Insider's Guide to Recertifying your CMP


Are you one of those people who has waited to the last few months of your five-year certification cycle to submit your recertification application? You are not alone. Each year, CIC receives the majority of recertification applications in November and December. To ensure that your recertification application review goes smoothly, CIC offers these following tips:


  1. All recertification applications must be submitted online through your online portal. If you have a CMP, you already have an account. Your username is the email address we have on file. If the email has changed, contact accountsupport@conventionindustry.org for help in updating your account. Please don’t create a new account because it won’t contain your certification information.

  2. You must list each SESSION you attended, not just the entire event. For instance, if you attended ABC’s annual event, you’ll need to report each continuing education session you attended and make sure the subject matter is aligned with one of the 10 domains in the CMP International Standards. For each entry, you’ll need to upload one scan that includes of two documents: proof that you attended the event (event registration confirmation, name badge) AND a session description provided by the hosting organization.

  3. If you attended an event that has been pre-approved through CIC’s new Preferred Provider Program, your attendance will have already been loaded into your account. For Preferred Provider Programs, you don’t need to list each session; just the amount of approved sessions you attended (these will be marked on the onsite program). Each time your attendance at a Preferred Provider Program has been uploaded into your account, you will receive an email from CIC requesting that you report your hours. If you don't receive this email, it is because the email you provided the host organization does not match your email in the CMP profile. And that’s OK, you’ll still get credit, you’ll just need to self-report your attendance following the steps outlined in #2 above.

There are five main reasons recertification applications are not approved. Please read the following to avoid these problems:

  1. The continuing education (CE) activity is a personal, not professional, development. Common examples of these sessions include: How to Minimize Stress in Your Life, How to Network, Dressing for Success, and Personal Branding Tips.

  2. The session does not align with one of the 10 domains in the CMP International Standards (CMP-IS). Make sure you are familiar with the knowledge and skills outlined in the CMP-IS before you submit your activity.

  3. The activity took place outside your five-year certification cycle. All CMP CEs must take place in your certification cycle. Although you can still submit your recertification application when you are in lapsed status, your application can only include CEs that were attended during your five-year cycle.

  4. Not enough information was provided to align the activity with the CMP-IS. Titles of sessions often don’t provide enough information for CIC’s application reviewers to know whether the activity relates to the CMP-IS. This is why a session description is vital to include in your upload.

  5. The higher education degree is not industry-specific. Degrees in Hospitality, Meeting Planning, and Tourism will count for CMP credit. Degrees in Communication, Marketing or Business will not count for credit.

Events Industry Council