One + July 2011 - (Page 24)

Recognizing Community and Organizational Excellence By Elaine Pofeldt As many meeting professionals realized during the past few years, there’s strength in community—whether it comes to weathering a challenging economy or integrating the latest social media tools into upcoming events. In this year’s RISE Awards, MPI honors two organizations that have found new and innovative ways to advance the industry as a whole, one by helping new meeting professionals move their careers forward and the other by providing sustainability leadership in a groundbreaking facility in Africa. RISE Awards Presentation Gather with your MPI colleagues to honor recipients of the RISE Awards—Recognizing Industry Success and Excellence—July 24 at The Peabody Orlando during WEC 2011. When registering, be sure to add the complimentary RISE Awards luncheon to your conference package. Audiovisual for the awards event is provided by AVI-SPL. MPI MINNESOTA CHAPTER COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENT IN KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS Breaking into the meeting and event industry isn’t easy in the current economy, and, with many veterans working harder than ever, it can be challenging for newbies to find mentoring and career advice. Through its Emerging Leaders program, the MPI Minnesota Chapter aims to change that. Julie Ann Schmidt conceived of the idea after noticing a lack of networking opportunities and educational programming aimed at people new to the industry. She started her Minneapolis firm, Lithium Logistics Group, in 2008, midcareer, and yearned for guidance from more seasoned meeting professionals. “I’m one of those people who fell into the industry, like most people of my generation,” said Schmidt, 41. Yet, Schmidt discovered the know-how she needed was sometimes hard to find. With Schmidt as a champion, the chapter piloted the Emerging Leaders program in 2009. The debut event was a panel discussion featuring three senior industry professionals speaking about their career paths and sharing helpful tips 24 with the audience. The chapter’s mission was to attract 15 people, but more than 50 showed up, revealing the hunger for career development help among members. “They were looking for educational content that was very much targeted to them,” Schmidt said. After surveying the attendees, the chapter decided to continue to offer the program four times a year, targeting those with less than seven years in the industry. The gatherings, held before a regular chapter meeting, make it convenient for members to attend. With an eye on recruitment, the chapter has advertised the meetings to students at local campuses, such as Dakota County Tech, to get them involved early in MPI. To keep the audience coming back, organizers have looked for Stay Tuned Starting next month, we’ll begin individually highlighting lessons learned and best practices from each of the 2011 RISE Awards recipients. Stay tuned for more of their stories in future issues of One+. More award winners on page 26. one+ 07.11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + July 2011

One + July 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Paradigm Shifts, Part II
Web Watch
Agenda
Thoughts+Leaders
Ask the Experts
Recognizing Community and Organizational Excellence
Overheard
Art of Travel
The Prism Effect
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
Using New Tech for Old Purposes
So You Think You Can Dance
Don’t Use Tech You Don’t Understand
Are You In It to Win It?
Anything is Possible
Night of the Radishes
Well Played
When People Come Together, Magic Happens
Size Matters
Building a Better FAM
One Bar at a Time
MPI + CSR
Industry Insights
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + July 2011