First of all, I hope everyone is doing well, given the circumstances. A lot is currently happening around the world and more than ever it is the time to be united.
In this post I would like to share a short update on the work of MPI’s European Advisory Council, one of MPI’s international volunteer committees. Don’t worry if you’ve not heard of this body before, you are not alone, and this is part of the reason for this post.
So who are we? What do we do? What is our mission? What are we working on?
The MPI European Advisory Council evolved from out of the European Taskforce created in 2016 (led by MPI RISE Award recipient Krzysztof Celuch) to advise MPI HQ how to grow MPI in Europe including ideas on membership and the flagship conference, the MPI European Meetings and Events Conference (EMEC). This was followed up with an externally developed (by also MPI RISE Award recipient Miguel Neves) marketing strategy specifically for MPI in Europe. In 2018 the MPI European Advisory Council was formally created (led by Angeles Moreno) to build on the previous work to further support and develop the chapters in Europe.
Since January 2019, I have led the MPI European Advisory Council, a body formed by dedicated volunteer leaders, all of them past leaders of chapters in Europe. Together we have been able to make significant progress, always building on the work that came before us, in particular we have focused on:
- Connecting the dots between the European MPI community (European-wide event calendar)
- Raising the profile of the MPI Foundation in Europe (through our #leafalegacy project)
- Supporting the re-design of the European Chapter Leaders Forum series of events
- Developing the structure of the council to make it sustainable
- Supporting the roll out of MPI’s Corporate Membership Program
- We advised on a different council recruitment process
In 2020, due to COVID-19, we shifted our focus to offer support to our members and chapters. Some of our current initiatives are:
- A mentoring/buddy system to coach and support members in need
- An EAC happy hour (more information will follow soon)
- Offering the MPI events team in-depth advice on the development of EMEC
Our mission is and will remain as follows:
The European Advisory Council acts as the “voice” of the MPI European community in providing recommendations and input regarding the MPI’s European strategy, with a focus on elevating MPI’s Global brand within Europe. Input focuses on membership growth, chapter stability and implementation of event strategies that consistently deliver education, networking and increased business development opportunities for global sponsorship and MPI Foundation.
Thanks to all the work carried out since 2016, we now have enough data to shape the future of MPI in Europe. We are working hard to transform the great work from previous council members into an ambitious action plan. All the initiatives are focus on one thing:
Providing MPI members in Europe with all the resources, opportunities and education they need and expect from MPI.
I would like to thank all members who volunteered in current or previous councils for working with us on shaping a bright future.
Should you have any feedback or ideas that can help your association to move forward, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time! As I said at the start of this post; the time to be united is now!
Pieter Allaerts
EAC chair 2019-2020
