As the events world picks up speed, MPI Communities continue to act as essential spaces for industry peers to network, learn and have fun. Eva Keidel, CMP (MPI Texas Hill Country Chapter), chair of the MPI Marketers and Experience Designers Community, chatted with us to share some insight unique to that sector of the industry.
How long have you been involved in the MPI Marketers/Experiential Designers Community?
2022 marks my second year of involvement with this community. My first year opened the door to like-minded people all over North America and allowed us to connect with others in the community through education and digital networking sessions.
Why did you want to get involved with this community?
The emphasis of this community is on the end-user. Those who focus on the end-user find ways to influence and plan experiences that entice individuals to attend, participate and congregate. Many times, the event focus becomes lost in the hype of a ‘cool’ location or a high-profile speaker, and the value for the attendee is not promoted consistently or in an interesting fashion. If the end-user experience is not the top of mind, the event will not have the exciting buzz of missing out on something important, relevant or valuable.
Why do you think it’s important to have this dedicated community group?
The community of marketing, experience and design is an interesting collection of meeting individuals, demands, desires and concepts. This community is so diverse, and, as such, we have a lot of knowledgeable people. Those in the community work for various types of organizations (corporate, non-profit, associations, suppliers) and there is a massive range of titles/positions in this group as well so networking and learning from each other is fun and beneficial. Without this community, the exciting focus of the end-user experience might become lost in all of the other logistics of producing an event.
Can you share some of the unique challenges that are currently being experienced by members of this community?
BANDWIDTH! For those who have remained in the meeting industry, work has increased manyfold, organizations shrunk in 2020 and 2021 and as things shift back to ‘normal’ the tasks have moved to a single person’s to-do list! 2022 has brought about a future normal in which people are responsible for all aspects of event production: logistics, marketing, experience design and execution. The MPI Marketers/Experiential Designers Community are colleagues in the know, who can help by providing fresh ideas, connections to trustworthy partners, offering feedback, wellness management tips and a different perspective through discussion forums, networking and education. Creating for the end-user can be time-consuming; collaborating with colleagues is valuable as sharing details or ideas can cut down on the time it might take to create something new for 2022 events.
Are there goals you can share that you’d like to achieve with the MPI Marketers/Experiential Designers Community this year?
In 2022, this community would like to expand the education opportunities, specific to marketing and experience design, offer networking connections to promote each other in this uncertain world and insights to serve their customers and brand better. Please consider joining this community, collaborating together and sharing with each other, as together we can shape the future!
