Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) is the international meeting and event industry advocacy day that featured 200 events on six continents in 2018. It’s set to be even bigger this year, with events from around world being presented in a 12-hour broadcast on April 4 in which many MPI chapters and other industry associations will be involved. 

GMID has been described as a day for meeting and event professionals around the world to get together to learn, empower, advocate, protest and educate, so the attraction of the event is obvious. 

Last year 13 MPI chapters were featured and content came from Tokyo; São Paulo, Brazil; Sydney, Australia; Tulum, Mexico; and Namibia, Africa, as well as cities across Europe, the U.S. and Canada. This year the array of events and locations is expected to be even larger. MPI.org had 24.7 percent more site users and 31.6 more sessions for GMID 2018 over 2017, and that growth trend is expected to continue. 

There is no question that this will truly be a worldwide event,” says Lori Pugh Marcum, CMP, CMM, HMCC, manager of global education and event production, MPI Academy. 

While details for the 2019 GMID broadcast were still being finalized at press time for this article, Marcum says the broadcast will be reachable via MPI.org. 

Meetings Mean Business, which is a key player in GMID, calls it an event that will “shine a light on the real impact meetings have on businesses, economies and communities. Meeting professional organizations, association chapters, corporations, destinations, partners and other supporters will hold events all around the world to support this international day of advocacy. Events include rallies, press conferences, speaking panels, educational events, award presentations, proclamations and more.” 

 

MPI, for years a major partner in GMID, is joined this year by a broad industry coalition that includes the Convention Industry Council (CIC), the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), COCAL (a Latin American meetings and events association), the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Association Forum (AF) and Destinations International (DI). 

Meetings Mean Business offers a tool kit ToolkitGMID for groups seeking to create events for GMID. And if you are hosting an event, please let MPI Global know by filling out a form at HostGMID. 

MPI is creating a webpage that will feature all of the events our chapters are producing. In addition, we are also hosting a live broadcast, and your chapter may be selected to showcase your education or activities live on April 4. 

More details about GMID will be posted on MPI.org this month.