As I have been out and about interacting with our community recently, I am frequently asked how I see artificial intelligence (AI) impacting our industry and how MPI will learn about and leverage this transcendent technology.
At MPI we are approaching AI with a two-fold purpose, just as we do when exploring other innovations and new technologies. First, we need to understand how MPI as an organization can utilize it, while also ensuring that we provide the resources and content to our community to best support them in its utilization. Witnessing how the MPI staff has embraced AI over the past 18 months provides me with great confidence that we are not only embracing the technology, we are setting up our community to maximize its many advantages while protecting MPI and your organizations from AI’s many inherent and unknown risks.
Our research shows that nearly 80% of industry professionals aren’t regularly using generative AI and only one-third are aware of and using the AI inherent in their existing platforms. We know there is a gap in industry adoption. Our goal is to help our community members use universal AI platforms in the design and delivery of meaningful experiences.
To ensure a strategic and thoughtful organizational integration of AI, in early 2023 MPI developed an internal AI Committee to explore emerging trends, ethical implications and ways in which we can integrate AI seamlessly into our operations to enhance efficiency, innovation and customer satisfaction. The focal points of that committee include workforce efficiency, recruiting and policy; external content development, industry impacts and tools; technology impacts and integrations; internal marcom content development; and business intelligence and data privacy.
According to Chad Hiatt, the CIO of MPI’s outsourced IT provider, Aldridge, MPI is the first of their over 300 corporate customers to develop an organization-wide AI policy, while also rolling out Microsoft CoPilot to our staff; Chad noted that he is “very impressed with MPI’s approach and initiative.” Additionally, MPI’s outside General Counsel, Artoush Varshosaz, Practice Area Leader-Litigation at K&L Gates LLP, commented “many organizations are still at the starting line when it comes to artificial intelligence, not only in the technical deployment but in creating a framework for organization-wide use. I can confidently state that MPI is ahead of most organizations—for-profit and non-profit—when it comes to policy and creative thinking around deploying AI in its organization.”
An important step for MPI was the launch of our first external AI educational offering, the industry-leading AI-Enhanced Event Professional certificate program. Developed in partnership with event tech provider Reposite, and with the input of 50 industry leaders, this program has now been delivered four times to nearly 200 professionals, including the entire MPI staff. The feedback has been more than encouraging, proving this one-of-a-kind education is desired and needed throughout the events world, with attendee satisfaction ratings of 95%. Next up is an AI certificate program focused on industry sales professionals.
Why are we diving so deeply into AI? It really boils down to efficiencies and staying on top of evolving best practices. We couldn’t bury our head in the sand and say, “Let’s wait another year and see what happens.” Instead, we recognized that while MPI is not a tech company, there is an immediate need to proactively exam and share the risks and opportunities of this complex and rapidly evolving technology to support our greater community of event professionals. This is an intentional discovery effort. And while we can’t yet answer all your AI questions, we felt it essential to start tackling the bigger questions to provide planners with an AI roadmap.
As people grumble about concerns of being replaced by technology, one refrain really stood out to me and it’s important to highlight: People won’t be replaced by AI, but people who don’t use AI will be replaced by people who do. Similarly, I don’t envision organizations being replaced by AI, however, organizations that don’t use AI may well be replaced by those that do.
We don’t know all the ways that AI will impact us in the future. But we do know we need to move forward with intention while being flexible to adapt to the constantly changing landscape. Because MPI is, and will continue to be, a people-driven association that exists to serve people who, in turn, serve other people. Because, when we meet, we change the world.
