We are halfway through the calendar year, and what a year it has been thus far. While so much is going on around us, and within our industry, I’d like to share some updates on what is happening within the CMP programme.

 

Earlier this month, the CMP Governance Commission met virtually. Over two days, we talked about many of the key initiatives we have in process for the programme. It also occurred to me that many of you may not know about the commission and its role.

 

Your CMP peers volunteer to serve on this commission for a three-year term. This group meets monthly via teleconference and twice per year in person (which we look forward to getting back to). The Commission’s various subcommittees and task forces meet, as needed, throughout the year to continue to push the CMP programme forward. Our role is to oversee the CMP programme, policies and exam. To say that this group of volunteers is committed to and passionate about CMP is an understatement.

When Milica Gavrilović, CMP-HC, joined ABTS Convention Services eight years ago, she started hearing about the CMP programme. She decided to learn more. Talking to her work colleagues (especially with her manager Ivana Esposito, CMP), a peer at the Venice CVB and friends through MPI, she decided to pursue her certification.

 

Within six months, she studied for and passed the CMP exam.

 

Upon earning her CMP in 2014, Milica says she saw an immediate impact on her skillset and ability to do her job. “It helped me speak with managers from around the world using the same language,” she said. Five years later, she knew that she wanted to continue her learning journey through the CMP-HC curriculum and certification due to the nature of her work with medical professionals.

 

“It’s important to be in the field with the most updated information on topics and best practices,” she said. “This serves you in your daily work if you want to continue being part of the meetings industry.”

 

So, she bought books while traveling to one of the medical conferences she was handling in the United States, studied online, and waited for news that the test centre would be open in light of COVID-19. “I didn’t know if my testing centre would be open but seven days before the exam, I was notified, and I went. I wore my mask, gloves and was already excited about taking the exam, so when I passed, I was thrilled.”

 

In fact, Milica was the only candidate for the CMP-HC who was able to take the exam in May due to many centre closures from COVID-19 restrictions.

 

Milica looks forward to being able to travel again, to share experiences and ideas with colleagues from around the world. She continues to encourage her colleagues to earn their CMP.

 

“I want to help other people, to share ideas. It’s what keeps me motivated. Having my CMP is just one part of what I see is really an ongoing process to learn. My CMP is one of the biggest achievements in my professional development.”

 

Congratulations on your achievements, Milica!

Are you ready to recertify in 2020? Are you unsure? You’ve worked so hard to earn your CMP – don’t let the deadline pass. You can confirm your year of recertification by logging into your existing Events Industry Council account. EIC has frozen the recertification fee at $225 USD through 30 September 2020, so don’t delay!

 

If you don’t remember your login information, simply follow the guidance on the login page. If you know you are in your fifth year and need to recertify, see the tips here.

During this time of change, it’s important to update your personal information in your CMP Account. This will help us help you stay connected to the CMP community.

The APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force recently published its first newsletter to share information on the group’s work. The global task force of 40 volunteers, focused by sector work streams, has been meeting weekly and is actively curating health and safety guidelines. EIC will release the first deliverables in July via social media channels, webinars, and the EIC website. If you’d like to follow our activity on social, please connect with @Events_Council on Twitter (#APEXTaskForce), and Events Industry Council on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

Task force Co-chairs Michael Dominguez and Kristin Horstman, and EIC CEO Amy Calvert, collaborated with Smart Meetings on 25 June for a webinar to talk more about the task force and its work. You can view this webinar on demand to learn more about how the group is aggregating accepted practices across the events eco-system and organising this data to share across the industry. 

 

As our industry works through the realities and impact of COVID-19, we have many valuable tools and educational resources to reference. EIC’s member organisations, as well as companies around the world, are sharing information, sparking new ideas and offering support. EIC has gathered resources and tools from various sources and centralised them into a COVID-19 resource centre. We update the site weekly. If you have information to share, please contact us.

EIC is providing these on-demand webinars, free of charge. You can earn 1 CE by viewing each on-demand webinar and completing the quiz via the link provided. EIC will continue to add live webinars to our schedule, which are also free to attend. EIC has expanded its live webinar capacity to host up to 3,000 people. Consider taking advantage of these free educational opportunities. Closed captions will be available. 

 

Time was getting tight. It was April, the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading more rapidly adding uncertainty as to what the impact of the outbreak would have on American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s Annual Meeting that was scheduled to start on Friday, 17 July. Internally, the executive leadership team started holding weekly meetings to assess the situation. With the jump in cases, deaths, and the impact on the hospitality industry and society overall caused by COVID-19, it became increasingly clear that the choices were limited. An in-person meeting was no longer a viable option, and canceling the event due to communicable disease was not covered by the event insurance that was purchased several years in advance of when the AACP Annual Meeting 2020 was booked.

 

Cancelling the meeting would lead to a significant financial hardship that AACP would feel for years to come. So, at the very end of April, the only viable option was to pivot the Annual Meeting to a virtual format. Once executive leadership and the board of directors agreed and took the necessary actions, the internal teams at AACP (meetings, education, marketing and communications) initiated the daunting and complex task to pull off a huge, successful online conference in less than two months.