Greetings MPI Oregon Members,

I wanted to start off by wishing all of you a Happy New Year and continued happiness as we start 2021.

Thank you for your continued membership and support of our fantastic chapter. Wherever this year finds you personally and professionally I hope to see your smiling faces on our virtual education, member support group (never a cost) and the presidents happy hour (always free of charge).

As president of your chapter, I will say your MPI Oregon Board has been working away to transition in to the new 2021-2022 board, as well as continuing our virtual education offerings, and planning for hybrid and in-person meetings in the future when it is safe to do so. We continue to meet face-to-face on Zoom to keep our chapter current, lively, friendly and strategic.

We have an upcoming Women in Leadership virtual event that I am attending on March 1^st and looking forward to seeing your friendly face on screen as well. Registration is currently open!

Speaking of friendly faces, we are fortunate to have Michael Dominguez as our virtual speaker on March 17^th, check the MPI Oregon website for more details.

As part of our chapter we want to make sure that everyone is welcome to attend our no cost offerings as well as virtual sessions that are priced reasonably, and are budget-friendly.

If there is anything our board can provide as we move through 2021, please feel welcome to send me an email and Ill make sure to get you to the hands of the proper contact.

We appreciate you all.

Cheers!

MPI Oregon Chapter President 2020 – 2021

The Cascadia Educational Conference team is bringing you a state of the industry program on March 17, 2021. Saying that planning a conference during a pandemic is challenging, is a bit of an understatement. The MPI Cascadia Educational Conference (CEC) team can certainly attest to that!

A year of planning led the committee from a hopeful in-person conference, to an acknowledged likely hybrid version to a necessary fully virtual conference. As the pandemic wears on and vaccines coming slowly, our industry continues to suffer. Because of that, the committee made the very difficult decision to postpone our beloved three-day conference until 2022.

But all that hard work will not go to waste! The CEC team is offering some of the highlights of what they’d planned, to members on Wednesday, March 17th, during a virtual afternoon of education. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in two of the timeliest presentations that were planned - a State of the Industry presentation by AHLI CEO, Michael Dominguez, President and CEO and a panel of Pacific Northwest convention venue managers discussing in-person events post pandemic.

Add to that an opportunity to break into small groups for peer-to-peer discussion and networking, and it is something that you won’t want to miss!

Because we know that budgets are tight, this education program is being offered on a “pay what you can” basis. Since cost won’t be an issue, we hope that you can afford a few hours to get informed and interact with fellow members.

A special “thank you” to the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau for sponsoring this afternoon of education!

Jennifer was born and raised in a small town in Wisconsin and still considers herself to be a Wisconsinite at heart. But now she happily resides in Bend, OR with her husband. She says that Bend is the kind of place they had always hoped to live in someday. She enjoys outdoor activities, so Bend is a great fit. She particularly enjoys downhill skiing, snowshoeing, paddleboarding, camping and hiking along with her two corgis.

She has worked in the nonprofit sector for about 25 years, doing advocacy, administration, and program management in the areas of environment, women's issues, and global health. Her work was always multifaceted, and each one had an element of workshop/conference/meeting planning associated with it. Jennifer places a great deal of value in the power of convening to advance an issue or topic and found that she enjoys the combination of the detail-oriented logistical planning of a meeting combined with developing a strategic vision for a conference or event and planning a program and experience to meet that vision and the goals of the event. She became a freelance meeting and conference planner when she moved to Oregon in 2014.

Jennifer loves to travel and has the good fortune to be married to someone who shares the travel bug with her.  High on her bucket list of places to visit are Australia, New Zealand, and South America.

If Jennifer were to be sent to a deserted island, she would make sure that her husband, dogs, her husband’s beer brewing equipment/supplies, their camper, scuba gear, paddleboards and books were also present. She knows how to rough it!

And Jennifer’s perfect job is exactly what she is doing. She enjoys meeting planning and freelancing gives her the opportunity for flexibility with projects and time.

Welcome to MPI Oregon Jennifer Wooley!

Calling all MPI Oregon members. Many of us are working remotely or have changed our career paths. Please update your current information with MPI Global so that we can reach you. Many

of our emails to you are bouncing and for others we are trying to snail mail pieces to you, but we do not know where to send them. https://www.mpi.org/account-settings Please indicate if you want your work or home address to be your primary, at this time.   All assistance that you can provide is greatly appreciate.

If you are needing to renew your current MPI Oregon membership and are needing some financial assistance, please reach out to MPI Global. Contact help@mpi.org or call 866.318.2743. They have received additional funds for membership scholarship assistance. Several of our members have received some assistance in this area – we would like to see more!

And, if you are finding that you have time on your hands or need to add another skill set to your resume please talk to us about volunteer opportunities. We have specific needs with a few upcoming events and there is always something each month that we could use assistance with. So, if you have a few minutes or a few hours, let us know!

You have been collecting your continuing education hours for a while now, and if you have been in the industry for over three years, now is the time to add that next notch in your professional career belt and earn your Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation.

Not sure if you are ready? Looking to get more information? Join us for a CMP 101 Orientation on one of the following dates: January 20 and February 17. The CMP 101 Orientations are held online through Zoom from 12─1 pm on each date listed above. The orientation is free, simply go here to register.

The MPI Oregon Chapter provides focused education for the clock hours you need to apply, and scholarships to help you pay for the application, books, and testing fees. We also offer a ten-week study group session, twice a year, to prepare. Sessions are held in the Spring and in the Fall and open to anyone planning to take the exam.

For specific information regarding the CMP designation, exam dates, application deadlines and fees, please visit the Convention Industry Council (CIC) website, www.conventionindustry.org.

Exam dates are now available year-round due to the ability to test online or at local testing facilities.

The study group covers all domains and topics contained in the CMP International Standards (CMP-IS) syllabus. The study group meets online so that no one must travel or deal with traffic to get to a study session. You can be anywhere in the world and participate in our study group! Each study session helps keep you on track with your studying.

Our 2021 Spring Study Group Schedule is March 3 - May 12, taking a week off in late March during the Cascadia Educational Conference. The study groups meet online to make it easy for anyone to participate. Sessions are based upon the preference of the group, with Wednesday from 12 – 1 pm being our default. The last two study sessions are extended 1.5-hour exam cram sessions.

Registration for the ten-week Study Session is: $75 for MPI members and $125 for non-members.

The above ten-week registration fee entitles you to full participation in all 10 classes, all practice quizzes and class materials, and access to a network of CMPs who donate their time serving as speakers to help you prepare for the CMP exam.

Everyone must register separately.

Registration for sessions will remain open for the duration of the series of classes, however registration will not be prorated based on attendance or actual registration date. Single study sessions may not be purchased.

Contact the CMP Study Group Committee:

Christina Devlin, CMP, CMM, christina.devlin@gmail.com

Amanda Eriksen, CMP mandyeriksen@gmail.com

Juanita Metzler, CMP juanita@eugenecascadescoast.org

Last year was one of trial, error and hardships, especially for many of us working in the events and hospitality industries. And while we’re hopeful that 2021 will be a better year for all of us, it’s still too early to tell how quickly things can progress with the vaccine rollouts.

In 2020, we started the MPI Oregon Member Support Group and have received very positive feedback from those who have participated. For anyone who is not familiar, the Support Group is a casual setting where MPI members can connect to receive support on their current situation (both personal or professional), share ideas and information and connect over shared experiences or challenges that have been brought on by the pandemic. This group is an open dialogue with lightly moderated questions for conversational purposes. All are welcome and it’s free to join!

The group meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 3:00 p.m. Register for our next call today! We hope to see you there!