The MPI RISE Awards recognize members in the following categories: Member of the Year, Young Professional Achievement, Meeting Industry Leadership, Innovative Educational Programming, Membership Achievement, Marketplace Excellence and Industry Advocate. A judging panel made up of MPI volunteers reviewed the candidates, and their decisions were then ratified by the MPI International Board of Directors.
Here is a look at this year’s honorees.
Member of the Year: Joe Marcy
This award recognizes someone whose volunteer, grassroots efforts made an important contribution and showed a commitment toward improving a club, community or region.
Joe Marcy, CMP, a regional sales executive for the Monterey County CVB, received this year’s award as a result of his work with the MPI Southern California Chapter, where he was elected the youngest president in the chapter’s history in 2017, after joining it in 2009. Marcy, who says he “fell into” the industry right after college, joined MPI soon after.
“It was one of the greatest things I ever joined,” he says. “It gave me not only relationships that were very important, but really helped me to develop my personal and professional skills. I realized very early on it was more than a business organization. It was also a community.”
Marcy saw the strength of the bonds within that community when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer (she is now cancer-free).
“They gave me so much support at that point,” he says.
In his work at the CVB, Marcy has been proud to promote an environmental and sustainability campaign called “Please Visit Responsibly.” The campaign encourages attendees to lessen their carbon footprint. In collaboration with the hotel partners and Monterey Bay Aquarium, the CVB has been distributing reusable bags, utensils and environmentally safe products.
Within the chapter, he initiated and executed a collaboration between the chapter, PCMA’s Southwest and Pacific chapters and SITE Southern California, leading to a 2018 RISE Award for Innovative Educational Programming for the chapter’s Weekend Education Conference (WeCon) program.
“We were stronger when we were working together,” Marcy says.
Overseeing a diverse and energetic board, together they were able to introduce an innovative advertising strategy that helped increase revenue by 30 percent. Ultimately, the chapter was able to tuck away US$20,000 into its cash reserves.
When Marcy is not participating in MPI activities, he volunteers for LGBT nonprofits such as The Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign. He serves on the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair Association, where they raise more than $100,000 for children in the community annually. He also created a volunteer handbook and board retreat for the organization. In 2012, he was chosen for the Manhattan Beach Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Service.
Marcy says many of the skill sets he developed at MPI, such as fundraising, help him in his volunteer work.
“When I participate in other organizations, those are skills I bring to the table,” he says.
Young Professional Achievement: Julia Spangler
This award honors an individual who is 40 years old or younger, has less than five years of industry experience and has made outstanding contributions to MPI and/or the industry.
Since founding Sustainable Events Consultants in Indiana in 2015, Julia Spangler, 31, has built a business and career out of making events more environmentally friendly. As part of her work, she frequently distributes free sustainable event education via newsletters, video, social media and downloadable PDFs. She also delivers to industry professionals presentations about sustainability and reducing event waste, and introduced on online course dedicated to zero-waste event planning.
“Seeing events that are wasteful and trying to figure out how to make a difference is the thing I love,” Spangler says.
Those who were part of the 2018 MPI World Education Congress CSR Subcommittee—or who attended the event—got a firsthand look at how Spangler thinks through the waste-diversion program, which kept more than 5,000 pounds of waste out of landfills. She was ultimately able to provide a best-practice guide for MPI to use at future events, tapping into elements of the ISO20121 environmental standard.
All of the events where she has implemented her strategies have achieved at least 50 percent waste diversion, with most getting to more than 70 percent, she says. Three have diverted more than 90 percent, qualifying as “zero-waste.”
In addition to her work at MPI, Spangler is a member of the Indiana Recycling Coalition and co-leader of the Food Source Reduction Group, part of Indiana’s Food Scrap Initiative, which works to end food waste in Indiana.
“Through my work I want to inspire other meeting and event professionals to know sustainable events are a real possibility,” she says. “They are attainable. They are something that is happening now. I hope to use my results to show people what is possible for the industry as a whole.”
Meeting Industry Leadership: Gary Murakami, CMP
This award honors someone whose visionary hard work and creative insight has positively changed the global meeting and event industry, showing sustained commitment and substantial contributions to the meeting and event community.
