By Ronnie Wendt

Behind every successful planner is a foundation of continuous professional development, according to Tim Luepke, the director of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Academy. The roles of planners are constantly changing. Tech updates, advanced data analysis, neurodivergent meetings and artificial intelligence (AI) are entering the field, and keeping planners on their toes.

Keeping up with these changes is almost a full-time job in itself, according to Luepke. But the MPI Academy exists to aid planners on their professional development journeys. MPI’s main purpose is to cater to its community members’ continuing education needs. “Our certificate programs leverage insight we have from our strategic partners to educate the industry and help planners do their jobs better,” he explains.

“The fast pace of industry changes demands that we swiftly pivot and keep our educational delivery methods up to date. And things are changing so fast, we have to update our content every single time we deliver it, particularly with AI,” he says.

He cites MPI’s new AI-Enhanced Event Professional Certificate as an example. Reposite, an AI-powered meeting and event planning tool, collaborated with MPI Academy to deliver the new program. MPI now delivers this course approximately 10 times a year.

“Every time we’ve held the course, we’ve had to update it because things had already changed,” he observes.

“In the past, we’d develop a course and deliver the same content for two to three years. AI is changing so fast we have to update the content every single delivery.”

He advises planners to keep regular education on their professional development roadmaps because of the frequency of course updates. He highlights AI, data analysis and neuroscience as key educational destinations, and notes that MPI is well- suited to drive knowledge in these areas.

CULTIVATE NEW SKILLS WITH COACHING

As a result of event planners’ already stacked schedules, MPI has worked to develop ways for event professionals to take education in smaller bites to fit their busier schedules. Another thing MPI is focusing on is more actively engaging members who are building their career paths. “We developed a coaching cohort to help event professionals with their professional development. We look at planners as individuals instead of saying, ‘Here are the skills you need to be a better planner,’” Luepke says.

MPI partnered with Visit Fort Worth to develop International Coaching Federation (ICF)-certified coaches with experience in the event industry to launch this effort. These coaches lead a group coaching effort that takes planners on a six-week journey to help them clarify their career vision.

“It’s an introspective effort that develops a vision that they can apply to their careers,” he says.

BOOST BRAIN SCIENCE

MPI also launched the Event Psychology Strategist program to help planners apply behavioral science, neuroscience and psychology to event planning.

“This program helps planners understand the neuroscience of the attendee, and the ways that the brain and the body takes in information at an event, whether it’s in person, digital or hybrid,” he says. “We look at the science and ask, what is neuroscience? How does science back up the decisions we make as event professionals?”

Another certification course, Event Welfare Champion, centers on the challenges of neurodivergent people, individuals whose brains develop or function differently, resulting in unique strengths and challenges compared to those with more typical brain development. It is an event put on in partnership with Megan Henshall, who oversees global events strategy for Google and heads the Neu Project, a research effort exploring neurodiversity and how to create events that embrace all neurotypes. For these individuals, events can be very taxing, causing some people to avoid them altogether, according to Henshall. When planners understand this, they can develop better events that better meet the needs of all types of people, she adds.

Topics covered include helping planners differentiate between neurodivergent and common mental health conditions, and developing empathy for neurodivergent individuals within meeting and event environments. Additionally, it highlights early intervention skills that can help planners identify signs of distress, overwhelm, meltdown and shutdown. Planners learn practical strategies for welcoming neurodivergent individuals and those with mental health concerns for more inclusive events.

“This course helps planners be more acutely aware of how to navigate and guide events that make all attendees feel comfortable and safe,” Luepke adds.

DEVELOP DATA ANALYSIS SKILLS

MPI also offers a course that takes a deep dive into the role and significance of
data analysis within the events industry. The three-module Event Data Analysis course examines the importance of data analysis, and the tools and techniques of data analysis that help planners visualize what’s really happening at their events. It also looks at the data to collect and how to use this data for actionable insights.

The course is taught by Kyle Jordan, the director of meetings at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

ACTIVATE AI

MPI launched its AI-Enhanced Event Professional Certificate in November 2023 to meet a growing need for AI education for meeting planners. Luepke explains that AI became a central focus of the organization’s annual Thought Leadership Summit in August of that year.

“People were asking, what is it really? How do we apply AI in our industry? How do we get planners comfortable using it?” he says.

As a first step, MPI developed a whitepaper on the topic of AI, then partnered with Reposite to develop a certificate program, which was launched in January. The program aims to equip event professionals with the essential knowledge and practical skills to harness AI to create meaningful and immersive event experiences.

“We have already had over 500 planners take this course,” he says. “It is a great course that sets the baseline for those who are not familiar with AI on how to use it in a practical way. We even dig into topics, such as the ethics of its use.”

AI, he says, presents opportunities to help planners make events more immersive. “AI has the power to help planners refine and call out the experiences that make sense,” he says. “It helps them be more thoughtful and better utilize their resources. And it’s only going to get more refined over time so that they can better understand the attendee so they can do their jobs better, and have better success with their clients and stakeholders.”

These courses and others are available as in-person and virtual programs. To sign up, Luepke says planners can visit the MPI Academy at mpi.org/education/mpi-academy and register for the courses they are interested in.