Many of you know that I am a huge sports fan, and with that in mind, it should be no surprise that I often find inspiration from the world’s greatest athletes. So, when faced with a challenge, I reflect on motivational quotes from successful athletes like this one from Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you.
If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up.
Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.”

In our profession, we are guaranteed to face obstacles—whether it is budget constraints, short lead times, technology blunders, event setup delays, bad weather, travel issues, etc. Like you, our team here at MPI Global also runs into challenges with planning our signature events, and our 2018 World Education Congress (WEC18) in Indianapolis last month was no exception.

One week prior to WEC18, we learned that one of our keynote speakers, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, would not be able to attend because her visa was denied. This was not only disappointing given the powerful message she planned to share with attendees on valuing diversity and inclusion in business, but it was also quite unexpected, as our team follows a very thorough process when it comes to sourcing and vetting speakers.

While we were fortunate to secure Hayley Barnard (unfortunately, she also experienced her own travel issues flying from London), who ultimately delivered a crowd-pleasing presentation on diversity, the importance of travel facilitation became even more apparent. To meet face-to-face requires the free movement of people—the enablement and encouragement of travel and tourism; thus, any threats and restrictions to travel have a direct and negative impact on our industry.

As an industry, we need to continue to encourage the free flow of travel and communicate the benefits of in-person interactions. We must be active and vocal—write government officials, share stories on social media and participate in calls for action promoted by MPI and our industry partners, the Meetings Mean Business (MMB) coalition, Joint Meetings Industry Council, U.S. Travel Association and others.

And it can be as simple as these pre-composed tweets from the MMB coalition, which can be sent directly to U.S. legislators using the helpful “Take Action Now” tool at meetingsmeanbusiness.com/advocacy.

• “Face-to-face meetings build personal connections, drive positive business outcomes and build strong communities.”

• “97% of business executives believe meeting face-to-face delivers return-on-investment #WorthMeetingAbout”

Let’s NOT give up. Together, we can face this head-on.

Paul Van Deventer
MPI President & CEO
pvandeventer@mpiweb.org
Follow me on Twitter @MPICEOPaul

If you missed WEC18, check out our archived virtual library pass at academy.mpiweb.org/mpi/store/2.