MPI Toronto Chapter Blog

Free MPI Webinar Series on H1N1

Responding to the needs of our member community, MPI has launched a 3-part webinar series on H1N1 pandemic. This is free for all members; non-members can attend for $40 USD.

This comprehensive program provides vital information on the H1N1 pandemic specifically in the context of the meeting and events industry. It begins this Friday, November 6, 2009. Please see the schedule below. We encourage you to attend as many of the webinars as you can.

11/6/2009 11:00 a.m. CST	The H1N1 Flu Pandemic: What Meeting Professionals Need to Know	Dr. Jonathan Spero
11/10/2009 11:00 a.m. CST	Be Prepared, Not Panicked (Or Complacent):  A Swine Flu Update	Dennis Petroskey
11/17/2009 11:00 a.m. CST	Getting your H1N1 Preparedness Plan to the C-level	Julia Silvers

To register for the webinars, please click here.

For more information on the H1N1 virus and the meetings and events industry, please click here.

H1N1 Update

From the US Travel Association

1 May 2009 -- WHO is not recommending travel restrictions related to the outbreak of the influenza A(H1N1) virus. Today, international travel moves rapidly, with large numbers of individuals visiting various parts of the world. Limiting travel and imposing travel restrictions would have very little effect on stopping the virus from spreading, but would be highly disruptive to the global community.

Influenza A(H1N1) has already been confirmed in many parts of the world. The focus now is on minimizing the impact of the virus through the rapid identification of cases and providing patients with appropriate medical care, rather than on stopping its spread internationally. Furthermore, although identifying the signs and symptoms of influenza in travellers can be an effective monitoring technique, it is not effective in reducing the spread of influenza as the virus can be transmitted from person to person before the onset of symptoms. Scientific research based on mathematical modelling indicates that restricting travel will be of limited or no benefit in stopping the spread of disease. Historical records of previous influenza pandemics, as well as experience with SARS, have validated this point.

Travellers can protect themselves and others by following simple recommendations related to travel aimed at preventing the spread of infection. Individuals who are ill should delay travel plans and returning travellers who fall ill should seek appropriate medical care. These recommendations are prudent measures which can limit the spread of many communicable diseases and not only influenza A(H1N1).

Swine Flu and the Meetings Industry

Posted by Bruce MacMillan, CA on 4/27/2009 8:33:15 PM www.mpiweb.org

The rapidly developing global news story concerning the swine flu outbreak should be monitored closely by all meeting and event professionals. The situation is very fluid at moment, with new information, facts and misunderstandings emerging almost hourly as information gets gathered and analyzed. We want to help you stay connected to the facts as the evolve.

At this early stage in the outbreak, timely and accurate information is crucial to dealing with the torrent of information that could impact the professional lives and businesses of our members. To that end, today we participated in two conference calls with members of US Travel to structure key messages and primary channels of communication for this stage of the outbreak. Conversations and communications protocol are also being developed in Canada and Europe and I have personally reached out to our partners in Mexico.

It's no surprise that media around the world are capitalizing on this story, fuelling concerns beyond what the current facts suggest may be necessary at this time. Our ability to bring order to chaos as quickly as possible is vital and through industry and community collaboration, our response now can make a difference. The US Travel website will be a primary resource at this stage in the outbreak and the team at US Travel in collaboration with meeting industry organizations will be synthesizing relevant information to share across our industry and beyond. An MPI web resource has been created for our community with resource materials and will shortly have Web 2.0 connection tools for conversations. This has been updated with information from US Travel.

In conjunction with our industry partners around the world, we will continue to provide you and our chapters with timely and relevant information on a regular basis. We ask that you review it and share accordingly in order to ensure everyone has the most accurate information possible.

In the meantime, a key source of up-to-date information for you, your families/friends and your business is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Swine Flu resource.

US Travel Association and MPI defend meetings, conferences and incentive travel

By now, you've probably heard about the recent development in Congress which is sending shockwaves throughout the meetings industry. If not, check your inbox for an email sent last week by Bruce MacMillan, MPI's president and CEO. For a quick overview of the situation, you may also want to check out the following blog post. Then visit www.keepamericameeting.com to sign the US Travel Association petition.

This was a key focus of MeetDifferent in Atlanta, with Christine Duffy, president and CEO of Maritz and former MPI Chairwoman, along with Roger Dow, president and CEO of the US Travel Association, discussing the industry coalition that has formed in response. Although happening south of the border, this issue affects us all.

LATEST NEWS - A new website has been launched by MPI for meeting professionals to connect to during this crisis: www.meetingindustrycrisiscenter.org. Included on the site is up-to-date information, resources such as the model meeting and event policy released in early February, a video summary of key information takeaways from the Opening General Session at MeetDifferent and more.

Spread the word: Meetings ARE the solution!

A Risky Proposition

I know first aid, may I help you? To be honest, these are words I hope I never have to say to an attendee at an event (or to anyone for that matter). The reality is, however, that at some point during our careers as meeting professionals we are faced with situations that require us to grab the Crisis Management Plan. Oh, wait a second… I'm supposed to have a Crisis Management Plan?

While I am not an expert in this area, I do know that as meeting professionals we have a responsibility to safeguard our people, property, information, financial investment, reputation of the company and the meeting itself as well as our own professional reputations. Creating a Crisis Management Plan is just another tool in our arsenal to help us do this.

None of us really like to think about the what if and what would we do if, but the reality is things do happen. Any kind of situation can quickly spiral out of control if the meeting professional is not prepared to deal with them.

The Crisis Management Plan is part of the overall Risk Management Strategy. Being pro-active planners we assess destinations, facilities, activities, service providers, etc to determine potential risks or negative impacts on the attendees, the event or the financial investment of the organization. For example, if you are planning a meeting in January in Toronto there is a possibility that weather will impact attendance. Looking at where attendees are coming from, what transportation options are available, whether they are staying at the facility, etc. allow us to make a determination on what impact weather could potentially have on the meeting. Having identified weather as a potential risk for our meeting in Toronto in December, we can now outline the what if it happens contingency plan.

If you are looking for resources on developing Crisis Management Plans there are lots of them available- here are just a few:

• http://www.ccep.ca/ (Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness)
• http://www.meetingsnet.com (search 'crisis management')
• http://www.mpiweb.org (search 'crisis management')
• http://www.tyrahilliard.com/ (visit the Resources page)

I know that many of you have experiences that you can share about situations that have happened at your events. I would love to hear from you on what happened, what you did and what you learned from the experience (what you would do differently if it were to happen again). This is one area where the more information we share about real life experiences, the better we are all able to prepare and develop our own Crisis Management Plans.

Nikki