The new year is off to a great start for MPIGNY!  For those of you who attended our first education event of 2020, you experienced a tremendous presentation from Jamie Mason Cohen outlining his thoughts on emotional intelligence. A huge thank you to Education Committee members Hallia Baker and Derrick Sabater for all of their hard work in executing a great evening.

Last night, we held our first networking event of the year at SPiN New York 23. It was a great experience filled with lots of networking, cocktails and fun! Thank you to our fellow MPIGNY member Laura Anderson for the warm hospitality! Stay tuned for more networking events coming later this year as we have some pretty exciting things in the works. 

Mark your calendars for the second annual MPIGNY Town Hall that will take place on Monday, Feb. 24 at Meet on Broadway. This is a free event that is open to everyone! So, if you have a colleague, friend or client that you feel would benefit from learning more about our chapter, please encourage them to register. The main objective of the Town Hall is to provide our members with the opportunity to understand the board of directors' vision for shaping your experiences within our chapter. 

One of the items we are focusing on this year is enhancing your return on investment of time and dollars put into MPIGNY. With that in mind, the MPIGNY Town Hall will be an open dialogue where members are invited to ask questions or raise concerns. Our goal is to ensure everyone is fully aware of all the ways an MPIGNY membership can best be leveraged in growing your career in the hospitality industry. We will also be providing updates on the current state of the chapter as well as a sneak peek into what the rest of our year will hold.

Sincerely,

Patrick Colomer
President
MPI Greater New York Chapter

Over the past six months, MPIGNY has secured 15 hours of volunteer opportunities for dozens of members to give back to our community at God's Love We Deliver. Join us on Feb. 19 for another afternoon of camaraderie and charity!

MPI’s CSR team is dedicated to creating engagement and meaningful opportunities for our members to convene collectively with the purpose of networking while proactively creating change in the local community.

When people meet with purpose, we increase the opportunity for change and authentic relationships.

Our mission and objectives are:

• To create meaningful, community-based volunteer activities for our members to be engaged
• To foster an ecosystem of local community partners
• To connect member partners with our ecosystem

Please join MPIGNY at God's Love We Deliver. We'll need your help in the kitchen!

Kitchen prep 
(10 to 12 volunteers) 
Work as a group in the kitchen on a variety of tasks with guidance from their on-staff chefs.

Tasks may include packaging meals, chopping onions, ladling soup, peeling potatoes or making meatballs. Volunteers can also package meal bundles for clients and assemble children's meal kits.

Clothes must cover your shoulders, underarms, knees and toes (with closed-toe shoes). Watches, bracelets and dangling earrings must be removed. You can bring your own hat!

We ask all volunteers to arrive 15 minutes prior to their shift for self-check-in and a quick orientation.  
*** Each volunteer MUST sign up for this event. *** 

REGISTER NOW TO SIGN UP

Venue details:
Group volunteering at God’s Love We Deliver: Without the help of our amazing volunteers — more than 10,000 strong every year — we simply would not be able to cook and deliver more than 7,000 delicious and nutritious meals each weekday to our neighbors in need. Outnumbering our staff by a ratio of more than 100 to 1, volunteers work in the kitchen, deliver and package meals and work in our office.

Learn more about God's Love We Deliver by viewing this video!

You're cordially invited to the second annual MPIGNY Town Hall taking place on Monday, Feb. 24 at Meet on Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. This is a complimentary event that is open to everyone. The main objective of the Town Hall is to provide our members with the opportunity to understand the board of director's vision for shaping your experiences within our chapter.

We welcome your input and feedback, so please come prepared with questions as this will be an open forum to collaborate with all of our members. We'll also be providing updates on the current state of the chapter as well as a sneak peek into what the rest of the year will hold. 

Date:
Monday, Feb. 24

Time:
5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Venue:
MEET on Broadway
1700 Broadway,11th Floor
New York, NY 10019

REGISTER HERE

Did you hear that MPIGNY has created a Cycle for Survival team in which 100% of all donations will go directly to rare cancer research?  We still have a goal of $5,000, and we need your help! 

Please join our team and help us make a positive impact on our community. Our team is open to members of MPIGNY and their friends and family, so feel free to invite someone to help motivate you even more to raise some cash for a great cause.

The link below will take you to the MPIGNY team home page. To join the team, please enter the password “MPIGNY."

Join the Battle

Save the date for an evening to remember with former CIA agent, Michele Rigby Assad. 

In this program you will learn how to:

• Use in-the-field techniques to turn challenging situations around so that you leave conversations in a positive way.
• Leverage women’s intuition to gain an “unfair” advantage in high-stakes negotiations.
• Learn ninja strategies to engage women and minorities in important conversations for collaboration and growth.

Stay tuned for more info!

Date:
Wednesday, March 11

Time:
6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Thank you to all of our members and peers who joined us for the first education event of the year. The speaker had our attendees up, moving and laughing the entire time! Click the links below for a recap and photos from this enlightening evening. 

MPIGNY Education Event Recap

Photos from the Evening

Miss the all-industry panel? Not to worry! Check out the video links below to watch our panelists from COPE, HSMAI, ILEA, MPI, NACE, NYC & CO, WIPA and YEP discuss the state of the industry. 

Part 1 | Part 2

Are you interested in getting more involved with MPIGNY? Volunteering with a committee is a great way to meet new clients and industry partners! Visit our website or click the link for more information on how to get involved: MPIGNY - Join a Committee

We added a new campaign this year called "People of MPIGNY" and want to learn more about our incredible members! If you are interested in being featured, click the links below to read about some of our members and to complete the handful of questions to be considered for our next issue!

People of MPIGNY
People of MPIGNY Application

A key focus for the board moving forward is going to be the engagement of the meeting planner professional. We consider sustained planner participation to be a vital part of this chapter’s success. So, with that in mind, we’re rolling out the red carpet this year with the objective of increasing our planner engagement at all of our events.

Many thanks to the London Convention Bureau for graciously sponsoring several one-year planner scholarship opportunities that will increase our planner base and enhance overall engagement. Interested planners can apply here: London Convention Bureau Planner Scholarship 

Did you know that MPI can help you cover costs for a preferred MPI membership and help fund your MPI Academy courses (including CMM, HMCC, Experiential Event Series, Meetings Essentials, Basics Boot Camp and more)?

Yes, it’s possible. The MPI Foundation provides MPI members professional development and career opportunities through grants and scholarships. MPI Foundation scholarships are awarded on an ongoing basis. Applications received by the end of the month will receive notification by the end of the following month. Conference scholarships do not typically follow the normal application cycle but will be reviewed each month. 

More information can be found here: MPI Foundation Scholarships