommunications and oil/gas extraction industries—and spurred hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue. Professional meetings and events remain essential to employee education, training, collaboration, and retention, and it’s difficult to overstate the value of in-person meetings, business travel, and hospitality services to the economy’s resilience and recovery.”
As in 2021, the theme for GMID 2022 will be Meet Safe. “Successful in-person meetings are possible and taking place around the world, in accordance with local protocols and government regulations,” say Dixon and Massari, and GMID will show how through specific case studies. Further, MMBC encourages GMID participants to share their experiences executing safe meetings at MeetSafe.travel before April 7.
