Ending its hopes it still could stage its annual World Education Congress in person as originally planned from June 6-9 in Grapevine, Texas, Meeting Professionals International announced Tuesday that it has postponed this year's event to Nov. 3-6. MPI still plans to hold the event at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, and also plans an extensive virtual component. The decision comes as states still require social distancing and are enforcing gathering restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.
MPI for several weeks knew that maintaining the June dates would be difficult, and the association began discussing postponement about a month ago, MPI SVP of experience Annette Gregg told BTN.
"When you have something as complicated as WEC, it's not just a Gaylord event," she said, adding that the cities of Grapevine and Arlington and venues for off-site events had to be considered. Plus, the hotel closed a few weeks ago, and Gregg noted that it had about 180 groups with meetings or events in flux for 2020. "We were trying to be respectful to Gaylord and the complexity of running their convention center and the groups they had in place. Also, we need a lot of space and had to wait until other groups made their decisions before [the hotel] could offer us the level of space we needed."
The organization updated its event branding from "creating authentic experiences" to "reunite for recovery" once it became clear the effects Covid-19 was having on the industry. It also was able to keep its three main keynote speakers. The biggest difference between the originally planned conference and the new dates is the full virtual conference, Gregg said, adding that Freeman had been selected to run the latter component.
"Sometimes these virtual add-ons look like a streaming keynote or two, but there will be a robust experience for the virtual attendee as well," she said. "We have two different design teams going down parallel paths, designing the on-site experience as well as the virtual experience."
The WEC also will feature an industry leaders panel for in-person and virtual attendees, several sessions about wellness, and new content focusing on business acumen, as "30 percent of our members are independent or small business owners, and we know they are particularly stressed when the country is in a recession like this," Gregg said. "So, we want to have content on how you run a lean business, and how you make your business bulletproof."
Gregg added that the Gaylord at minimum will follow the new enhanced cleaning standards set by its parent, Marriott International. MPI also is considering room setups, taking social distancing into consideration. It's looking at methods to set up session tables and whether to limit seating at each table and using diagramming software to explore ways to set up general session seating that maintains social distance. In addition, MPI is serving on an Events Industry Council committee to establish industry standards and best practices, and believes they may be in place in time for the convention in November.
MPI also is considering closing off registration at some point, Gregg admitted. "If we get to a point where so many people are registering for the live event, but we want to make people feel safe and commit to duty of care, we may err on the side of caution even if that means turning people away because we want [them] to know we are thinking about them and doing this right."
Registrations had been on pace with last year's event until March, Gregg said, then began to fall off. Still, MPI as of Monday had more than 500 registered for the in-person WEC. While the organization initially had hoped for 3,000 attendees this year, it now expects 1,000 to 2,000, with several signed up for the virtual track. "If we can get those numbers, that would be a great success for us," Gregg said, adding that about 4,000 of its members live within a three-hour drive of Grapevine, allowing for a potentially large drive-in audience.
MPI also reduced WEC registration fees for this year. "It's been a tough year with people getting furloughed and companies tightening their belts," Gregg noted. The fee for virtual attendance is $299 with an on-site fee of $799 for members or $999 for non-members, which includes a 12-month MPI membership.
In the end, MPI felt it was important to have a live presence this year as a rally point for recovery. "You are seeing a lot of industry associations canceling in 2020, but this is our lifeblood. We are meeting and event professionals," Gregg said. "We are putting our line in the sand and we will have this thing. We will figure it out together, and we'll get some things right and probably some things not so right, but it has to start somewhere, so it will start with MPI."