The Road to Recovery: Executive Panel Discussion will take place during the MPI World Education Congress (WEC) in Grapevine, Texas, Nov. 4. Panelists include Nan Marchand, managing director of the Meetings Mean Business Coalition/U.S. Travel Association; Jason Dunn, chair of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals; Amy Calvert, CEO of the Events Industry Council; and Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. Annette Gregg, senior vice president of experience for MPI, is the panel moderator.
Today, we hear from panel moderator Annette Gregg, senior vice president of experience for MPI.
What do you see as the overarching goal for this panel?
The goal is the convene a diverse set of leaders to candidly share their experiences during this massive disruption caused by COVID. The group is from a variety of backgrounds and organizations: small associations to billion-dollar corporations. We’ll hear how their companies handled the early days of the pandemic and how they are planning for the current-state and future. It will give us powerful insight into how these leaders balanced tough choices with optimistic planning for a brighter future.
What have you found to be the best examples of “leadership” for our industry during this crisis?
Some of the best videos and articles I’ve seen from industry leaders have had a balance of a realistic view of the damage our industry is facing, with an unrelenting belief that we will prevail in the end—that live meetings and travel will come back. Author Jim Collins talks about this in his book Good to Great. I’ve also found that leaders who are being authentic, vulnerable and transparent are more relatable. This is new ground for all of us, so showing up like we have all the answers isn’t fooling anyone. All we can do is act with the information we have at the time and encourage our teams to keep the faith for recovery.
“This is new ground for all of us, so showing up like we have all the answers isn’t fooling anyone.”
What do you see as the takeaways from this panel discussion?
I hope the panel inspires hope for our industry. Each of these leaders has taken this opportunity for broad transformations in their organizations, and these stories show the power of visionary leadership, and of the human spirit. Through their stories, we will learn from their decision-making process and what we can do as an industry to support each other.
How does this panel align with the overall objectives of the conference theme Reunite for Recovery?
Without a clear end in sight for COVID, we need to learn how to proceed in the midst of uncertainty. WEC Grapevine will give us resources, relationships and ideas for moving forward, however that looks. It will demonstrate how groups can safely meet and interact again. Through the panel, we will hear how these industry leaders are moving forward towards recovery as well.
WEC Grapevine: Reunite for Recovery
What are the different perspectives each speaker will bring to this discussion?
Fortunately, the panel represents a very diverse set of professionals: a billion-dollar, publicly held corporation; global associations; an advocacy body; and a DMO. We have a balance of race and gender as well. With this variety, we will hear how the leaders answered to their various stakeholders, how they overcame barriers and how they had to address diverse global audiences.
Other thoughts?
This panel discussion follows up on our industry leaders’ panel on Global Meetings Industry Day in mid-April, in the early days of the pandemic. We hope that a look at our industry seven months later will yield some powerful insights into how our world has changed and what the meetings and events industry has done to survive and move forward.
Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
