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Meeting Professionals International Texas Hill Country Chapter Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2005 |
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NETWORK MPI:
HOW TO GET PEOPLE INVOLVED
by Joyce Scott
Superb Speakers Bureau
and
by Sandra Bloodworth
Any Event, Anytime, Anywhere, Inc.
Networking at MPI functions is an excellent way to make connections with other meeting professionals who may share your interests, talents, and experiences. To take advantage of these valuable networking opportunities, use the following simple guidelines to locate your preferred style of work. Follow the instructions, and if you arrive at an MPI event early enough, locate your secondary style of work and follow those instructions as well.
Choose your two favorite options from the numbered list below and use them to advance your career, locate friends for life in your field, enhance your skills, or just add more enjoyment your work.
By doing so, you should be able to determine your most effective way to “work the room” at any meeting, conference, or planning retreat in a way that helps further your own career goals by taking advantage of the networking opportunity and building strong connections within MPI.
1. If you love to work with your hands and see a product from conception to completion, find someone in the room who has experience at the registration desk, and whom everyone seems to know. Meet them, take the opportunity to introduce yourself and your work, and get their card. Follow up with them and use their wisdom and experience to increase and refine yours.
2. If you love to work independently discovering new ways to solve difficult problems and writing about the solution, find a group-oriented person in the room who never seems to meet a stranger; their smile will radiate from ear to ear and they will lean forward and listen genuinely to everyone they meet. Get their card and arrange a meeting so you can get out of the office to clear your head once a month. Their outgoing personality may rub off on you! |
3. If you love to create new ways to redefine the story or vision of your work, find someone in the room who is in control of the registration desk and handles it with ease. Ask them if you can assist their committee. Your credentials, as well as your organization and management skills will grow.
4. If you are a by-the-book person who loves to organize in accordance to exact policy and procedures, find someone in the room who can show you creative ways to broaden your enjoyment of your work by showing you new and different methods of expression.
5. If you are the ultimate people-person and have a difficult time focusing on one thing at a time, find someone who hasn’t moved from their seat all night. They may also be the person checking their Blackberry over and over. This focused and tech-savvy person can help you understand that new system at work, and can show you the value of focusing on one project at a time and seeing it through to completion.
6. If you have read all these and you know you would have done a better job with fewer words, make it a point to network with all of the personality types mentioned above.You already believe you can rule the world, but you must realize that to do so, you’ll need all the styles mentioned of people to carry out your plans. Welcome to the world of the meeting professional–-it takes a broad range of skills to do what we do, and by sharing those skills with each other, we can all become better meeting professionals. |
THE KEYS TO COMMITTEE INVOLVEMENT
by Terrill Fischer
In the Moment Production
Think of an organization you have significantly supported in your lifetime. It might be a community organization, a volunteer opportunity, a religious group, a sports group, etc. There are good reasons why you have invested your time, energy and perhaps money into this organization. It could be that you strongly identify with the goals of this group, or you perceive you might lose out on some opportunity to be part of this group, or it could be that you see this group as a place where you can express yourself.
In order to build committees in our MPI chapters it is important to recognize the factors for inspiring committee involvement in the. The same components that inspire organizational commitment also inspire committee involvement. Here are three keys:
• Emotions are important
• Gain involvement EARLY
• Encourage self-expression and build on strengths
In the study of organizational behavior, organizational commitment is the extent of an individual's commitment to an organization. There are three major types of organizational commitment:
Affective Commitment: In this case, an individual strongly identifies with the goals of the organization and desires to remain a part of the organization. This is the ideal "happy" state for an individual.
Continuance Commitment: The individual remains with an organization because of a perceived loss of sunken costs. The individual believes that he/she has invested a great deal of effort/time and must remain in the organization.
Normative Commitment: The individual remains with an organization because he/she believes they should.
1. Emotions are important!
People are generally attracted to things that make them feel good or look good. Organizational commitment is based on the emotional rewards we get from serving and helping. And, the more we perceive an organization supports us, the more we want to reciprocate to support the organization. The development of trusting relationships is a significant emotional compensation for this. When strong engagement is felt in a workgroup, committee members believe that their fellow members will help them during times of stress and challenge. This can’t be overlooked. Thus, when joining or forming a committee you should look to see who you can form a strong relationship with to forge a stronger bond within the committee.
Click here to read the rest of the article on page 4.
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STATE OF THE CHAPTER
by Lauren Grossman
Austin Convention Center
Wow! It’s been six months since I became President of the chapter, and the time has flown by! There is much left to do as a chapter in the coming months, but I would like to begin the new calendar year by looking back at all we have accomplished since July 2005!
1. We have an incredible new website with a member’s-only section. The membership directory is in the member’s only section and it stays up-to-date, unlike the printed version. By moving the directory online, we were able to redirect the money we were spending to print the directory toward other chapter expenses.
2. The Community Outreach Committees have completed two successful events. First, there was a collection at the Holiday Party of money and items for the Town Lake Animal Shelter. Our TLAS representative left with over $50 in cash and two carts full of dog and cat toys, dog chews, and other much-needed items. The very next day, approximately 90 seniors were treated to a Christmas feast, singing, and gifts in San Antonio. For many, this was the only Christmas celebration they had. Kudos to all the committee members who worked hard to make this event happen. Also, thanks to all the sponsors of these events and the Emily Morgan Hotel in San Antonio for providing guest rooms for the committee members who stuffed gift bags until the late hours of the night.
3. The first Food For Thought (FFT) premiered in San Antonio. This event was created to provide additional educational opportunities in San Antonio at an earlier time than the normal 5 P.M. meeting time. The idea was to try this program at least twice and then reassess its success. The first FFT was attended very well, and a second FFT is being planned for spring. The program committee for FFT worked very hard and provided us with an excellent speaker and program on multiculturalism in the meetings field. I thank this committee of three (all fairly new members) for taking on this project and making it a success! Also thanks to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, the RK Group and AVW TELAV for coming through for us.
4. We had our third successful CAMP MPI, and the event continues to improve and define itself. Thanks are due to The Moody Gardens Hotel. The staff helped us in our mission to create a fun and educational event.
5. The scholarship program was revamped and over $3000 in scholarships was awarded in the fall. In the spring, the rest of the budgeted money will be available for more scholarships.
6. The first-ever committee chair orientation was held after the leadership conference. Job descriptions were written for all committee chairs and posted on the website. We hope to make the orientation an annual event as we continue to “tweak” our job descriptions and processes.
7. We used an idea from one of our new-member focus groups to try an ice breaker during the reception of a monthly meeting. It was a great success and others will be planned in the upcoming year.
As I move into my final six months as President, I want to thank the Board for their time and energy. I know it hasn’t always been easy to fulfill your duties and I appreciate your dedication. Missy, Yvette, Donna, Shelley, Julie, Debbie, Elias, Jill, Anna, Lisette, Tiana, Kate, Jeni Karena, Beth, and Eva…I definitely could not do this without you. I would also like to thank our Administrative "Angel," Janice Foster. Thanks to all of you!
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MPI--THCC MISSION STATEMENT
MPI will be recognized as the leading global membership community that is committed to shaping and defining the meetings & event industry |
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