How many new event professionals have read about leadership and event management only to discover that once put into practice, they were woefully inexperienced? It’s easy to chalk up perceived failure to a lack of potential, which simply isn’t the case. The 2020 MPI European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC 2020), Feb. 9-11 in Sevilla, Spain, is the place for meeting and event professionals to push the boundaries of learning and growth by unlocking hidden potential with Sevillian learning journeys.
What Are Learning Journeys
Learning journeys at EMEC are physical, experiential activities that take participants outside of the conference center and into a journey where they can learn and grow. The stimulating environment will provide attendees with real-world experience and context in which to develop and utilize new skills.
According to Miranda van Bruck, CED, program director for MPI, the learning journeys are similar to school field trips that are both exciting and educational.
“Do you remember your school outings, where you and your classmates all got on a bus and went somewhere exciting for the day? Learning journeys are just like that, but for busy business professionals,” she says. “Participants go on a learning journey where we physically take them outside of the conference center to other organizations in order to learn how other industries face and tackle challenges. We learn from their innovations and discover how we can apply [what we learn] to the MICE industry.”
A concept developed by 65 meeting and event professionals, learning journeys were first conceived for EMEC 2019 at The Hague, the Netherlands. They have returned for EMEC 2020, and the team at MPI has collaborated with the Sevilla Congress and Convention Bureau to develop four learning journeys specially designed to teach attendees about stress management and decision making, leadership, design thinking and storytelling and persuasion.
“The purpose of a learning journey is to physically take participants outside of the conference center to learn,” van Bruck says. “Taking people outside the typical conference room and into a stimulating environment that is linked to the topic will provide participants with the real-world experience they need to place their new skills in context and to develop new ideas on how to implement their skills.”
It is well known that meeting planner is one of the top five most stressful jobs in the world, along with military personnel, firefighters, airline pilots and police officers. As such, stress management and decision making under pressure are must-have skills. In a learning journey led by Pierre-henri Chuet (a.k.a “Até”), a former French Navy fighter aircraft pilot, stress management is exactly what attendees will be learning.
Até has been flying planes since he was 15 years old, including 13 years of flying Rafale jets for the French Navy and time flying for Canadian airlines. Following a stroke that grounded him, Até founded Mach 3 Management to help businesses develop stress management skills and decision making. According to Até, the cockpit is the ideal place to peel away the ego and make personal growth.
“A flight is intense. You have to prepare, make decisions, communicate and take actions at supersonic speed, working as a TEAM. The margin for error is minimal. It shows what you are really made off and any small issue or tendency you might have in your leadership style will show,” he says. “By discovering your own flaws, you will then be able to deal with these trends because your ego won’t be able to hide it. It will stick with you. The most common tendency we see is not explaining the ‘why’ and micromanaging your team when what you should do is step back and anticipate.”
Attendees will travel to a highly secured Airbus facility where military planes are being built to take part in a unique lesson in stress management. In this learning journey, Até will share the latest methods and techniques used in aviation and show how these techniques translate to the business world.
“At Mach 3 Management, we believe that the methods used in the supersonic jet aircraft have values far beyond the cockpit,” he says. “A cockpit is a workplace where you have to excel. There is no room for failure. The mission has to work—everyone has to make it safely back on the ground. The result is an industry that aims for excellence and efficiency.”
Using virtual reality, attendees will experience firsthand how the challenges of piloting multimillion-dollar planes in hostile environments are linked to the challenges meeting professionals face on a daily basis. As such, they will learn proven stress management methods while learning how to implement them for maximum excellence and efficiency.
Learning Journeys Return to EMEC 2020
Learning journeys return in Sevilla, Spain, offering firsthand experience for attendees. Here’s a look at some of the other learning journeys that we’re planning.
Leadership: Instead of just reading about it or listening to lectures, experience what leadership is truly about with Andalusian horses as your teacher.
Design Thinking: Are you interested in making a life-changing difference to people in Sevilla? Push your boundaries and learn crucial business skills like design thinking and lean startup methodologies while designing an unforgettable social impact experience, which will leave a positive impact in one of the most challenged neighborhoods of the city.
Storytelling and Persuasion: Discover the stories you really want to tell and tell them in a way that you’ll be heard as a leader with the opera house as our backdrop.
For more information on EMEC 2020 and the accompanying learning journeys, visit EMEC 2020 event site.
