MPI Expands in Europe and Middle East
By Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 11/12/2007
Meetings Professional Intl., continuing its efforts to globalize, will strengthen its partnership with a European meetings tradeshow based in Spain and expand into the Middle East with a professional conference series.
MPI has been involved in the past with EIBTM - The Global Meetings and Incentives Exhibition held annually in Barcelona but, at next year's show, the association is doing even more.
It will sponsor the MPI Technology Village at the event, offering information on several meeting planning tools:
- abstract and speaker management
- online event and meetings management
- event production and technical management
- venue finding and RFPs
MPI will also provide speakers and content for the meeting. Sessions include “Beyond cost savings – a new approach for leveraging meetings, events and incentives to achieve business results,” presented by Christine Duffy of Maritz Travel Company; and “Try to understand better who is buying and how,” presented by Bernard Garcia of the European Institute of Purchasing Management.
MPI has more than 1,900 members and 11 chapters in 12 European countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
“EIBTM is a major industry platform for us,” said Joyce Dogniez, MPI director of operations, “and the ideal opportunity to interact with the global meetings and incentive community to inform everyone of our plans in 2008.”
MPI is also looking for more caché in the Middle East by partnering with the Gulf, Incentive Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM) on the launch of the Gulf Meetings and Events Conference April 8-10 at the Abu Dhabi Natl. Exhibition Company Centre in the United Arab Emirates.
According to MPI, the two-day educational conference will provide information that both new and existing meeting professionals need to be successful.
MPI has asked Reed Travel Exhibitions to help with planning the conference. “Reed Travel Exhibitions is at the very heart of the meetings industry, and GIBTM is pivotal for the meetings sector in the Middle East,” said Paul Kennedy, Reed Travel Exhibitions' group exhibition director.
All of MPI's recent announcements of international activities follow on the heels of its opening an Asia office in Singapore Oct. 25.
