Welcome to the 2022 World Education Congress (WEC), the must-attend event for meeting professionals and, this year, the epicenter of MPI’s 50th anniversary celebration!

From humble beginnings in Marion Kershner’s Middletown, Ohio, basement in 1972, MPI has grown into the leading association worldwide for meeting and event professionals; transforming both the perception of the industry and your role in it, while providing a career home to hundreds of thousands of professionals over the years, offering essential and innovative education, networking, advocacy, friendship and support. And we are in that position of leadership today all because of you! You made this happen—thank you!

As you gather with professional peers over the next few days during WEC, take a moment to specifically pay attention to the voices and faces you encounter. Those people you proudly call your colleagues are the reason for our collective success.

Sure, we’re celebrating MPI’s achievements over the past 50 years, but, more importantly, we’re celebrating you. MPI wouldn’t be what it is without each and every person who has graced our community since 1972—it was built as a grassroots group and it remains a volunteer-led association.

I’m thrilled to celebrate all of our achievements while here in person in one of the greatest cities in the world—suitably, home to the Golden Gate Bridge. Together, as a family, we will continue to build a meeting industry that is all inclusive, lifts up communities, amplifies interpersonal connection and provides engaging ways to gather and learn. Together, we’ll enable the best of humanity and deliver the future…because when we meet, we change the world. Here’s to an epic WEC!

Paul Van Deventer
President and CEO, MPI