The meeting industry will come together to celebrate Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) on March 30, but did you know that a day now recognized and celebrated by meeting professionals around the world began in Canada?
The first official National Meetings Industry Day was held in Canada in 1999. This followed local and regional events hosted by Canadian MPI chapters and conversations about elevating the celebration to a national level by the MPI Canadian Council—eventually leading to the first GMID in 2016.
As we get closer to GMID 2023, we’re honoring some of the MPI members in Canada who led volunteer efforts in the 1990s and understood before many others why the importance of our industry and its monetary and intrinsic value needed to be understood by governments and business.
Today, we chat with Carol MacKenzie from the MPI British Columbia Chapter.
Tell us about your role (chapter or regional) in MPI Canada in the 1990s.
I was a member, then a committee member period before being chapter president.
What is your role in the meeting industry today?
I am retired, although I work still in the meetings industry for a staffing company and DMCs. I have knowledge that is useful and wish to use.
Can you share a fond memory about your MPI involvement from that era?
Very much a sharing time; we were a team, and colleagues then are friends now.
What was a big misconception about the meeting planning profession in the 1990s that has changed (or hasn’t changed) over the years?
Our word meant a great deal, contracts were nearly non-existent. Now everything is an iron-clad legal document.
Why was it a priority to you to raise awareness of our industry’s importance?
Anyone who was not in the meetings industry believed it was a party planning business. I wanted to demonstrate it was a hospitality business.
How has the industry changed as a result of advocacy efforts?
The industry is more professional.
What change would you still like to see?
In saying there are more rules now that need to be followed, I would like to impress upon the world it is a people planning business and therefore requires collaboration. People are still what makes it worthwhile, it is not just the bottom line.
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MPI’s GMID broadcast supported by Grit Productions & Expositions and Foster + Fathom.
