The EVENT Recap: Vision to Execution – Stronger, Wiser, Safer

The EVENT Recap: Vision to Execution –  Stronger, Wiser, Safer

In 2018, three Meeting Professionals International (MPI) chapters partnered together to offer their memberships something bigger and better, giving event participants the chance to expand network circles while strengthening existing ones.

And the-EVENT was born!

The Co-Creators of the-EVENT each had their own vision:

RYAN YOUNG

Some say he's a man that never sleeps, but really he just gets easily bored with the status quo and likes to keep his mind working overtime. He is currently the Director of Sales & Marketing at the Ottawa Marriott and co-Host of The Illuminate Podcast, which sees these 3 co-creators reunited once again. His vision for the EVENT was and always will be to take chances, have fun doing what we all love to do, and keep pushing the events industry forward.

MARIE-FRANCE WATSON

A self-proclaimed Event Design geek, Marie-France is preoccupied with designing experiences to instigate change and challenge the status quo. Her passion for sharing knowledge fits well with her day-job as Manager, Academic and International Events at Concordia University. In her spare time she focuses on her creative pursuits as co-host of the Illuminate Project and with her 2 favourite collaborators and co-founders of THE EVENT. She loves getting involved in projects that take risks in the hope that it inspires others to do the same for their events; changing the mindset of #eventprofs one event at a time.

TIM WHALEN

Tim hates the response "that's just how we've always done it".  Always looking for new ways to raise the bar, he is Business Development Manager at Nextech AR Solutions and Co-host of the Illuminate Project Podcast.  As a Co-Founder of the EVENT, he had always envisioned a process by which the three-chapter collaboration would re-invent itself year after year with new volunteers, new ideas, new attendee experiences in order to reach new heights.

In 2018 the-EVENT was in Ottawa and in 2019 in Montreal. This meant that 2020 would be in Toronto.  And then it couldn’t as Covid-19 changed everything.  Globally.

The Chairs decided to postpone the EVENT for 2020, waiting for when in-person gatherings of any kind would be safe. And as the months inched by, they realized this was going to take longer than we thought and made the decision to transform a popular, in-person event to virtual.

The committee was re-formed, and some committee roles adjusted. New dates were picked, and committee and vendor meetings started happening.

A theme rose from everything our industry was dealing with and what we realized how we all needed to feel and be: Stronger, Wiser, Safer.  It impacted all our decisions – on vendors, the platform, how our Initiative program would run, the timing for each day, what types of sessions we wanted to offer and when to add some fun.  A key component was the need to support our attendees.  We believed they needed information, learning, new skills, new points of view, networking opportunities and the ability to connect with others, one on one.  And in true the-EVENT style – that is what we gave them.

Of course, there were learning opportunities along the way, but we are the business events industry. We embraced them all and carried on.

Finally, the time for the-EVENT arrived and showed why we ARE the Business Events Industry!  Our audience and Partners were engaged, and our vendors and speakers were exceptional!

An astounding indicator was the level of engagement in the chat stream, especially on the last day.  Everyone was so happy to be there, sharing what they’d learned, tapping into their emotional intelligence and embracing the spirit of meaningful business conversations.

So… what’s next for the-EVENT? April 28 – 30, 2022 in-person at the Pan Pacific, Toronto!

Mark your calendars now!

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