News & Views

This was our first in-person convention and trade show since 2019, so it was very exciting to be able to reunite the industry. With the large trade show component and an industry that places a lot of focus on in-person relationships, the ability to see and taste the produce was important for everyone. As well, there was a large number of American participants who have begun attending events in the US over the last year or so that were itching to get back to the Canadian market.

This monthly article series allows MPI Ottawa Chapter members to share their recent professional and personal accomplishments with the MPI community by highlighting the News Around Town. Get in touch with Élodie Lortal (elodie.lortal@nac-cna.ca) to make a submission for the next issue!

I had participated at most of the events during Ottawa meet week, but the Charity Auction Dinner was the first industry dinner I’d attended in two years. I was looking forward to seeing everybody and the chance to reconnect, however; I was also a little nervous because of the number of people catching the Omicron variant was increasing. You don’t want to be ‘that person’ who brings it home.

After more than a 2-year absence due to COVID, the Salon came back in full force with a wide variety of exhibitors and a great ‘Auteur.e Studio’ that featured talks with authors. The objective of the Salon is to create an opportunity for connection between readers and the literary world, including authors.

This article will cover topics ranging from a high-level overview of the virtual and hybrid landscape and then Disa will take a deep dive of specific key considerations such as engagement, sensory activation, and return on investment.

I came out of university with an arts degree and then pursued a college diploma in Human Resources. I did have plans on going that way but ended up landing a temporary job as the assistant for the head film buyer for Famous Players. This is where my love of sales began. I never looked back at HR and continued to pursue different sales jobs throughout my career.

This monthly article series allows MPI Ottawa Chapter members to share their recent professional and personal accomplishments with the MPI community by highlighting the News Around Town. Get in touch with Élodie Lortal (elodie.lortal@nac-cna.ca) to make a submission for the next issue!

The IPAC Leadership Summit offers training and development for growing leaders within the public sector. Our members are looking for industry best practices on current and relevant topics that public servants are facing or going to face. Training and developing leaders are main themes that sets this conference apart from our annual conference. This conference allows us to have some innovative and thought-provoking content.

When Carla arrived in Ottawa, she began the Recreational Facility Management Program at Algonquin College, then moved into the Events program. Carla joined CICan in 1994 and progressed up the ladder and in 1997 she became a Meeting Planner for their many events, including the large annual conference that takes place across Canada. This has been great, because she's gotten to visit most places in her country of origin. She has always been an avid themed party planner, and in 2022 she plans to take it on the road for other families to enjoy.

Disa started out doing audio engineering, lighting, and video in my high school theatre called the Terry Fox Theatre. She had amazing mentors from my Juno award winning music teacher, Steve Sainas, to the technicians that were employed to work at the theatre and took me under their wing. She was about 16 years old at the time and by the time I was graduated from high school, she had 1000’s of hours of experience and was already applying for my Audio Engineering certification.

This 2021 Breaking Bread, Breaking Stigma event featured a roster of Ottawa’s top chefs who competed in a gourmet sandwich showdown to crown the next “Sandwich Sovereign of Ottawa”. The event had both an in-person attendance option hosted at All Saints event space and a virtual option for those who were not comfortable to attend the live event or who were unable to vaccinate.

After graduating from LaSalle College, I focused on slowly starting my own company, working full time and continued going to University to study business. This year I achieved my dream which is having my own company, and I can proudly say MPI Ottawa, Daniela Caputo and my family were my biggest supporters and helped me realize one of the biggest achievements.

Recycling disposable masks is a new endeavor for the Convention Centre and more broadly for the meeting industry as this is not an industry that usually uses individual protection equipment.

I truly believe that our industry is one of the greatest and that’s largely because of the wonderful, like-minded people that we get to connect with. Through MPI Ottawa you have access to education, networking opportunities, business and relationship building. It has given more to me than I can ever repay!

This monthly article series allows MPI Ottawa Chapter members to share their recent professional and personal accomplishments with the MPI community by highlighting the News Around Town. Get in touch with Élodie Lortal (elodie.lortal@nac-cna.ca) to make a submission for the next issue!

The biggest takeaway from my experience on the Global Board of Trustees is that the MPI Family is huge! The Community goes well beyond our local chapter, because we have 65 chapters globally. If your career takes you elsewhere in the world, there is sure to be an MPI Chapter there to welcome you.

This event was a fabulous experience and a perfect opportunity to showcase how a large-scale virtual event can be fun and exciting to showcase the inauguration of the President of the United States. It was a black-tie-A-lister-all-the-way event, with performances by some noteworthy figures including Billie Eilish, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Train and many others.

I started my business during the recession and it was excruciatingly hard. At the time, hiring an Event/Meeting planner was consider a “luxury”. I was totally oblivious to this and quite naïve. So I blindly forged on full force and got knocked down more times than I want to remember. I hustled my way at networking events. Scoured the business sections of the local newspapers trying to find my next client – believe it or not, this strategy worked more often than not.

I joined MPI Ottawa in 2017 while studying in the Algonquin College Event Management Program. I had recently moved back to Ottawa after spending 4 years in the GTA. I wanted to fully immerse myself in the industry, make new connections quickly, explore job pathways for after graduation, and learn everything I could. Sandy Ouellette, my professor at the time, had offered up a few registrations to students to attend a breakfast education event. I joined MPI following that event.

This monthly article series allows MPI Ottawa Chapter members to share their recent professional and personal accomplishments with the MPI community by highlighting the News Around Town. Get in touch with Élodie Lortal (elodie.lortal@nac-cna.ca) to make a submission for the next issue!