50 Years of MPI

“I just attended MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC) held June 21 to 23, which was a golden affair in 2022. This year was the 50th-anniversary celebration set in San Francisco which is my backyard as a Bay area resident.

MPI’s signature education event did a remarkable job of celebrating their 50-year history, a time in which MPI has become the world’s largest association for meeting and event professionals and an influential educator and advocate for the industry.

What I really loved was how the celebration focused on the MPI past, present, and future. In doing so they paid homage to the original leaders who created and formed the association and celebrated the current and future leaders. MPI created three top 50 members categories: Up and Comers, Most Influential members and Legacy contributors. The MPI 50 lists were developed over the course of the last 12 months through a process designed and managed by a volunteer based MPI 50th Task Force. The process included asking for direct input from the global MPI Community through various channels to ensure a comprehensive list of nominees’ representative of MPI’s association leadership over the past 50 years. The honorees for all lists were featured throughout the conference in several ways including posting individual floor plaques with each honoree’s name in a walk of fame fashion.

The first floor of Moscone West featured the Top 50 Legacy honorees, the second floor featured the Top 50 Most Influential Members, and the top floor highlighted the Top 50 Up and Comers. I was humbled and honored to be included in the Top 50 Most Influential Members list. And in addition to that honor, I was asked to be part of and facilitate the final conference panel discussion representing a diverse cross section of fellow honorees which included current MPI Board of Directors Chair Bonnie Carlson, Past Chair Amanda Armstrong, representing the Top 50 Most Influential members, and representing the Top 50 Up and Comers was Dan Noyce from the UK and Zoe Moore.

I have to say a heartfelt congratulations to MPI for doing a fantastic job honoring their past, present and future in such a thoughtful and respectful manner. I have always been a proud member of MPI but this golden anniversary celebration which drew more than 2000 people to San Francisco was very special and I couldn’t have been prouder to be a part of the celebration. This year’s WEC truly lived up to MPI’s slogan, “When We Meet, We Change the World.”