I’ve never been much into fortune tellers, astrological signs, tarot card readings and the like.

Given the year we had just had, though, I figure we could use all the help we can get. 2021, it turns out, is the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac. Oxen are known for diligence, dependability, strength and determination, full of ideas and ambition—and for having great patience and a desire to make progress. Oxen have a definite plan with detailed steps to which they apply their strong faith.

Sounds like everything we need these days as we come out of arguably the worst year in our business. Yet, as you’ll learn in this month’s The Meeting Professional, we actually do see many of those traits in people like Nan Beauvois Marchand, Tori Emerson Barnes, Michael Massari, Fred Dixon, Clark Grue and countless other association and industry leaders who have devoted themselves to protecting our interests, lobbying for our survival and fighting for our recovery.

We kick off 2021 with a special report on advocacy, delving into the countless hours and efforts that are taking place, primarily in the halls of Congress, to lobby on behalf of business meetings and events.

In “Tell Your Story,” Marchand and Barnes, along with Roger Dow, share some of the inner workings behind the power of the U.S. Travel Association and the Meetings Mean Business coalition, which includes the leadership of U.S. co-chairs Massari of Caesars Entertainment and Dixon of NYC & Company, as well as Canadian counterpart Grue of Rainmaker Global Business Development.

We need your voice so that our MPI community, our industry and our friends and families can have a successful new year.

Whether it’s been the COVID RELIEF NOW Coalition, the Let’s Go There Coalition, the CARES Act or the COVID relief package passed last month, our advocates are working tirelessly to ensure government leaders at the local, state and federal level understand the importance of our industry.

“What we’ve learned from this is the more that we can be united, and the more that we can advocate and be holistic in our approach, there is a real recognition of the impact on our industry,” Barnes says. “Governors matter, mayors matter, state legislators matter, and the more that they’re aware of the condition of the industry and what can bring us back, the faster that we’ll get there.”

Beauvois says all politics are local, and that’s why the grassroots activation is important, “making sure that our members understand what it means to them as a business so that then they can turn around and be advocates on behalf of their own businesses and their industries and their cities. That’s connecting the dots from what we do here in D.C. down to how that is relevant to someone sitting in Spokane (Wash.), Bend (Ore.) or Wichita (Kan.). Why is that important? So, they have to understand the importance of the industry not only on a national level, but also what it means to them locally, because that’s important as well.”

Our advocacy package also includes “Why We Meet: Morphing from Caves to the Internet,” a timeless article on the importance of face to face written by award-winning investigative journalist Peter Gorman, updated with perspectives from current meeting industry professionals.

Learn what leaders from various worldwide meeting industry organizations say about the importance of advocacy in “A Team Activity and an Absolute Necessity.”

We’ve gone even further, weaving the importance of face to face and advocacy into nearly every article. We also provide resources so that you can learn more about advocacy efforts.

These topics are so important that Caesars Entertainment, which is sponsoring this issue for the 10th consecutive year, asked that we print this edition. (As you know, due to the economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, we made the difficult decision to publish digital-only starting last May, and we’ll return to that format next month.)

We need to be united on this front, now more than ever. The faster each and every one of us gets involved, the faster our industry will recover. We need your voice so that our MPI community, our industry and our friends and families can have a successful new year. Be safe and healthy in 2021!

Until next time…

Rich Luna
Editor in Chief
rluna@mpiweb.org