ASSOCIATIONS
THOUSANDS OF MEETING AND EVENT PROFESSIONALS CONVENE IN HOUSTON
DALLAS, Feb. 25, 2008 - Over 2,300 meeting and event professionals convened in Houston, Texas from February 2-5, 2008, for the Professional Education Conference – North America (PEC-NA) co-created by Meeting Professionals International (MPI). With the conference themed MeetDifferent, the 2008 PEC-NA conference offered industry professionals alternative ways to plan and conduct meetings and events. The 2008 PEC-NA conference also introduced a fresh approach to trade show expos themed “think outside the booth.”
Bruce MacMillan, CA, president & CEO of MPI, stated, “The broad team of members, partners and inspired presenters embraced our community's quest for success through innovation and packaged them all into the MeetDifferent experience. The point was we wanted to show what was possible and get our community to think about what the future might look like.”
Core to the conference’s Meet Different theme was the presentation and practice of corporate social responsibility and sustainable meeting practices. Tim Sanders, keynote speaker, presented the theory and contents from his soon-to-be-released book "How to Save the World at Work" to MPI members during the 2008 PEC-NA opening general session.
Additionally, through partnership with Continental Airlines and Sustainable Travel International, attendees were able to calculate the carbon footprint of their booked itinerary and purchase carbon offsets online. The City of Houston purchased Renewable Energy Credits in the name of MPI for energy consumed during the event, and organic cotton supporting sustainable agricultural was used for all registration bags, lanyards, and t-shirts.
Conference attendees lent their support to SEARCH, the leading homeless service provider in the Houston community, by painting the SEARCH building, power-washing their sidewalks, sorting and organizing donated items, and making sack lunches for distribution to Houston's homeless.
PEC-NA attendees also contributed to The Foundation for Hospital Art PaintFest?. At PaintFest, participants painted pre-drawn, color-coded mural designs on canvas, and all artwork was donated at no cost to hospitals in need.
Conference educational sessions broke new ground by employing alternative learning environments. In the MPI Learning Lounge, conference goers dialoged with fellow attendees in a relaxed, café-style setting. In the MPI Learning Village, participants joined discussion groups in model café conversation rooms, and experienced emergent technologies at “playgrounds.”
Top-ranked learning sessions included “Live from the PEC-NA – Podcasting Alley,” a session which provided attendees with the ability to not only learn how to create their own podcast, but also the chance to work with others to create podcasts about the conference. Additional top sessions were “Putting More Life Into Your Meetings,” “Technology for the SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) and Road Warrior,” and “Generation Du Jour: Co-mingling Boomers Busters and Millenials: Harness the Power, Calm the Conflict.”
In a project funded by the MPI Foundation, conference attendees worked with students and professors from Champlain College to develop two serious gamelets focused on key meetings and events industry concepts. The finished gamelets are posted on the MPI website.
Many products of the PEC-NA conference have been posted to the MPI website. Opening session video highlights, material from key presenters, and podcasts prepared by attendees are currently available. More content is scheduled to post in the near future.
Dr. Brad McRae, CSP, observed, “I have attended and presented at thousands of conferences in my 24 years as a speaker and the event in Houston was easily in the top one percent. The sessions I attended were truly informative and the hospitality of the MPI staff combined with the friendliness of the MPI participants was truly spectacular.”