Gerry Reid Highly Recommends
Meeting Professionals International
(Sometimes there are people in great organizations that are determined to be part of the problem rather than priding themselves in being part of the solution!)
- I highly recommend membership and participation in MPI (Meeting Professionals International) as a way to grow professionally in the meetings and hospitality industry and to network with planners and suppliers. MPI's phone number is 972-702-3000.
- If you decide to join, please indicate me (Gerry Reid) as your "source of recruitment" on your application form and send me a note.
- My speaking fees are specially discounted for meeting planners who are members of MPI.
- Here is the text of an article I wrote for a recent issue of CURRENT, the MPI D/FW chapter newsletter:
MPI means Many Pleasant Interactions!
by Gerry Reid
I think MPI is great, and our Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter is fantastic! In 33 years in the business world, I have never felt more warmly welcomed and more immediately part of an organization. Walk up to anyone at an MPI meeting and say "Hi!" Thirty seconds later you have a new friend and professional peer who wants to help you succeed!
At every meeting I have met new people who treat me like I was a charter member. On two different occasions I spent several minutes getting to know a "new face." Hours later I learned that I had been talking to a former chapter president in one case and a national award winner in the other! There was no boasting or sense of superiority found so often in other professional associations. How refreshing!
Most everyone I have met in MPI seems focused on two powerful objectives: to enhance the quality of the meetings and hospitality industry and to contribute to the professional growth of other MPI members. The greatest benefit I received in my first six months with MPI was the identification of a correctable flaw in my business perspective. I thought I was in the speaking business. I quickly learned that I am in the meetings and hospitality business! What a difference that perspective has made for me. Thank you all!
MPI membership gives me and other suppliers a chance to hang around our customers. Simultaneously, planners can interact directly with multiple suppliers and quickly learn the many options available to them. And, to our credit, you generally cannot tell the suppliers from the planners without a scorecard. Everyone is pulling for everyone else's success! "Win-win" is frequently mentioned in this highly competitive world. MPI shows how to put the "walk" into that "talk."
I believe the primary reason our DFW chapter is a consistent award winner is because so many members are involved in one way or another. At my first meeting, the Christmas party, I told everyone I met that I wanted to be involved. Wow, do our leaders follow through! In just a couple weeks I was involved and fully accepted in the chapter activities of my choice.
My MPI membership, and yours, pays for itself in three ways: first, in the tremendous learning available from education programs and regular networking with experienced professionals; second, from the ability to grow professionally by being involved on committees and projects important to our chapter and the community; and third, through opportunities gained as members do business with each other, knowing that MPI attracts the best people in our industry.
So let's get on with it - - - "What is your name? What business are you in? What challenges do you face? What can we do to help you find solutions to your problems? How can I be of service? In what way would you like to be involved in MPI?"
With MPI the sky is not a limit!
Some people just don't get it!
Here is a story here worth reading. Just keep the following in mind, if you choose to join MPI . . .
MPI recently told me to remove their logo from this page (it had been here for over 4 years, but nobody at MPI headquarters had bothered to notice or thank me for the no-charge referral). This is such a great example of the lack of common sense and the dominance of anal retentive thinking over "opportunity thinking" in today's lawyer-controlled business world.
"What kind of logic are you following MPI? If I were taking a position against MPI or publishing something that puts the organization in a bad light, I would certainly understand your desire to have your logo removed. But, in my case I'm saying all good things about MPI, and do so as both a member and even as a non-member! Doesn't it make sense to take advantage of having your logo displayed in that case? DUH!
Most sites like mine would charge a fee to display your logo, hyper-links to your pages, plus an article in support of membership. But, you would rather I didn't, so I won't.
By the way, I'd be delighted if you would display my logo and a hyper-link to my page, without charge or membership, but I know the policies - as a member the answer is "MORE MONEY!" and as a non-member the answer is "NOT ON YOUR LIFE." In all things, MPI, you are the tops, but when it comes to the web - 20th century thinking is passe.
| Newsletter Article "MPI means Many Pleasant Interactions" |