Last month, I joined the MPI Southern California Chapter Chat titled: Losing Your Job, Finding Yourself. It was a down-to-earth discussion and resource-sharing opportunity for MPI members, fellow event professionals, and students navigating this challenging and uncertain time. 

 

 

 

During these uncertain times, setbacks have become more familiar than ever with furloughs and canceled events stretching into the foreseeable future.

 

To accommodate the hardships of our current environment, the MPI Southern California Chapter put together a beautifully crafted virtual event to help professionals experiencing a variety of financial, mental and emotional challenges.

 

 

Last month, the five MPI California Chapters came together for the inaugural Golden State Collaborative: Moving Meetings Forward. The virtual event gave attendees the chance to hear from industry leaders from across the state as they shared updates from their respective cities, challenges that they are facing and the strides being made to bring meetings back safely.

 

MPI Southern California (MPISCC) recently launched its Annual Sponsorship program and is now seeking sponsors. The new program runs through June 30, 2021. We offer four different sponsorship levels for cash or in-kind contributions to chapter operations with a discounted price for our first year. Sponsor opportunities are also available for individual events.

 

 - Free MPI Global preferred level membership ($495 value)

 - Free attendance to monthly programs and special events

 - Social media posts & takeovers

 - E-Blasts to MPISCC marketing database

 

And more!

Check out the sponsorship brochure or contact us with questions!

Do you have a talent for writing and want to see your contributions in print? MPISCC is looking for volunteer writers to contribute content for upcoming newsletters. If this sounds like a great opportnity, we would love to hear from you! Please contact Karly Watson for additional info. 

With the holidays fast approaching, what can we do to keep our employees engaged and connected?  While we may not be able to see our extended families in person this holiday season and experience that all-too-familiar holiday stress, it will undoubtedly find its way in to haunt us. What can we do as event planners to help release some of this stress? We must forge along in our quest for cheer this year and say YES to holiday parties!  Letting loose is essential to maintaining our sanity and easing the tension the holiday season brings along with it. Holiday parties will look a little different this year; but have no fear, where there is a will there is a way!

 

WE(Con) 2020 was the first conference where MPISCC recorded every general session and breakout session to create a Virtual Pass.

 

The Virtual Pass is now available for purchase. It includes all the WE(Con) 2020 sessions listed below, for a total of 12 CEs.

Many organizations have found it difficult to suddenly switch to online events. Besides the work that must go into reimagining an in-person event to fit on a screen, there’s the fear that online events fail to create the valuable human engagement that comes with interacting with others through traditions such as welcome receptions, toasts, 5K races and community service projects completed together.

Thanks to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, event planners now have access to a real-time map of COVID-19 outbreaks with calculators that assess the risk of holding in-person events of varying sizes based on location. Be sure to bookmark the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool.

With cases of COVID-19 continuing to spike around the country, meetings and event planners are still facing an uncertain future for their industry. However, there are no shortage of creative alternatives to holding in-person events. Here are more than a handful of ideas to make your next virtual event memorable and fun.