DALLAS, Texas, USA (April 10, 2023)—Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest meeting and event industry association, aired this year’s sixth annual Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID): Virtual experience on March 30, 2023. Over 4,000 industry meeting professionals registered for the event, with participation from around the world. Attendees were able to access a live stream chat feature, a digital wall where they could post updates all attendees could see and direct messaging capability between attendees for connection and collaboration.

Over 40 unique educational segments covered topics including the history of GMID, sustainability, emotional intelligence, event data strategy, event and destination planning at resorts, incentive travel research, anti-human trafficking education, workforce development and more. MPI presented the State of the Industry panel and shared exciting updates including a new partnership with Marriott on sustainability. The 2023 RISE Award finalists were announced on the broadcast and the recipients will be named at the World Education Congress (WEC) in June 2023.

"GMID began over 20 years ago through the initiative of MPI Canadian chapters, and we are so very proud it has grown into a universally supported and globally impactful event for our industry.” said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. “The event remains an important time to build relationships, equip ourselves with knowledge to innovate for the future and tell the story of our industry’s impact.”

This year, MPI chapters played a large role in the programming. The MPI Chicago, Mexico, Potomac and Toronto chapters participated. Participants were treated to a live panel session from the MPI Southern California Chapter's 45th Anniversary Party. And participants got a sneak peek along with interviews from the MPI Carolinas Chapter as they celebrated GMID from the Bank of America stadium. There was also an international live stream from Africa with a special panel on planning meetings and events on the continent.

Following are key stats from MPI’s 2023 Global Meeting Industry Day: Virtual experience: 

• GMID continues to drive high satisfaction. A total of 4,118 meetings and event professionals registered, of which 2,395 attended, giving it a 94% satisfaction rate and a Net Promoter Score of 45.   
• Engagement from attendees was strong. Cumulatively, attendees consumed 305,540 minutes of programming. Throughout the broadcast, 127,730 attendee interactions took place across the Webex platform (i.e., messages, profile views).
• There were 1,725 chat entries between the attendees. 
• In total, MPI delivered just over 40 individual educational segments. 
• The MPI Foundation, the philanthropic arm of MPI, held a campaign with ALHI in which it aimed to match up to $10,000 for anti-human trafficking efforts. By the end of the GMID broadcast, nearly $3,000 had been raised and donations continued being accepted through April 7, 2023.
• GMID was gamified for the first time this year. Attendees were given questions throughout the day to test their knowledge of GMID history. The top five participants who answered questions won prizes —from MPI, Webex and Grit Studios swag to autographed books from Foster+ Fathom to trips to Dallas and Detroit.
• Three wellness breaks were again incorporated throughout the 12-hour broadcast, encouraging participants to relax, breathe and stretch.  
• A link to the recording of the GMID broadcast will be available on the MPI website later this month.  

"GMID brings together thousands of members of our community to connect, share insights and strengthen our events industry,” remarked Lisa Vogel, Lead, Field and Event Marketer for WebEx Events (formerly Socio), the end-to-end event management platform which hosted MPI’s GMID. “MPI members from around the world were able to connect in one immersive virtual event experience, allowing them to network and communicate in real-time, while also driving engagement between attendees and sponsors.”

About GMID:

GMID began as Canadian National Meetings Industry Day, which was a 20+ year tradition in Canada created by the Canadian Chapters of MPI. It expanded to North American Meetings Industry Day in 2015 through the efforts of Meetings Mean Business. 2016 was the first global edition, continued to be led by Meetings Mean Business (which is now an arm of U.S. Travel). GMID is currently an initiative of Meetings Mean Business under U.S Travel; however, many industry associations, chapters and organizations host events in its celebration. MPI has hosted our annual 12-hour broadcast since 2018. 

Media Contact: Christa Schelter,  communications@mpi.org