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In This Issue
Galveston Island CVB
Features

Stop looking around and look in the mirror! It is your time! Are you ready for this great opportunity? Here is your chance to help lead this association, which is dedicated to helping our members advance their careers while advancing yours at the same time. This is an opportunity to make a positive difference, distinguish yourself from your peers and stand out in our community.

Being a board member is a great way to meet and interact with more people in our industry and expand your scope of influence. Our strong and vibrant MPI chapter relies upon continued service from members like you to help lead our association. PMPI is currently seeking members to fill the following leadership positions on the 2012-2013 PMPI Board of Directors:

President-Elect
Vice President of Membership
Vice President of Communications
Vice President of Education
Vice President of Finance
(5) Board Directors

Please take a few minutes to review the Board of Directors Position Descriptions. As you can see, we have a lot of opportunities available to you. Take a hold of your future and take advantage of this time to experience working with a team of professionals who are charting the course for our chapter.

Among the many benefits include:

  • Playing a significant role in advancing your profession while being recognized for your efforts by key industry leaders.
  • Hands-on opportunity to enhance the value and impact the chapter’s future.
  • Sharing your unique skills and industry experience while learning from key industry leaders.
  • Opportunity to gain leadership experience in managing volunteers, budgets and projects.
  • Meeting and networking with other chapter leaders throughout the world.
  • Enhancing your chances to move forward within the industry while making a positive transformation to those around you.

Nominations for all positions will be in accordance with the PMPI Bylaws. Any planner or supplier member in good standing is eligible for nomination and election to these positions. The Governance & Nominating Committee is responsible for submitting a slate of candidates to MPI for the open positions.

In order to apply, you must submit a candidate interest form to be reviewed by the nominations committee. If you believe a colleague has great leadership skills, please encourage him or her to submit a completed Candidate Interest Form. Your interest form should include the skills and talents you can bring to the board, any past involvement with the chapter, recognition of the time commitment involved in a leadership role and a declaration of your employer's support.

Applications are now open online and will close February 1, 2012, for terms beginning July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013.

Click Here for the Candidate Interest Online Form and for more information about the application process. Please note, once you begin this online form, you must complete it in its entirety. You will NOT be able to save your work within this form. It is recommended that you review the Candidate Interest Form Questions and draft your answers in a Word document. Once you are ready to submit your application, you can copy and paste your answers into the form fields.

If you have any questions about the nominations process, please contact Michelle D. Allgauer, CAE, CMM, CMP, Nominations & Governance Committee chair and immediate past president at (202) 559-1535 or at PMPI_Michelle@cox.net.

 

MPI's community is full of inspired members whose MPI experience has made a real difference in their personal and professional lives. Meeting and event professionals have a unique calling. We bring people together – all sorts of people, for all kinds of purposes.

Each of you has a story. Now you have the opportunity to share your unique story for the "I am MPI" campaign here. This site was created to celebrate the passions that drive the people in the MPI community.

Share your story now and become part of the MPI mosaic – inspire yourself and others.

 

 

PMPI members and guests were lavishly treated to a spectacular educational event hosted by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on January 5. The Mandarin spared no expense in providing a wonderful venue and a true culinary experience with their very creatively designed and delicious luncheon menu. Supporting the Mandarin’s hospitality efforts were CORT Furniture, who provided oblong and hexagonal internally lit banquet tables, and Cloth Connection who provided linens to create a wonderfully colorful and elegant meal function environment. To top off the beautiful linen, the table hosted centerpieces made from fresh fruit provided by Red Jacket Orchard. After the event, the fresh fruit was immediately repacked and sent to Martha’s Kitchen as a donation to support their efforts. And to put the ribbon around the package, Swank AV pulled out all the stops with a well conceived and beautifully executed environment that created energy and served as an excellent backdrop for the meal and the content.

Upon arrival, attendees were initially greeted by members of each PMPI committee standing at contemporary colorful highboy tables provided by CORT. For the better part of an hour the sellout crowd enjoyed learning about each of the committees and gauging how they could help the efforts of the chapter by volunteering their time and expertise. The Committee Fair served as an excellent kick-off to the event and created an amazing high energy buzz that lasted throughout the entire event!

Once inside and seated we were all engaged by our guest speaker, Dianne Devitt, who helped us understand at a very emotional level how we can use color as an influence to enhance the meeting experience. In a journey through the psychological and physiological factors of human learning she took us through a rainbow of colors and showed how various colors are used in designing each function to create the ebb and flow of conference events from arrival through checkout. Not only was her message thought-provoking and engaging, but her delivery included interactive exercises, including one in which each person in the audience met five "strangers" with the goal of discovering who they were, what they did and one interesting non-business factoid about each of the five people. She also guided the attendees in a deep breathing exercise she uses as a tool to help keep herself balanced and centered through the demanding time spent at showsites.

If the first PMPI Educational Experience of the year is a barometer for the success we all hope to see, 2012 will be a terrific year for all!

Please note that if you have any comments or suggestions for future educational experiences, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Education Committee.

 
Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau
Upcoming Events

You are welcome to simply come and network with other MACE attendees and enjoy this great opening reception to meet and mingle with your supplier and planner peers. Click here for more information.

