MPI Eyes Chapter Education

<B> MPI Eyes Chapter Education</B>

By David Meyer

As Bob Moore prepares to become president of Meeting Professionals International next month, his vision for the organization already is crystal clear. His focus will be fixed on improving membership value, chapter level education, and the quality and role of international membership. The centerpiece of this activity will be the development of new educational programming for delivery at the chapter level.

The Los Angeles Convention and Vistors Bureau executive vice president will assume the MPI presidency on July 1 and take the lead publicly in his own back yard, at MPI's annual World Education Congress, to be held July 12 to 14 in San Diego.

"MPI is really on a roll in terms of the momentum we have, and we have the opportunity to reach for some new highs in the upcoming year," Moore told Meetings Today. "The biggest issue is creating membership value. In the turnover we see every year, about half of all our members change jobs, about a quarter feel they did not receive the educational benefits they thought they would, and another quarter feel that they could not fit into the organization or the local chapter. The last two things we believe we can do something about.

"Our ability to grow this organization has a great deal to do with the quality of membership for current members. We also want to make sure that the value of membership is consistent around the world. It's important that we do this because all of us either today or very shortly are going to have to work with some degree of proficiency outside of our national boundaries."

To that end, MPI already has begun a major effort to improve educational programming at the chapter level, an effort Moore intends to introduce during his welcoming remarks at the WEC. The idea is to develop turnkey educational modules on topics such as technology, contracts and ethics at the international level and deliver them to MPI's 59 chapters.

"What we are trying to do is assist the local chapters with maybe two or three programs a year for the next three years, so this is a three-year plan," Moore said. "The chapters have nine or ten meetings a year. We are trying to help them with some of the programming so that all they have to do is promote the event. They won't have to find speakers or do the other work that is required. So this will lessen the burden somewhat and improve the overall quality."

To ensure that the educational modules target the issues of greatest concern, MPI last month began gathering feedback from its membership.

After gathering the responses, the group will put out a formal request for proposals to adult learning companies to work with its educational committee and staff on program development. It probably will take six months before the first program is ready. "This is a major undertaking for MPI and we want to make sure that we get it right," Moore said.

Funding for the educational programming will come from MPI itself, the MPI Foundation or third-party underwriters, or a combination of all three.

Moore, who has held leadership roles with MPI since 1993 as vice president of membership and of finance, also is looking to put new emphasis on increasing business interaction between supplier and planner members. "We're made up of half suppliers and half planners, and I think we have the opportunity to make it easier for those members to do business with one another," Moore said.

Local chapters "are the key to MPI and are where the game is won or lost for MPI members, so targeting the value members receive from the two areas that they most want, education and networking, is a logical place for us to spend our resources," he said, noting that about 75 percent of MPI's 16,000 members participate solely at the local chapter level. "It is a challenge for any volunteer organization to move the ball down the field, but I think we have a chance to really define some goals, specifically by enriching the program at the chapter level."

Moore also will focus on fully rolling out the global CMM professional certification (see story, page 25) as another high-bar to be attained this year. "We want to make sure that the CMM program gets the same type of industry breadth that is currently the case with the CMP program," he said. "In time I think the CLC will adopt this. But this is a long-term issue."

Moore came to the LACVB two years ago following a 22-year stint with Hilton, where he rose to vice president of sales. Now, he has ambitious goals for MPI, and no intention of giving up his day job. "I hope the quality of MPI's president is not judged by the amount of air miles he logs during the year," he said. "If the top job of MPI can only be held by someone who can step down from their day job, we will be forfeiting our opportunity to have the brightest and the best. I have committed to do the best I can, but that best may not include being able to accept every invitation to local chapter meetings or other events. We really are going to be good as volunteers as long as we are solid in our own careers.