In the past few weeks MPI has made some very significant changes within the organization. It was brought to my attention via social network postings from some friends within the industry last week. At that point I visited a site where there was some detailed discussions going on last week, but I wanted to bring that discussion over here for folks who follow us and might not be aware of the changes that MPI has announced.
First off that discussion is here:
http://www.meetingsfocus.com/Forum/tabid/267/forumid/1/threadid/1527/scope/posts/Default.aspx
You’ll have to register to post there on the Meetings Forum, but it was a fast and painless process.
Here’s the MPI Statement about the change in Supplier Dues:
http://www.mpiweb.org/Membership/SupplierDues
A small excerpt follows:
Supplier members like yourself are important partners that enable us to not only create richer planner connections, but also build more marketplace intelligence that directly helps you build your business. I hope that you continue your affiliation with this great organization as we move into the future, expand our influence and continue to help one another succeed.
The MPI board of directors has approved an increase in supplier member dues to an annual rate of $450 effective July 2011. Your new dues as an MPI supplier member remain one of the lowest amongst major associations within the meeting and event industry with the highest potential for return.
- MPI Chairman of the Board, Eric Rozenberg, CMM, CMP
So far some of my personal concerns were voiced in my postings over there and a letter to the upcoming “Town Hall” forum at WEC.
Among the questions that I have are the following:
MPI has always treated all members as equal, so this is a fundamental change in the structure of the organization and I worry about its effect on long-term membership, supplier participation and retention of members. I wonder if a general modest increase in renewals wouldn’t stay closer to the spirit and history of the organization. I also wonder how much input from members the board considered? I’m a long-time member and can’t recall any advance discussions about such a large restructuring within MPI. Was there a survey or were members consulted for comments? This seems a big change to an organization that is “owned” by all of the members to have undertaken without some deep consideration of the overall memberships reaction and concerns.
By setting up a “Class System” you create doubt as to which category many folks fit into. I for example, am a supplier to some members and buyer to others. By treating us unequally you sow confusion and create classes in an organization that in my opinion should adhere to the idea that we are all equal “industry professionals” whose roles can shift from day to day and sometimes from moment to moment.
Suppliers have always been asked for a larger level of contributions at the national and chapter level, this move may serve to drive may of them away or to lower their local contributions because of the increased national requirement.
This change affects smaller and startup companies more than the “big companies” who have a larger and more flexible marketing/ad budget to work from. Where a large organization might reduce their overall staff membership support by a percentage, an independent small supplier has no option by to pay the higher amount or leave. So, for example in my case I might attend less local meetings to offset the increase, depriving me of education and networking opportunities and making the membership less valuable…ultimately making me question the ROI long term of staying.
In the same way there are changes on the WEC front that impact suppliers and chapter support that impacts all members that we will save to discuss later.
Many of these items were discussed on the Meetings Forum thread linked above, including some responsive information from MPI on the topic. So, they are paying attention and working to make sure the discussions are balanced.
For now, the podcast will be first looking at the supplier dues increase and discussing this topic (and maybe more) later this week with Joan Eisenstodt as well as (hopefully) a representative of MPI who have both been invited to chat with us prior to WEC.
It’s an important topic and one that we here at the podcast feel should involve as many members as possible in discussion about these significant changes in the organization. Stay tuned for more information here at the Meetings Podcast.
Hat tip for the cool image to TruthOut
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