Dear MPI North Florida Members,

In November I challenged each of you to identify your ROI from MPI, your “Return on Involvement”. Becoming involved is the best way to ensure that you get the most out of your membership and there are so many ways you can get involved. We have several committees, and can easily find one where your talents and skills will be useful. You can give as little as one hour of your time each month, or more if you want to. Being involved will enable you to get to know other members and make valuable professional and personal connections. Being involved will support your educational goals. Being involved may help a local non-profit organization through support of our Community Outreach initiatives.  Being involved will give you a great sense of satisfaction. There are so many ways for you to become involved, I can’t begin to list them here. I will be happy to talk to you about MPI and how you can get involved and increase your ROI.

Vickey Woodley

Chapter President

MPI North Florida is planning our first ever "Education Day" on Tuesday, April 10 at the beautiful Renaissance World Golf Village in St. Augustine. This event will run from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and will be chock full of education and networking opportunities that you will NOT want to miss. Keynote speaker, Holly Duckworth will speak on "Generation Now: Seven Steps to Building Future Leaders, Staff and Meeting Professionals." Breakout sessions will include Jonathan Howe, Esq., covering "Clothesline - Hanging Out Your Legal Laundry" and Andy Masters, "Kiss Your Customer: Why Sales and Service are Just Like Dating and Relationships" and "Leadership Through Development, Empowerment and Delegation"

In addition to excellent educational content, the day will also feature a business to business trade show from noon to 2:00 p.m. Suppliers will not want to miss this opportunity to be face to face with North Florida's professional meeting planners.

Advance Registration for the event is:

• Members - $60 (includes registration and lunch for 1 person
• Non-Members - $75 (includes registration and lunch for 1 person
• Student - $25 (includes registration and lunch for 1 person)

Exhibit fees are:

• Member - $175 (includes registration, exhibit space, lunch for 1 person)
• Additional person - $60 (includes registration and lunch for 1 person)
• Non-member - $250 (includes registration, exhibit space, lunch for 1 person)
• Additional person - $75 (includes registration and lunch for 1 person)

You can register on-line at nfmpi.org beginning Feb. 13. For more information contact us at info@nfmpi.org 

Welcome to our new members!

Hal Davis, Aruba Convention Bureau

Gina Lee Hengst, Dave and Buster's

Eileen Johnson, CMP, Florida Association American Institute of Architects

Janelle Johnson, CMP     

Amy Lee, Seasons 52

Julie Marshall, Student FSU

Tanya McGee, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

Alexxus Slocum, Student FSU

Barbara Summers, Safariland

Beverly Thibodeau

Khiana Williams, Wyndham          

Travis Wilson, Gaylord Hotels                     

Stacey Leigh Wood, HelmsBriscoe

Andrew L Wooten, C.P.P., Safety Awareness Firearms Education

Kayla Worthy, Student FSU

Our planner spotlight is shining on Tanya McGee, Project Manager at AACE Educational Services. Tanya is not only new to MPI, she is also fairly new to planning. After spending the past ten years as a Convention Services Manager in hotels, she decided a career change was in order and considers herself fortunate to have found a great opportunity at AES.

Tanya is a native of North Carolina. Prior to working in hotels, she worked at Broyhill Furniture managing credit, as a trainer in the health-care industry and for Sealed Air (the company that makes bubble wrap). Her first hotel job was at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co. From there she moved to Jacksonville and worked at Adam’s Mark. She remained on the management team when Hyatt took over management of that hotel. Her career with Hyatt flourished and she transferred from Jacksonville to Atlanta then to Washington, DC. Through her moves Jacksonville remained in her heart and she began looking for opportunities to make a career change and return to Jax.

Tanya is thrilled to be a member of MPI North Florida and is grateful to Disney Corporation for the scholarship they provided for her dues. She has joined the Communications Committee and is looking forward to being active in our organization. Her goals include earing a CMP designation in the next two years.

Tanya is an avid reader, you rarely see her without her Kindle. She has recently started taking Zumba classes and is loving dancing away the pounds. She has two “babies”, Bella (a Boston Terrier) and Jax (a Miniature Schnauzer). We are excited to have Tanya join MPI.

Congratulations to new MPI Mom Jennifer Trent, Sight & Sound

Jennifer welcomed Corbin Michael Trent.  He was born May 24^th at 10:19pm and weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and measuring almost 21 inches long.  Mom and baby are fine.

Convention South Magazine features Two MPI North Florida Members

Our very own Kathleen Zwart, CMP, and Matthew Marcial, CMP, were featured in the December issue of Convention South Magazine. To read the articles go to www.conventionsouth.epubxpress.com

Milione Achieves Professional Certification

Melissa Milione, CMP, received the Certified Professional Catering Executive (CPCE) designation from the National Association of Catering Executives. The CPCE is awarded after a rigorous study period and written exam that covers accounting, beverage management, catering services, contracts/agreements, event management, food production and sales/marketing. 

Melissa is Sr. Director of Catering and Convention Services at Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront and is a member of NACE Jacksonville. Melissa is also a member of MPI North Florida and is currently President-elect.

MPI North Florida Chapter provides this site as a free service to all those who plan or create meetings and events. Regardless of size, this easy to use tool will help you identify and contact qualified venues, businesses and professionals who can best help you succeed.  My Florida Event Source.com® is designed to provide you quick access to the basic information one needs to plan their event.  Knowing who can serve you best is always the best first step. With just a few clicks you can have the information you need to call, email or visit in person.