Gary Murakami, CMP, CMM, CTC, GTP, GLC, a 20-year industry veteran and the director of global sales for MGM Resorts International, manages more than 3 million square feet of meeting and event space as part of the global sales team. The San Francisco resident joined MPI in 2010, around the same time he came to MGM, and served on the Chapter Member Advisory Council in 2016 and 2017.
Murakami has been particularly active in the area of diversity and inclusion, sitting on MPI’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee and serving as a trusted advisor for the new LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, which started as a passion project for him. He also spent two years leading the board of directors of the IGLTA Foundation, which offers education, research and leadership development for the global LGBT+ community in the industry.
“When I think about diversity and inclusion, I think it’s very important that the conversation be about inclusion overall,” Murakami says. “The first things people talk about are gender identity, sexual orientation and race. It goes beyond that. It’s really about bringing people together with different ideas, backgrounds and thoughts that contribute to the overall acceleration of the industry. That’s really where my passion is.”
As a board member of the MPI Northern California Chapter, Murakami serves as the initial advisor for the chapter’s Inclusion & Diversity Committee, tapping his experience on MPI’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee to establish a similar group within his chapter. The chapter-level initiative began as a task force, then, in recognition of how important inclusion and diversity are to the industry, reorganized as a recognized committee.
Murakami says that former MPI Chairman Mike Dominguez, to whom he reports directly, has been a visionary mentor for him.
“He is a very visible leader who inspires us to be an active participant in change in our industry,” he says.
Innovative Educational Programming: MPI Montréal/Québec, Ottawa, Toronto Chapters
This award honors an MPI chapter, club or student club that has created innovative programming that advances the educational and professional development of its members.
Agreeing in a casual conversation in 2016 that something was missing in the educational content their chapters were offering members, Marie-France Watson, CED; Ryan Young; and Tim Whalen, CMP, decided to do something about it.
They brought plenty of industry experience to the table. Watson is a past president of MPI’s Montréal/Québec Chapter, as well as manager, academic and international conferences at Concordia University. Young is a past president of the Ottawa Chapter and director of sales at Brookstreet Hotel in the same city. Tim Whalen is president of the Toronto Chapter and executive meeting manager at Fallsview Casino Resort.
They created an alternative to the traditional conference, known simply as The EVENT, to bring together meeting professionals in their three chapters. “You can’t create something new and different if you are referring to it as the status quo,” says Whalen.
Individual chapter members were responsive. Some had already joined chapters in other Canadian cities where they did business.
“People already knew each other,” Watson says. “Why not capitalize on that and offer the kinds of networking opportunities people really want?”
Working in close collaboration, the chapter organizers shared resources, developed innovative formats and room setups for The EVENT and added experimental labs, immersive experiences, peer-to-peer learning and “Braindates,” where attendees shared knowledge one on one or in small group settings. They also adopted a new sponsorship model, where partners would create a “destination” in a breakout room, such as a custom-built escape room.
The structure of The EVENT was free-flowing, operating around a “Choose Your Own Adventure” theme.
“You could choose whether you went to the keynote or concentrated on networking,” Young says.
The organizers also opted out of conference mainstays such as a trade show—which wasn’t missed.
“What we experienced was overwhelming acceptance,” Watson says.
The first EVENT took place at Ottawa’s Brookstreet Hotel in April 2018, attracting more than 300 attendees. That was followed by one at the Hotel Bonaventure in Montréal in April 2019, with the theme “Awakening the Senses,” focused on using sensory stimulation to make the content memorable. For instance, an “Aroma Jockey” demonstrated the power of the sense of smell by coordinating aromatherapy to the beat of the music in the room. The next event is slated for Toronto, April 2-4, 2020.
“It all starts with an idea—and then going for it,” Watson says.
Marketplace Excellence: MPI Southern California Chapter
This award recognizes an MPI chapter or club for providing exceptional business exchange for members that demonstrates innovation and creativity in its development, planning and delivery.
Generating sponsorship revenue can be a big challenge for chapters, and it’s one that takes a lot of time.
In 2017-2018, MPI’s Southern California Chapter came up with a solution: an online advertising portal where vendors could instantly purchase advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
“In our whole industry, the pace of work is getting faster and faster,” says Kristin Twombly, CMP, president-elect for the chapter and a senior meeting planner at Capital Group. “We’re expected to do more and more with less time.”
The simple portal is a one-page site where potential sponsors can see all of the individual advertising opportunities available—such as email blasts and website and social media ads that, in the past, were marketed primarily in an advertising prospectus. The tool, which is PCI compliant, is regularly audited for payments.
