“It’s still on,” is the message of the Meetings Mean Business (MMB) Coalition. It refers to one of the biggest days of the year—celebrating the impact of the meetings industry, on April 14. In fact, you could say that, this year, marking Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) is more poignant than ever. Because now the world knows what it feels like—financially, emotionally and creatively—not to be allowed to meet.
Several groups have stepped up to bring everyone together, in spirit and shared mission, at least. The best news is that you don’t have to choose. You can support the industry through any of these ways, or by participating in all of them.
- #GMIDGoesVirtual: A grassroots movement of meeting professionals is making sure the date doesn’t go by without marking it in a dramatic way. On March 13, Anh Nguyen, founder of Spark Event Management in Calgary, Alberta, posted a challenge to fellow meeting professionals: Use the day to share a favorite thing about working in the industry—and, in the process, break the world record for largest virtual meeting ever held. The cry went viral and is now a movement to bring together 15,000 people from all over the world for a 30-minute virtual event at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, noon Eastern Time. “I can’t think of a better way to show the strength of our industry than smashing this record!” said Nguyen in an article posted by Smart Meetings.
- Participate in Meeting Professionals International’s 12-hour broadcast, GMID Virtual. It will include sessions on mindfulness, tips for virtual-event experience design, crisis communications and updates from IMEX Global. It also includes a time-out to participate in the GMIDGoesVirtual challenge. See, we told you that you could do it all.
- Finally, the MMB coalition encourages planners to take action in the community. Donate supplies, funds, space, whatever is possible—and then share it on the Commit 2 Community page. “As a coalition, we are committed to bolstering April 14 as an opportunity to unite around the common goal of serving our cities,” was the call to action in MMB’s statement to ambassadors.
