MPI and IMEX will deliver premier educational opportunities that will leave IMEX America attendees better prepared to collaborate and imagine greater possibilities. The sessions will feature a variety of topics to be covered on Smart Monday, Sept. 9, and subsequent education sessions and keynotes throughout the week.
Smart Monday, powered by MPI will feature the theme “What If…” that focuses on the dual roles of imagination and inclusion. The program will feature 18 sessions covering topics such as diversity, meeting and event contract disputes, marketing, budgeting, leadership, international events and incentives. MPI will also have an announcement related to a new micro-event called She Means Business, a symposium for women in the meeting and event industry.
Subsequent MPI booth education will feature 21 sessions on topics including event marketing, diversity and inclusion, Meetings Outlook, independent business owners, sustainability and multiple meetups. Through education opportunities at Smart Monday and booth education, attendees can earn up to 12.25 clock hours.
MPI and IMEX Group will present keynotes and masterclasses throughout the event. (Keep reading to learn more about keynotes from Phil Hansen, Four Day Weekend, Michelle Gielan and Jessie States.)
The MPI Academy will offer four opportunities to earn certificates at IMEX America. Two courses, the Inclusive Event Design Certificate and Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate, will take place on Sept. 8, the day before Smart Monday. The Crisis Communications Certificate and Event Marketing Certificate courses will take place on Smart Monday, Sept. 9.
The MPI Foundation’s after-hours networking event, Rendezvous, will return on IMEX America Night, Sept. 11 (10 p.m.-1 a.m.) at the luxe Drai’s Beachclub and Nightclub on the rooftop of The Cromwell Hotel. The Foundation will also host the Red, White & You auction throughout IMEX America and will offer limited-edition breast cancer awareness pins for the upcoming Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Additionally, the puppy cuddling program Paws for a Break, sponsored by Visit Omaha, will return on Smart Monday along with free headshot stations. Attendees can also participate in CSR events by building a hygiene kit for Clean the World and donating a book to Spread the Word. To learn more about giving-back programs at IMEX America, visit mpi.org/imex-america.
Embrace the Shake: Transforming Limitations into Opportunities
In his zealous pursuit of an art style known as pointillism—pressing a writing instrument down tens of thousands of times to create an image—Phil Hansen caused permanent nerve damage to his hand, causing it to shake uncontrollably.
“These dots came from being perfectly round to looking more like tadpoles,” he says. “To compensate, I would hold the pen tighter and this would progressively make the shake worse. I’d hold the pen tighter still and this became a vicious cycle.”
Eventually, the shake led Hansen to drop out of art school. He supported himself as an X-ray technician for years, but finally decided to see a neurologist.
“Why don’t you just embrace the shake?” the doctor asked Hansen. That led to a moment of epiphany for a simple concept he discovered when he started creating hundreds of works of art that could be created by a person with a shaky hand—like dipping his feet in paint and walking on a canvas.
“I ended up with a different approach to creativity that significantly changed my artistic horizons,” Hansen says. “This was when I first encountered this idea that actually embracing a limitation could drive creativity. Limitations can become liberations.”
His breakthrough work was a time-lapse video of a two-day project called “Influence,” in which he painted 30 pictures on his chest, one over the other, each representing an influence in his life. The burst of creativity has led to artistic success such as recognition as the official artist of the 51st Grammy Awards in 2008. It is the sharing of this personal epiphany that has made Hansen a popular motivational speaker.
Sponsored by Synchronicities: Anaheim, San Antonio, Baltimore.
‘Yes, and’: The Power of Improvisation in the Workplace
If you have never been to an improv show, you may think that it’s all about a bunch of comedians in competition with one another, each trying to outshine the rest. But you would be wrong. According to David Wilk, co-founder of a 22-year-old improv group, improv is all about the fine art of collaborative action. Each member of the improv troupe is on stage to make all the others succeed collectively.
That cornerstone strategy is what Wilk and his partners in the improv troupe Four Day Weekend call “Yes, and”: yes, they became a very successful improv troupe, and took a simple strategy and translated it into an experience that teaches corporate employees to work as a collaborative team.
Frank Ford, co-founder of Four Day Weekend, says the formula for the troupe’s IMEX America presentation will be the same as it always has been—lots of fun and lots of energy, with important learning mixed in.
“As my good friend David Wilk always says, we are the ‘spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down,’” Ford says. “Both our workshops and our keynotes are high-energy experiences because the audience is having a lot of fun. But the key is that while they are having all that fun, they will be learning collaboration skills that will make their work lives [and companies] more productive.”
Wilk and Ford say a good example of how Four Day Weekend profited from the “Yes, and” approach as a business model is how it came to publish a bestselling book showing others how to employ the philosophy. Four Day Weekend embarked on a successful campaign as trainers for corporate clients and big-picture corporate strategy consultants.
“These are very interactive experiences,” Wilk says. “We get people from the audience involved, sometimes calling them to the stage and sometimes having them do exercises among themselves in the audience.
“We listen very well, and we understand the idea of collaboration, and that is what we bring to the workspace of other companies.”
Sponsored by Three City Collective: Portland, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh.
The Optimism Quotient: Changing Our Mindset, Fueling Success
Positive psychology may sound like fluff, but in her keynote session, Michelle Gielan, expert and researcher of positive psychology, will address the legacies of trackable and tangible success it has left.
“When we as individuals are positive and optimistic, it fuels every single business and educational outcome that we know how to track,” she says.
According to Gielan, changing the game begins with small moments where we decide to perceive situations positively.
“Optimism is the expectation of good things to happen and the belief that our behavior matters,” she says. “We can train our brain to be more optimistic at any point in our lives through positive habits that get our mind focused.”
Garnering success also comes from acknowledging the importance of focusing on solutions, not just problems, which is where Gielan’s path towards positive psychology began. During the height of the recession, she was deeply affected by the negativity that flooded the media.
“I was anchoring two national news programs. It was at the height of the recession when there was an uptick in negative stories,” she says. “I decided to bring experts in to talk about how you can foster happiness in the midst of uncertainty, change and challenges. We put together this weekly program called Happy Week. All the experts we brought in were from the field of positive psychology.”
Gielan has since attended the University of Pennsylvania to study under positive psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman and worked with The Institute for Applied Positive Research. Now, her goal is to coach others in rewriting the playbook and changing the game by using applied research and three strategies for creating positive habits.
Sponsored by Philadelphia CVB.
Five Funky Ice Breakers: Your IMEX America Un-Keynote Experience
Even at the liveliest events it’s easy to get lost in the crowd and start to feel disconnected, not to mention just trying to break the ice when networking. In a fully interactive un-keynote, MPI Academy Director Jessie States will give IMEX attendees five fun ice breakers they can use to get to know one another and curb the awkwardness.
This innovative program will feature a learning experience that focuses on three things: discovering why it is important to include activities in education sessions, experimenting with five ways attendees can connect and discussing how fun can be implemented into learning environments. The un-keynote will be experiential and will not feature a traditional lecture.
As MPI is in the business of pushing the envelope when it comes to education, it is important that education innovators flip the norm on its head and improve the industry in unexpected ways.
“Traditionally, MPI has offered a keynote the last day of the IMEX trade event,” States says. “We want to take the opportunity to do the opposite of a keynote.
“In order for MPI to deliver on its promise of providing industry-leading education, we must stay at the forefront of how education can and should be designed and delivered. Further, we should be the first to experiment with new formats so that our community doesn’t have to. They can see, feel and experience how education can be delivered differently.”
Visit mpi.org/imex-america to learn more about MPI education and activities at IMEX America.