When
Thursday, February 9, 2012, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Where
Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center
201 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745

 

Registration is open for MACE! 2012! Now is the time to make the next move in your career, and MACE! is here to help you put the pieces into play. Planner Early Bird Registration ends January 13, 2012! Register today!

Get your game plan together with MACE!’s educational tracks. Now more comprehensive than ever, you’ll find the missing pieces of your career puzzle to stay on track and progress in the industry.

Director Track: Focused on helping the most senior level attendees address their needs. You’ve mastered the logistics, contract lingo and AV coordination, but now you need to focus on managing volunteers, strategic leadership and having a successful business plan. Sessions include:

  •  Getting to the Heart of Member Satisfaction
  •  Business of Meetings: Meeting, Event, and Tradeshow Assessments
  •  Create Outrageously Effective Marketing Materials
  •  Volunteer Management: Tips, Tricks, and Tools for Ensuring Success

Senior Planners: You’ve moving up in your career, and MACE! wants to give you the education needed to continue your climb to the top. Senior planners sessions will cover:

  •  Getting More Bang for your Buck
  •  Writing your own master agreement with major hotel chains
  •  Meetings and the Law: Creating and Managing a Risk Management Plan - Track A (Identifying Risk)
  •  Meetings and the Law: Creating and Managing a Risk Management Plan - Track B (Writing Plan)
  •  How to sell your unattractive meeting to a hotel

Student and Junior Planners: You’re the future of our industry, and MACE! wants to help you find the building blocks to start your career in the right direction.

  •  Contracting Building Blocks – Putting the contract puzzle pieces together
  •  Why many people fail at networking and how you can succeed
  •  Creating your meeting "bible"
  •  The Ins and Outs of Printing
  •  Getting Your Industry Designation

Suppliers: Business Development and new client management is the most important part of a supplier’s career! Gain the tools to keep your game pieces in play in an always changing industry. This year MACE! is delivering the most comprehensive supplier education tracks, and you don’t want to miss out on:

  •  Hotel Revenue & Forecast 2013
  •  Government Business Boot Camp
  •  Reverse Tradeshow Training & Follow-up Marketing Strategy
  •  From Big Box to Convention Center
  •  The View Inside - Planner Fishbowl for Suppliers

Too much education, not enough time? If you miss a session, don’t worry! Cadmium CD is again providing audio recordings of all sessions and distributing them onsite. You can get in on all the sessions and bring them back to the office!

Return of the Marketplace!: MACE! is bringing back its ever-popular reverse marketplace: Put your game face on as suppliers and planners meet for preset one-on-one appointments. Both parties have to approve all meetings through our appointment system, courtesy of Elite Meetings Alliance. You’re guaranteed to meet with someone who is a potential new client or vendor! This Marketplace is increasingly popular; it sold out in 2011, so register today!

New this year: A hands-on computer lab sponsored by SmartSource. These lab sessions will focus on Microsoft Word and Excel at multiple levels. We have teamed up with one of the best educators in the computer industry who is creating specialized sessions just for the meeting industry. These sessions will fill up quickly, so be sure to add this to your registration.

MACE is adding an interactive mobile application courtesy of CrowdCompass. This app will allow you to stay on top of your game during the event. Look out for future MACE announcements so you can download the app and begin your next move!

 

 
News and Announcements

As sole Chair of the Education Committee, Jason has put a tremendous amount of effort and dedication into planning PMPIs educational events and he is responsible for the success of PMPI’s Educational Experiences and Grab and Go’s. Jason is a well-organized and thoughtful leader, a forward-facing thinker who is not afraid to ask the questions, "What if...", "Why not...", or "How about..." What really makes Jason shine is his positive demeanor: successfully executing, without ever complaining. He is an exemplary PMPI member.

 

Congratulations to all the other nominees as well. Your contributions to PMPI are indispensable!

3rd Quarter nominations are due by March 8. It is not too early to start thinking about who your favorite "Shining Star" will be.

 

The March EE will feature a unique learning experience constructed of roundtable discussions with several different topics. Please take one minute to complete this very brief, anonymous survey and let us know what topics you would like us to discuss. 

We appreciate your help and value your input. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Jason Wooten at jwooten@cvent.com. Thank you for the guidance!

 

Ever reconsider attending a PMPI function due to budget constraints? Well, we’re here to let you know that PMPI Cares!

Apply for a scholarship to participate in events ranging from educational sessions to MACE, CMP classes and WEC. Help us help you succeed! Please visit our website for more information. Come on, we dare you to spend our money instead of your own!

 

Every PMPI member who recruits a new member during this campaign will have their name entered into a drawing to win a trip to New Orleans (courtesy of The Gulf States Chapter of MPI).  The new members recruited will also have their names put into the drawing for a chance to win!

Please ask the new member to list the recruiter MPI Member ID upon registration to be confirmed for this campaign and drawing!

What are you waiting for?

 
Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation
Grand Traverse Resort & Spa
Victoria Conference Centre
PMPI Strategic Partners

 


MEETING PROFESSIONALS INTERNATIONAL
POTOMAC CHAPTER

Please visit our website at www.mpipotomac.org to learn more and register for all of our events,
as well as information about the resources we have to offer you.