When we meet – we change the world.
TRG loves the tag line for WEC 2013! Yes we do change the world when we meet, whether it is two people discussing plans to start a business, or a room of over 1,500 people creating prosthetic hands for victims of landmines and amputees half a world away. We all have an opportunity to create impact on our world, and it can all start with a meeting!
In keeping with the tag line of change, many MPI sessions were all about transformation. In the opening general session, Candy Chang shared her simple and yet profound projects, such as the “Before I Die” wall and Neighborland. Both of these simple ideas have made a big positive impact by giving people a voice in places where they live. Candy’s presentation was inspirational and it truly captured the tagline “When we meet – we change the world.”
Of course WEC is about education and so we attended several great workshops, many which were based on the overall theme of transformation. We enjoyed several personal development sessions on topics such as boosting productivity and finding the meaning in your daily work. We also attended several professional workshops such as crisis management, which covered handling issues such as medical emergencies and weather related emergencies.
One session we were very excited about at TRG was planning and creating community service projects to incorporate into corporate meetings. We had an opportunity to brainstorm and come up with ideas for community service projects for various types of meetings, from big budget corporate incentive trips to non-profit association conferences. We are very excited about some of the ideas that we came up with and are looking forward to sharing more with our clients.
MPI has long had an interest in helping their communities and now more and more meetings include a service project. TRG participated in the Helping Hands project which allows attendees to work together to build prosthetic hands for victims of landmines and amputees, half way around the world. As the meeting production team we often get to organize and oversee community service projects and it was a great privilege to be able to participate.
We learned of updates to the CMP certification program including a new subspecialty for Health Care. As this is a new program, information was limited. We will be tracking this program and will share our thoughts and comments.
It was also exciting to see new and different set options. The General Session was set “theater in the round” style with the stage in in the middle of the room surrounded by the audience. In a room with 1500 attendees, no attendee was more than 250 feet from the stage! Amy attended a “behind the scenes” session and got the information about the production. As with any set-up, there are benefits and limitations to this style. We are excited to talk to some of our clients about using this type of seating and stage arrangement!
And it just wouldn’t be an MPI conference without entertainment! The opening night 80’s theme reception was a lot of fun, with the highlight of a performance by Billy Idol! The conference wrapped up with a night of country music featuring Dierks Bentley.
All in all it was a productive and fun conference! TRG came away from the event inspired and excited about the transformation within MPI and our industry.