Meeting Professionals International’s 2022 World Education Congress gets underway Tuesday, June 21. For those who didn’t make the trip to the Moscone Center in San Francisco, you can still experience some of the energy of the WEC by logging onto any of the 12 sessions offered through the event’s virtual platform.
But you might even grab a new idea before logging on, if you look closely at MPI’s strategy for providing access to the virtual event. Members can log in for free, but non-member planners or suppliers need to pay $50. That’s not a registration fee, but rather the cost of a discounted three-month preferred membership. The approach might provide a small revenue stream for MPI; more importantly, though, it gives MPI a three-month window to introduce itself to individuals with a demonstrated interest and who have already made a small investment in the relationship. When the three-month trial is over, those new members will be offered a 20 percent discount off the renewal rate.
The virtual element may pale in comparison to the more than 110 workshops, campfire sessions, interactive labs, and other educational sessions to choose from at the in-person event—not to mention receptions, meals, and coffee breaks where the networking ramps up. However, online attendees will get access to a live stream of the general-session speaker each day plus nine educational sessions over the course of the week. And those presentations will be available on-demand about a week after WEC closes.
On Tuesday, Riaz Meghji is the first of the three plenary session speakers during the opening general session (2:00 to 3:15 PT). Meghji is author of Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection That Build Extraordinary Relationships, and in the context of business connections he’ll discuss how to “spark authentic conversations, earn trust, create new business, and make small talk bigger.”
On Wednesday, Denise Soler Cox, director of the film “Being Eñye” will be in the plenary session spotlight during the general session (11:45 to 1:00 PT). On a day that MPI will be focusing on strategies for bettering your personal and professional self, Soler Cox will discuss the concept of belonging, and how this basic human need affects one’s perceptions.
Finally, the general session on Thursday (11:45 to 1:00 PT) will stream Scottish singer and songwriter Brian Allan, CEO of Rock Your Business. With an unconventional style that involves singing and positivity, Allan’s focus is on helping people lean into changes they want to make.
Among the nine other sessions that remote attendees will have access to is the MPI Town Hall, promising a “candid discussion about the current and future state of MPI,” with MPI’s CEO Paul Van Deventer and two members of the MPI International Board of Directors: Bonnie Carlson, CDME, president & CEO of the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Gary Schirmacher, CMP, senior consultant, talent acquisition, Maritz Global Events.
To view all the educational sessions that will be streamed live, visit the sessions page and in the “session format” drop-down menu, select “featured.”
