The other day I signed up for attending MPI’s World Education Congress in Las Vegas in June…and it got me thinking about us meeting planners, and if we remember to take our own medicine and continue to educate ourselves? I know, I don’t always take the time to do so.
Most meeting planners spend all their work days developing, designing, planning, and executing meetings and conferences for educational purposes – for others! We advise our clients to hold these meetings and conferences as there are huge benefits in meeting peers, networking, educate yourself, and just having a change of scenery.
But when it comes to attending conferences and other educational events for our own sake, we don’t take the time out of our busy schedules to practice what we preach. Or maybe it is an occupational hazard: We cannot attend an event we haven’t designed ourselves, as we then spend all the event keeping an eye on all the small things that we would have done differently!? No, that cannot be it! :o)
I am the first one to admit that it has been a while since I had (took?) the time to attend MPI chapter meetings, training courses, or conferences within the meetings and events industry, but I am working on taking my own medicine and am attending more MPI chapter meetings, a class in branding – and now the World Education Congress.
The picture is from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, where I attended an event for meeting planners last year (the museum is a fantastic spot for events!)
Industry events are the perfect place to meet up with those you do not get to see very often – to nurse your network – and of course to get new inspiration for your everyday work. Ours is an industry based on inspiration and if we do not keep up, someone else will. And even though virtual meetings are becoming bigger and bigger, I truly believe that face to face meetings will always be here. However, a few years ago I attended some online classes and they gave me exactly what I needed in terms of inspiration and knowledge, so if you cannot fit training into your schedule, take a look at some of the online education that is out there. It works!
For now, I am really looking forward to going to Las Vegas to get a shot of “Stop planning meetings, start designing experiences” – though I am a keen advocate for experience management and has worked on creating experiences for quite some years now (but I know there is always something new to learn). And most of all, I look forward to seeing my American and Canadian industry friends, whom I do not get to see very often. It is going to be a blast!
Do you remember to take your own medicine and keep up to date with our industry?