Hotels, restaurant and other event facilities can be listed on the site for a fee. For information on how to list your venue contact Jan Pittard at jan@quickmeetingprofiles.com

Tue. Feb. 14        Educational Luncheon    

“Hybrid Meeting How-To: From DIY to High-Fi, The Nuts and Bolts of Creating a Successful Hybrid Event”

                              Jacksonville Location: Crosswater Hall at Nocatee

                              Gainesville Location:  UF TREEO Center

                              Tallahassee Location: Cabot Lodge

Thu. Feb. 24        MPI After 5, Jacksonville

                              Capitol Grille at St. Johns Towne Center

Tue. March 13    Educational Luncheon

“Vital Teams: Create & Motivate a Sustainably High Performing Team”

Hilton Garden Inn Southside

Tues. April 10      MPI North Florida Education Day

                              Renaissance World Golf Village

Wed. April 11      MPI After 5, Tallahassee

Cathedral Arts was launched in 1993 by a small group of individuals from St. John's Episcopal Cathedral who had a heart for both children and the arts. They wanted to provide the children in the immediate neighborhood an opportunity for a meaningful education in the arts. They began with one dance class that was attended by 10 students from a transitional housing facility.

Word got out pretty quickly about this program, and soon principals from public schools throughout the city began calling to see if the Cathedral Arts Project could come to their school in the afternoon. Within three short years, Cathedral Arts had partnered with 15 elementary schools to provide free dance classes to deserving children, and by 1999, programming expanded to include instruction in visual arts and violin.

Though the original intent had never been to form an independent nonprofit, Cathedral Arts decided to seek incorporation and was designated as a 501(c)(3) charity in 2000. The organization continues to grow each year, expanding to include choral music and drama in 2002, and band in 2004.

What began as one dance class for 10 students now serves over 1,000 children through 43 twice-weekly afternoon classes. Children are learning the arts of classical and rhythmic ballet, jazz, West African

 MPI Provides Suppliers Free Access to Sustainability Tool

New resource enhances planning, reporting, compliance for meeting professionals

Meeting Professionals International (MPI) now provides free access to its Sustainability Event Measurement Tool (SEMT) to supplier organizations, a value for companies looking to proactively reach CSR-minded planners. Suppliers who upload their information to the system become part of the database event organizers around the world can search when determining the sustainability standards of venues.

"As an industry, we have a responsibility to design events that positively affect economic, social and environmental outcomes," said Bruce MacMillan, MPI president and CEO. "Our members consider sustainability measurement an essential part of the meeting performance management process, and now suppliers have access to this valuable tool. Their inclusion will contribute to the aggregate data MPI collects in an effort to continually benchmark progress in CSR initiatives within our industry."

The SEMT features include:

• Simplified user levels (basic and advanced)
• Planning questions informed by industry standards (APEX/ASTM, BS8901/ISO 20121 and the Global Reporting Initiative)
• Improved graphical report generating and export capabilities
• Measurement and reporting of an events water, waste, energy, paper, food and community impacts
• Conversion and calculation of carbon emissions using international standards and datasets
• Integration with other measurement systems such as IHG Green Engage

The SEMT, which launched in 2010, was developed by the Triple Bottom Line Alliance with a founding investment through the MPI Foundation by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), and guided by MPI’s CSR advisory council with members from Oracle, the United Nations, IHG and Microsoft and in collaboration with the Green Meeting industry Council (GMIC).

"Companies are increasing their focus on sustainability compliance in procurement, said Paul Salinger, President of the GMIC and VP of Oracle Corporation. "Meeting professionals now have a tool based on global standards to measure and report on the environment and sustainability impacts (ESI). This saves time, reduces reputational risks and increases sustainability."

In addition to free access to the SEMT for members, MPI provides content including case studies, articles, books and videos online through the Corporate Social Responsibility Content Portal. For access to the SEMT, visit www.mpi.sustainableeventtool.com.

IMEX America initial reviews are in, and the business conducted and connections made in Las Vegas brought international meeting professionals together during the three-day trade show and exhibition for what many attendees call a resounding success. As strategic partner and premier education provider, MPI delivered on the new rules of engagement. What began in Orlando during WEC 2011 was front and center in Las Vegas.

The MPI experience began on Smart Monday, with a slate of professional development that focused on successful adaptation, creativity and relevancy in today’s business environment.  Hosted buyers attendees were at the day-long exploration of how to meet differently, where the new rules of engagement came to life:

• Courage to Act, Innovate and Inspire To Make a Difference: The opening session from Cheryl Cran, CSP led the call for attendees to employ strategies for embracing change in the industry and use it across generations.
• Proving Value and Performance: Mary Boone and an expert panel of professionals discussing the intersection of budgeting, tech, learning formats and more as it relates to executing the best events for both attendees and clients.
• Embracing Technology to Enrich Connections: MPI delivered on future trends in technology and integrating virtual events into a meeting portfolio.
• Positive Effects Economically, Socially and Environmentally: The initial findings of Phase 1 of the Leeds Metropolitan global CSR study debuted.

The MPI team is already thinking about what to deliver to members and attendees at IMEX America 2012; will you be there?