Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I was doing a little self-reflection about what has happened in my life during the last 6 months and how lucky I am compared to others in this world. During one of these deep thoughts, I remembered a friend of mine from LinkedIn – Calum Maclean. Earlier this year, Calum walked away from a lucrative marketing career with some properties in the Midwest to work for Clean the World, an non-profit group that recycles used soap and shampoo products from hotels and distributes them to people in impoverished countries and homeless shelters in the States.

I’ve done quite a bit of travelling these last 6 months and have been amazed at how hotels keep changing out the soap and shampoo products I was using daily when they could have lasted my entire stay. What a waste. In addition, for the last 18 months, I have been working part time at a hotel in the Baltimore area to gain some additional hospitality experience, and have seen huge containers of slightly used soap, shampoo and conditioner being collected. I am unable to lift these containers they are so full.

I would imagine that these two scenes are being replayed daily through out our country and in the process millions of pounds of these products are finding their way to landfills. Meanwhile, thousands of people around the world are sick and dying because they do not have access to soap. This is so needless and sad.

During the past five years, “green” meetings have become the rage.  Meeting planners were demanding that meeting venues implement recycling programs and institute sustainable purchasing practices among other things. Rarely, if ever, have I heard any meeting planner talk about how they wanted their room blocks at hotels to have the soap products recycled. During my times at both a meetings venue and the hotel, I have seen numerous surveys from planners asking about green policies, but have NEVER seen a question about the soap products.

This seems like a no-brainer to me. Planners, please start demanding that the hotels you use for your events to implement a program to recycle these products through a charity like Clean the World or at the very least with local homeless shelters in their community. So much good can be accomplished by what seems a fairly simple act.

Take a few minutes to check out Clean the World‘s site and while you are at it, check out Calum’s blog.  He’s a good guy and he is helping to make a difference with the assistance of the hospitality industry.

Last month, I submitted my renewal application for my Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation with the Convention Industry Council.  I earned my designation in 2005 and was up for my 5 year renewal.  For those that earned their CMP designation in 2005, 2000, 1995, 1990 and 1985, there is still time to submit your renewal, albeit at a higher rate.

Earlier this year, the CMP Board of Directors made modifications to the renewal process.  Folks that are re-certifying in 2010 have the option of using the prior renewal form or using the new version.  I chose to go with the newer version.  For those renewing in 2011 and beyond, the new rules will be your guidelines to follow.  Let’s compare to see how the two versions are different:

Under the old format, a CMP needed a minimum of 60 points from four sections on his application to re-certify.  Work Experience required a minimum of 12 points and had a maximum 0f 50 points.  A CMP would need to calculate the number of months worked, recalculate it to create a yearly value and depending upon the area they worked get additional points.  Folks in Sales would not earn as many points as folks working in Catering or Convention Services, for example.  Sixty points could be earned in Continuing Education, and a minimum 0f 5 points had to be earned in this area.  Five points would be given for each Membership held in Industry Associations, but this maxed out at 10 points.  Lastly, 40 points could be earned under the Professional Contributions area.   All points had to be earned in the prior 60 months prior to renewal!

So, if your were a Convention Services Manager employed for the last 5 years who belonged to PCMA and had 5 hours of continuing education, you had basically earned your renewal!Going forward, it seems to be much more straight forward to calculate your renewal.

Work experience is still required, and a CMP must have been employed 36 out of the last 60 months.  There are no longer points assigned for job descriptions, so Sales Managers are treated as equals with Convention Services Managers, which is a change I wholeheartedly agree with.  I also like that I no longer have to do math to come up with percentages!

That is the first part of the renewal process.  There are three options that CMPs can use to complete their renewal application:

(1) Earn a bachelor’s degree or higher in the last 60 months.  Area of study is not relevant, so if you went back to school and earned a MBA, you have completed the CMP renewal process.

(2) Complete 15 hours of continuing education and have three professional contributions to the industry.  What are professional contributions – industry association memberships, leadership roles in industry associations, write industry-related articles, speak at industry events, or volunteer for CMP related projects like study groups and booth staffing.  I belong to MPI, IAEE and PCMA – right there are my 3 professional contributions.  You can mix and match any of these items to go with your 15 hours of continuing education.

(3) Complete 25 hours of continuing education.

