The MPI Netherlands Chapter received the 2020 MPI RISE Award for Innovative Educational Programming. This award recognizes an MPI chapter or club that has created innovative programming that advances the education and professional development of its members.

We discussed the award with Babs Nijdam, chapter vice president of education and knowledge and commercial director at Amerpodia in Amsterdam, and Ingrid Rip, chapter vice president of academy and an independent business owner and director for the Event Design Collective in Doetinchem.

What does it mean for the chapter to receive this RISE Award?

Babs Nijdam: The true reward was the success of the event itself and the attendees that we were able to inspire. Receiving this award is the icing on the cake for all the hard work from both the organizing committee and the many volunteers. It’s an honor to be recognized by our fellow event professionals.

Ingrid Rip: Receiving this RISE Award is a great acknowledgement for all volunteers involved. Together we designed, tested, discussed and tried again. We really wanted to challenge existing learning formats, experience what certain activities would do towards achieving participants goals. It also confirms that you have to step out of your comfort zone sometimes and try out new ideas, working hard, while at the same time have a lot of fun creating this “conference bubble.”

What was the inspiration for “Changing the Game?

BN: As a chapter, we wanted to change the game in our industry. For many years we have been talking about redesigning events. We wanted to change the game in the way attendees meet, experience and learn, probably the most important aspects in events. We pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and took a risk in completely redesigning the European Meeting and Events Conference (EMEC). As a conference for meeting and event professionals, we believed it was the perfect place to showcase a new conference that would inspire attendees to change their own game when it comes to organizing events.

How has the success of this program inspired and motived the chapter going forward?

BN: This success has given our chapter the confidence to continue to push boundaries and change the game for our industry. With the success, we have grown our community as a local chapter. We will continue to lead the way in terms of redesigning events and experimenting with different formats. By engaging volunteers from our community, we believe we can not only inspire attendees at the events but create a learning-by-doing environment for our volunteers in terms of redesigning events.

IR: This conference meant the start of a new year for our chapter’s educational activities. We followed the four tracks that we covered at EMEC: Leadership, Design Thinking, Meeting Perspectives and Risk Management. They all came back during the year, so people that participated could learn further and newcomers started discussing the subjects and could start their learning journey. In 2020 (our 25th anniversary), we had more out-of-the-box events designed that were based on the principles of the success of EMEC: change the way you meet, experience and learn—we had to go back to the drawing board, though, as COVID-19 pushed us to our (online) limits.

“We truly want to inspire our community to learn and grow, and by showcasing new ideas and taking risks, we can do that.”

How has the chapter’s commitment to education and programming helped raise the profile of your chapter and MPI with meeting professionals in your community?

BN: EMEC19 massively raised our profile, not only in our local community, but also in Europe. Following the conference, many articles in the Netherlands and across Europe were published. In addition, we also won the BEA (Best Event Awards) in the conference category, one of the largest awards for the European market.

What was the best lesson learned from this experience?

BN: That we can change the game! Through the Event Canvas model, we articulated 10 design principles that we believed were needed to create a game-changing conference. By creating this grid for ourselves and sticking to it, we made it a success. We stuck our neck out and it took guts to do this for our own peers, but without taking a risk, we can never truly create change.

IR: The best lesson learned...many I guess, but to name a few: working with a large volunteer group provides lots of chances, however, it is difficult to “control” the outcome, to keep them on the consciously designed track. Babs, who was responsible for the educational program committee, had a hell of a job to keep 20 heads on this track. She did this brilliantly! Sven Boelhouwer kept his calm as time came closer and yet so much had to be done. I guess the best takeaway is work with professionals that work their passion rather than work their job.

What are the values that inspire your chapter?

BN: As part of the Dutch culture, we are forward and honest in what we think. Within the chapter, we continue to push each other to keep innovating. We truly want to inspire our community to learn and grow, and by showcasing new ideas and taking risks, we can do that.

IR: We have been working from three “pillars:” community, knowledge and industry voice, which means that we want our community to thrive no matter in which phase of their career they are. We want to inspire our peers to try out new formats and keep on developing our industry and we want to do it together. As together, you are stronger. 

What’s next for your chapter?

BN: As COVID has impacted our industry, it has also impacted our chapter in terms of activities and financials. We continue to lead the way in terms of online events, how we change the way we meet, learn and experience online. Through online meetups (focused on a subject), we continue to engage our community and make sure their needs are in line with our activities. For now, we will include online components for all our events as we do not know what the future looks like. COVID has taken away the opportunity for people to meet live, but this has also shown us the value of meeting face to face, something we have taken for granted.

What advice would you give to MPI chapters about high-level engagement in our industry?

BN: Although COVID is a huge crisis for our industry, it also offers MPI chapters a huge opportunity to grow your local community. People are looking to engage with the event professional community looking for answers on where this industry is going. There is a great need to share information and work together. By facilitating these opportunities, there is huge value in the MPI community

Who were the key members who were involved in this initiative that resulted in the MPI RISE Award for Innovative Educational Programming?

BN: Project managers: Sven Boelhouwer, Gijs Verbeek; Program committee:  Roderik van Grieken, Ingrid Rip, Jeannette van Namen, Bart Smulders, Nicolien van Straaten, Niels Fundter, Erik Peekel, Nico Meyer, Riemer Rijpkema, Mark Stoop; Production: Miranda van Bruck, Wendy De Jongh, Kathelijne Soydan-Schunselaar; Interns: Imke van den Born, Joyce Stam, Suzanne Munter; MPI Netherlands: Robert Weddepohl, Marjolein Blok-Dignum, Paul Gruijthuijsen, and Nathalie Unger-Woolley.