The Southern California Chapter created a campaign to market the ease of partnering via the portal. Prior to the launch, most sponsors were local. Since it was launched, the chapter reported, there have been requests and visits from potential partners in other states and countries such as Canada, France, Poland, Russia and the UK. Revenue increased by 150 percent over the previous year, with the chapter generating an additional $18,750 in advertising.
Fortunately, the chapter was able to use its existing web technology to make the project happen.
“We started adding marketing opportunities directly into our registration, and got some good feedback on that,” Twombly says. “With the click of a button, you can purchase advertising opportunities.”
Twombly will be sharing what she learned in a session at MPI’s Chapter Business Summit about generating sponsorship and ad revenue in a climate where everyone is juggling multiple projects.
Membership Achievement: MPI Greater Orlando Chapter
This award recognizes an MPI chapter, club or student club for achievement in membership growth, engagement and retention, as shown by overall membership numbers or effective campaigns, programming or involvement in other activities.
With many meeting professionals juggling multiple commitments, giving them a reason to stay engaged in their MPI chapter requires an energetic effort by the chapter leadership.
The Greater Orlando Chapter went into overdrive when it saw a rapid decline in membership from 2016-2017 and saw its overall numbers drop from 2011 by 11 members, with a retention rating of just 69.77 percent.
To turn the situation around, the chapter started a monthly touchpoint timeline that targets members within the membership time frames of two to four weeks, five to seven months, nine to 10 months and two to 10 years, launching it in December 2017.
The program ensures that the chapter welcomes members to MPI and that they are aware of upcoming events within the chapter and are aware of membership renewal dates to make sure the chapter can guarantee renewals before they expire, relying on notes and phones calls to make them feel welcome.
At the same time, the chapter added New Member Focus Groups every four months to make sure they have a high level of satisfaction with the organization. Often, the participants have become volunteers for the chapter’s committees.
Within six months, the chapter saw net member growth of 5 percent and increased its retention rate to 80.14 percent. Its conversion rate hit 10 percent for non-members.
An Ambassador Program, in effect since December 2017, targets all potential new members at events, bringing them together with board members and other experienced members. It has helped the chapter achieve a 10 percent conversion metric.
Industry Advocate: MPI Northern California Chapter
This award recognizes an MPI chapter, club or student for achievements in advancing the meeting and event industry by promoting an understanding of its impact, participation in Global Meetings Industry Day or strategic use and implementation of tools and resources by the Meetings Mean Business coalition.
When dangerous wildfires spread through Northern California’s Napa and Sonoma counties in October 2017, Lucy Giovando Watts, a past president of the chapter and founder and president of the event technology firm LASSO40, knew there was no time to waste in offering help.
She and colleagues in the chapter had soon come up with plans for an event where industry peers affected by the fire could come together and express their grief and reached out to every contact they could think of to make it happen.
“Everyone I touched base with said, ‘Of course we’ll help,’” Giovando Watts says.
The chapter brought in Sonoma County Tourism as a “titanium sponsor”—a new level of sponsorship—and the chapter created an event that included peers from across the industry, including those who do not belong to MPI. Wine Country Destinations worked with Sonoma County Tourism to do the event planning, with Sonoma County Tourism paying for the catering and invitations and Wine Country Destinations handling the production. Meanwhile, the chapter’s Community Involvement Committee raised gift cards to donate to luncheon guests at an educational event on Oct. 18 at Netflix. The chapter also ran an email campaign to raise donations from its members.
“We were able to pull together quickly and get a task force to help out,” Giovando Watts says.
As the event date in November approached, other sponsors stepped up, and Cornerstone sponsored the venue. The groups also raised another $11,050 in fire relief donations through the marketing of a special incentive that rewarded new, booked business with Sonoma County Tourism with a donation in the group’s name to a local fund.
“It was a lovely, casual afternoon of just being there for each other,” Giovando Watts says.
The event was a powerful one for all of the attendees—particularly when they got to hear the stories of those whose lives were devastated by the fire, recalls Ryan Carroll, a sales manager at Giants Enterprises who was director of leadership development and volunteer engagement for the chapter at the time.
“When we got to sit at their tables and hear their stories, it was an emotional experience for them—and for us as well,” Carroll says.