Choose one of those three options, submit documentation for your attendance or memberships, and you are ready to submit your renewal application.

I like the changes, but what do you think?  For me, the paperwork is streamlined and easier to follow.  I like the fact that most people will now need more continuing education than the 5 hours required in the past.  It encourages folks to become more active in our industry and then rewards them by requiring fewer continuing education hours.   In my opinion, the redesign is also allowing CMPs outside of North America with a easier renewal process.

That’s my opinion – what are your thoughts on the new CMP renewal process?

Well, its been a while since I put pen to paper to make an entry for Ye Olde Blog.  After attending Event Camp in February in New York, I decided it would be best to take a lower profile for a few weeks and take care of a few issues in my personal and professional life.  Here in Baltimore, we were lucky enough to have 6 feet of snow dumped on us in a single week from two storms in February.  That mess caused my long scheduled knee surgery to be pushed back nearly 60 days.

On May 3, 2010, I was informed that my position was being immediately eliminated due to the City of Baltimore’s budget crisis (that 6 feet of snow earlier in the year certainly didn’t help matters with the budget) and after nearly 10 years, I was escorted out the door.  I was gratified by the many well wishes that my friends, partners and former clients were delivered to me in the days that followed.  I was very fortunate to work in my hometown for as long as I did, especially considering how folks in our industry move around.

I’ve been lucky to keep busy during the summer — speaking engagements at the Association of Korean Exhibition Industries in Seoul, ASAE Springtime in Washington, the PCMA Leadership Conference in Montreal, TS2 in Boston, the CMP Conclave in Baltimore and Event Camp – Twin Cities in Minneapolis.  In addition, we did some consulting work at some associations in the Washington, DC area and a few gigs as a floor manager for a couple of trade shows.

We were able to also attend a few events just for me to learn a few things.  I was able to participate in IAEE’s first ever Sales Academy, which was eye-opening for me.  In early October, I had the good fortune to finally participate in MPI’s Certified in Meetings Management (CMM) program in Dallas for 7 days.  Later in October, I was able to attend Blog World in Las Vegas.  During these two trips, I was able to spend some quality time with some folks from the #eventprofs community – Dana Doody, Jeff Hurt, Mike McAllen and Mike Thimmesch.

There are still a few more trips for the remainder of the year – a FAM trip to Columbia, SC, Event Camp East Coast in Philadelphia and the Social Media in Tourism Symposium in Loudon, VA.  Ooops, almost forgot IAEE’s Expo! Expo in New Orleans in December.  Hopefully, I will run into a few of you at one of these events.

So, the change in work environment has been good for me.  I’ve been on the road nearly 60 days since the events of early May, which would never had been possible if the change had not occurred.  Sorry for the lack of post the last several months, but the plan is to be back on a regular basis after the Thanksgiving holiday.  Take care and stop back here again when you have a chance.

For the last ten years, I have worked for what most major event industry associations would classify as a “supplier.”  Suppliers would include general service contractors, audio/visual providers, hotels, caterers, venues — the folks who make it possible for the “planner” to hold their events.  It seems to me that suppliers need planners and planners need suppliers in order for both to survive.

Yet, many industry associations feel that they can charge suppliers more for membership dues and attendance at events. Why?

When it is time for an association to seek advertisements for their newsletters or website who do they turn to for support?  Suppliers.  When associations are looking for underwriters of a meeting or program, do they go looking to the planners to supply the needed capital?  I don’t think so, so again it is the supplier to the rescue.

One national association that I belong to charges me an extra $125 because I am a dreaded supplier, bringing my dues total to $500.  A membership in the local chapter is included, but attendance at each monthly event is an additional $20 over the planners cost.  Heck, a non-member only pays $10 more than me.  I could save my $500 in annual membership dues and get away with paying $30 extra per meeting and still save money.

Then there is another national association that it costs an additional $600 over the planner rate for a supplier to attend their annual meeting. Or we could talk about the groups which have been giving away annual meeting registrations for planners, but none for suppliers.

It may seem that I am unfairly targeting the associations of the events industry, but I have also seen these practices being done by other associations in other industries.  The practice is widespread.  In this economy, the smart associations need to realize that they need to possibly reconsider what membership fees they are charging to suppliers.