CMP in South Africa

By Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP

Last month I had the distinct pleasure to travel to South Africa at the invitation of CIC’s newest member, Southern African Association of the Conference Industry (SAACI,) to speak about CMP at their annual conference. In addition, the African Chapter of ICCA invited me to their meeting to address the members on the subject of associations and the value of collaboration among them. CIC by its very nature is a model of association collaboration, and while I don’t consider myself an expert on the topic, we live it here every day. More on that later. 

Both meetings gave me the opportunity to meet many new people in the meetings industry both CMP and non-CMP. And as I always am when I attend meetings of our member organizations, I was very impressed with the dedication, commitment and enthusiasm for our industry by the people who work in it. South Africa is no exception. Of course no one is better at hospitality than our industry, and I’d like to thank the members of SAACI and ICCA South Africa for their many kindnesses and impeccable hospitality during my visit. 

A special thank you to Nigel Walker, CMP with Complete Exhibitions who sponsored the first ever CMP Breakfast in South Africa. It was an informal gathering with no set agenda, other than to talk about the value the current CMPs there place on their certification and the future of CMP in South Africa. I was able to present pins to three of our newest CMPs there and to announce the appointment of Chris Prieto, CMP as our CMP board-appointed representative in the region. 

As announced in our last CMP Today, the CMP board has appointed Regional Representatives, CMPs in North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa, who have volunteered to be our feet on the ground promoting CMP, mentoring candidates, and creating a community of CMPs in the region. This will be our new model of collaboration moving forward.   

With this CMP volunteer force in place, CIC has ended its relationship with MICE Academy/CMP Network South Africa. While this collaboration made sense a few years ago, CIC’s members in the region (SAACI and ICCA) are better able to serve CIC’s interests and the CMP program in the region. 

All CMP’s, CMP candidates and prospects should make all applications, registrations and payments directly with CIC. In addition, Chris Prieto is available in the region to answer any questions or you can contact CIC directly. 

While the MICE Academy/CMP Network SA is no longer affiliated with CIC or the CMP programme, we wish them well in their future endeavors. We have asked them to stop using the CMP name and logo in South Africa to avoid future confusion, and we ask assistance of CMPs in the region by sending candidates directly to CIC or Chris Prieto.  

As CMP continues to grow around the globe, we will provide updates from other regions as well.