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MPI, in conjunction with New York University’s Jonathan M. Tisch School of Hospitality, has released a new “State of Inclusion in Meetings & Events” report.
The report examines how meeting professionals approach the issues of inclusion and diversity in their events, and a poll that is a fundamental part of the report shows the industry still has a long way to go.
For instance, the poll, in which the Tisch School of Hospitality gathered responses from 1,087 MPI members, showed that respondents felt the groups best-served by the event industry are male and extroverted attendees. The respondents felt introverted attendees are least-served. To balance this situation, the report contains best practice suggestions, including insights on how meeting professionals can use technology to allow delegates to ask questions in alternative ways, as well as assigning seating at lunch time to create new connections and reduce awkwardness.
The report findings show 20 percent of respondents said they include diversity and inclusion initiatives to comply with legal requirements, and 31 percent use diversity and inclusion to respond to guest expectations. Some 40 percent of respondents said they don’t have all the information/knowledge needed to plan inclusive experiences, even though 56 percent of respondents said their organizations have written diversity and inclusion policies.
In dealing with a critical element in making events inclusive—registration—many meeting professionals felt that it was challenging to make the registration form both short and comprehensive.
Respondents also said they rarely share event menus in advance or produce event materials in different languages, and only about half of the time do they offer different types of seating/furniture to match delegates’ needs/preferences.
A positive finding of the survey is that most meeting professionals include action plans in their events to incorporate attendee feedback in future events.
Jessie States, CMP, CMM, director, MPI Academy, says the report clearly shows that meeting professionals feel there is a gap in knowledge and education to support the creation of truly inclusive events, and MPI takes the issue seriously and actually has been for years now.
“MPI appreciates all of the many volunteers who have worked to make our industry more diverse and inclusive in the past,” States says. “For instance, you’ve got Joan Eisenstodt (a Washington D.C.-based planner and innovator) and others who were leading some amazing inclusivity initiatives 20 years ago, 10 years ago. But we wanted to take a benchmark and we wanted to see how far we’ve come. We have come a long way as an industry, but there are still gaps and challenges and we want to bridge those now.”
The MPI-Tisch School of Hospitality report will provide an important tool to help navigate the road forward, States says.
The report offers best practice examples for the creation of inclusive experiences.
In the recent past, MPI has:
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Developed a new Inclusive Event Design certificate program (launched in March). The program includes a four-hour, interactive training session that addresses how to make practical inclusion decisions and the tactics for doing so. Participants will learn the business case or rationale, key principles and strategies and an outline of tactics for planning for inclusion.
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Created special interest groups for MPI members to connect with like-minded individuals. Groups include the LGBTQ community, financial and insurance planners, healthcare planners, diversity and inclusion, small business owners, etc.
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Created a new position for a diversity inclusion liaison on the MPI Global Board of Trustees, who works with the International Board of Directors, and the new Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.
MPI will offer a panel discussion at the 2019 World Education Congress—June 15-18 in Toronto—called “Ensuring Diversity and Inclusion in Your Organization and Events.” Monica Grinage-Prince, CMP, CMM, experiential project manager - events and exhibitions for Shell, and James Brown of James Brown the Voice will lead the discussions.
