Hello –

Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready to dive into 2022. It feels like we are sliding backwards a little bit with the omicron surge, but compared to where we’ve been in the last 21 months, we are still in an overall better place. Please stay healthy out there and we will get through this too.

For those of you who joined us at the Industry Holiday Celebration, thank you. It was a great night of fun, laughs, dancing and just the joy of being able to gather together once again. There is more info below, but we are going back to in-person education events starting on January 19. Please come and learn about intentional meeting design while checking out the new SaksWorks space. Yes, that Saks! 

Please keep an eye out for our 2022-2023 board slate. We have a remarkable team of leaders ready to take our Chapter into the next chapter. We are always on the lookout for our next movers and shakers, so please consider volunteering with one of our many committees. We have several opportunities available across all disciplines. Whether you want to learn a new skill or hone an existing one, whether you have an hour or lots of time on your hands, we want you to be involved with our community. Committee descriptions and more information can be found here.

I look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming events. Best wishes to all for a very happy, healthy & prosperous New Year!

Yours in hospitality – 
Laura

Laura Mulholland
President
MPI Greater New York

P.S. If you are not yet following us on our social media platforms, please do so here.

Be Mindful, Be Bold, Be Better!

Our industry is desperate to see live attendance at events back up to pre-pandemic levels. Planners are tasked with building BOLD experiential events to ensure participants feel their time is well spent—with relevant content and an atmosphere and presentation delivered in a top-notch manner.

So much has changed in how we approach planning now. Planners must be MINDFUL of their attendees’ needs, suppliers mindful of their clients’ needs and everyone mindful of their own needs. With so much on our plates, both planners and suppliers must take care to work from a restful place. It is important to be focused while maintaining a calm demeanor so that you can bring your most productive self to the workplace. When we do that, then we can be bold enough to plan outside the box and do everything BETTER! When we are working from a centered demeanor, detail planning is a cinch! Upsets and surprises won’t rattle you to the point of dismay. Staying calm amidst disruptions (because it is going to happen) can bring out a new level of creativity that makes the attendee/client experience highly rewarding.
 
It is time to be Mindful, Bold and Better! Join us to hear from three fresh voices, each with a unique perspective to share. Our distinguished panel of presenters for this session will be:

• Ashley Cardini, CMP, Founder, The Mindful Masterclass
• Hallia Baker, CMP, Senior Events Manager, The Netherland America Foundation
• Gregory Offner, Jr., ARM, Professional Keynote Speaker, Creator of “Disruption & Creativity”

In this informative and engaging session you will learn:

• 5 tips to I.N.F.U.S.E. mindfulness into your events
• How to be bold enough to perform in excellence despite challenges
• How to spin a disruption into a creative opportunity

As an industry leader, MPIGNY strives to stay ahead of the trends. To that end, we are very excited to offer professional closed captioning for this program. Robert Schechter, Director of Business Development and Operations at Total Caption, is graciously providing closed captioning for the program so we can all see this inclusivity tool in action. Closed captioning is an essential element for meetings that should be an industry standard.
 
6:00 – 8:30pm:   Total Program

6:00 – 6:15pm:    Registration

6:15 – 6:30pm:    Opening remarks, announcements

6:30 – 6:45pm – Mindful Masterclass (Ashley Cardini)

6:45 – 7:00pm – Being Bold Despite Challenges (Hallia Baker)

7:00 – 7:15pm – Disruption & Creativity (Gregory Offner)

7:15 – 7:30pm – Q & A

7:30 – 8:30pm:   Networking
 
CEU CREDITS: CMP-IS Domain G: Meeting or Event Design, 1.0 Clock Hour

Click here to learn more about our esteemed panel of speakers...

And HERE to Register!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you to all the amazing sponsors that participated in this year's Industry Holiday Celebration. Their continued support and generosity is greatly appreciated, and each contributed something special to make the night memorable.

It was so nice to see many familiar faces as well as several new ones to share the evening with and make new memories in such a historic venue. On behalf of MPIGNY and HSMAIGNY, a big shoutout goes to all the other partner organizations and their members for joining us from ILEA, NYSAE, NYC & Co, SITE, PCMA, SKAL and Live Events Coalition. The New York hospitality industry came together to represent, and it was the perfect way to come back strong. This night would not have been possible if everyone did not show up and it means so much to us.

Cheers to everyone being back together again, and a safe and healthy New Year for all!

On December 14, a group of us came together virtually to work on a service project for Together We Rise.  Together We Rise is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of America's youth in foster care.  We spent time decorating panels for Sweet Cases. These Sweet Cases are blue duffle bags filled with teddy bears, blankest, crayons, coloring books and a hygiene kit for each foster child. These brightly colored bags are meant to replace the trash bags foster children often use to transport their belongings.  Together We Rise created the Sweet Case duffle bag program to show children in foster care that they are supported and loved. Below are some pictures of our group and the Sweet Case panels we decorated.

The MPI Foundation is focused on helping as many current members as possible retain their professional affiliation and the opportunity to continue to have access to all our resources. For more information, please contact Member Services at feedback@mpi.org.