The Certified Meeting Professional designation is a must-have for event organizers, designers, and strategists who want to demonstrate their professionalism to employers, peers and clients. But the test is challenging, and meeting professionals who want to pass it must prepare in various ways—including self-study, skills gap, needs analysis, and prep courses.

Join Nick Estrada, CMP, CAE, for this open-floor and interactive CMP Academy class that will help you feel confident going into the exam room with best practices as outlined in the CMP-International Standards (CMP-IS).

Learn proven study methods, test-taking tips and other tools from an association and higher education professional. Gain insight into how you cannot just read the questions, but how to read between the lines and contextually analyze this logic-based exam. No matter where you are in the process (including recertification), this course will help prepare you for the exam and apply standard practices it on the job.

You will learn key concepts behind the CMP-IS and how to apply them on at work, discuss best practices for preparing for and taking the exam and develop a personal study path based on where you are in the process. The study materials for this session are the referenced recommended reading: 9th Edition Convention Industry Council (CIC) Manual, 6th Edition Professional Meeting Management and the Events Industry Council’s APEX Glossary.

Note: This is not your standard study course! We do not work to provide sample tests and memorization tools – because at the end of the day, the CMP and its questions are as unique as YOU. Instead, we want to give you the tools and knowledge to help you navigate it with ease and answer each question with confidence.

Course Details

What you’ll learn:

• Describe and apply standard professional practices across the CMP-International Standards domains
• Use test-taking tips and problem-solving tools to help you better contextually analyze information
• Develop a personal study path for taking the CMP test
• Feel far more comfortable ahead of and in preparation for sitting for the CMP exam
• Learn from and connect with your peers an become part of the aspiring CMP community as you continue your preparation journey.

The Event Leadership Strategist Certificate Course is a 4-hour course designed for new to midlevel professionals who want to develop and strengthen their unique leadership voice. This class will help you define, own, and share your personal leadership voice to make you a more competitive and confident professional within the meetings & events industry.

The Event Leadership Strategist course is an essential part of the career strategy for every professional within the meetings & events industry. Whether you have been in the business many years or are just getting started, you will benefit from the clarity of understanding your leadership voice and the power it holds.

Bust Leadership Myths

The world is ripe with myths about leadership including the following:

• Leadership is about a title or a position you hold (TRUTH: Leadership is about action).
• When it’s your time, someone will invite you to the top (TRUTH: You need to shape your own path).
• Leaders are born (TRUTH: They are created, and you have the potential if you apply yourself).

Women play key roles in the hospitality and meeting industries, but many find it challenging to move into leadership positions. Recent studies show that women are 28% less likely to get an executive-level position even if they possess the skills that make other job applicants attractive candidates for C-Level positions.

What are the skills necessary to be considered for high-level leadership roles, and how do they translate to the level of leadership you seek for your career? In MPI’s Women in Leadership: Executive Skills Certificate Program, you’ll learn about the key roles women play in the hospitality and meeting industries and how to overcome career obstacles to executive-level positions.

Through the program, based on where you want your career and leadership to grow in the next three to five years, and you’ll create an action and development plan that advances your career, your leadership and your influence.

Course Details

What you will learn:

• Identify the skills that help women ascend to executive leadership roles in the meeting and event industry, and self-evaluate where you excel and where you can improve.
• Utilize best-practice methods for overcoming common challenges women face in obtaining leadership opportunities.
• Follow your personal action plan for leadership success and career development and find success in right-fit leadership roles.
• Locate additional resources available to women seeking leadership roles in the meeting and event industry.

Inclusion is not only the right thing to do—it unquestionably enhances your event’s value. Inclusion goes beyond basic legal compliance; it means creating an atmosphere in which all people feel valued and respected. Meetings and events succeed when they embrace the ways in which people are different, and the result is a powerful setting for problem-solving, innovation and success.

Through MPI’s Inclusive Event Strategist Certificate Program, you’ll discover how to keep a strategy of inclusion at the center of your event’s design and execution. You’ll explore the dimensions of diversity and learn best practices that ensure the engagement of all event participants. You’ll learn to adopt your role as an “inclusion broker” for the diverse groups you represent and focus on practical actions that result in inclusive event programs and environments.

The program’s focus is not on changing individual beliefs or ideas. Its goal is to explore the topic of inclusion and its relationship to the success of events and to provide strategies and actions that you can take to create inclusive experiences.

Course Details

What you will learn:

• Explain the business case for inclusion, and why creating objectives and tactics for inclusion will benefit your business or organization.
• Use the dimensions of diversity in your event strategy and design to create fully inclusive environments.
• Embrace your role of inclusion broker.
• Commit to taking actions that create an environment of inclusion by completing an Inclusive Action Plan.