5 Lessons We Learned At Meeting Professional International’s World Education Congress 2019

After the amazing opportunity to hear from thought leaders, changemakers, superstars and fellow event professionals at  Meeting Professional International’s World Education Conference 2019, we are back in the office filled with inspiration. Our priority is now finding a way to bring some of the powerful strategies into our daily office routines. We plan to start with Marc and Craig Kielburger’s Minga concept from their storytellers’ presentation, so let us begin there. 

Marc and Craig Kielburger

These socially conscious superstars introduced the MPI audience to the Ecuadorian concept of MINGA – a principle that brings everyone in a community together to solve a big problem. When people unite for a common goal, impossible things happen like… creating positive global change and growing a single event into a global movement that now includes 22 stadiums filled with over 250,000 engaged youth annually.

They challenged all of us – What will our Minga be? What cause will we pursue that unites those around us to create change? Will it be child poverty? Will it be diversity and inclusion? Will it be office culture?

Through the generous donation of their bestselling book, “WEconomy” Social Entrepreneurs & Co-Founders of the WE Organization Marc & Craig Kielburger have committed to helping more people discover what their Minga will be, and how they can create positive change in their daily lives that will ripple outwards for global benefit.

Marc and Craig Kielburger taught us: To solve big problems, call a Minga: gather your community and you can accomplish things you thought were impossible!

From Event to Movement: The Power of WE

At the conference, Marc & Craig shared the most important lessons they learned from building WE Days into a global movement with over 22 stadium-sized, life-changing experiences held across North America, the UK, and the Caribbean. The Kielburger’s unique and participation-based event experience is empowering young people to become active and compassionate members of their local and international communities. On stage at MPI WEC19, they shared the important role their mentors, which include Oprah, played in developing their leadership style. They also discussed recognizing that most people want to do good, which lead to them incentivizing charitable behavior through school programs that allowed students to attend WE day. This shift in thinking resulted in building a movement that continued long after the event concluded.

The Kielburgers called on meeting professionals to reframe their event management style to consider events as community-building opportunities instead of solely informational or entertainment focused gatherings.

Marc and Craig Kielburger also speak to audiences on:

• Unconventional Leadership

• The WEconomy

• ME to WE: Making Doing Good, Doable.

[Request Marc and Craig Kielburger for your next event]

Jade Simmons

Classical Music’s #1 Maverick & Audience Activator, Jade Simmons took the stage and impressed WEC 19 attendees with her incredible musical abilities, but it wasn’t her expertise on the piano that has stayed with us. Jade’s story of feeling out of place amongst people that didn’t look or act like her is one we can all appreciate. She shared the origin of her speaking career – after constantly exhausting herself trying to impress her audience, she began speaking to them instead. She used this time to give herself a minute or two to recover between pieces. She was surprised to find that genuinely connecting with the humans seated quietly in front her was the launchpad for her career. Now, Jade uses her story of sharing moments of wonder, originality and her incomparable worth to encourage people to take risks, be original and find the joy in their work by sharing themselves with others.

Jade taught us: In an incredibly competitive and saturated industry, audiences are WOWed by experiencing something new, powerful, real, and different which is why you have to bring your unique, personal stories to the planning table.

Jade also keynotes on:

• How to Move Like a Maverick

• Audacity!: Dare to Lead on Purpose

• Dynamic, Disruptive Diversity: A Bold Approach to Harnessing the Power of Differences

[Request Jade Simmons for your next event]

Vinh Giang

Magicians give possibility the benefit of the doubt.  Some of that comes from choosing to believe in possibility; where others may only see what seems impossible. From Magician & Personal Development Expert Vinh Giang, we learned that your beliefs dictate your actions and your beliefs come from the top 5 people you spend time with. 

Vinh taught us: You can choose who you become in the future by deciding who you will spend time with today.

Vinh also keynotes on:

• The Psychology of Illusion

• Creating Communication MAGIC

[Request Vinh Giang for your next event]

Duncan Wardle

Former Head of Innovation & Creativity at Disney, Duncan Wardle provided high energy insights on how we all can be more creative, with plenty of takeaway examples of tools we can use.  He showed us the power of moving from a ‘no because’ mindset to a ‘yes and’ approach to ideas, and how to take into account the learning styles of everyone in the room.  One strong example he gave was this suggestion:

When giving a presentation in a boardroom, rather than give a seated powerpoint, print out your presentation page by page and stick it up on the wall in the room.  Walk your audience through the presentation with you. This helps visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners all at the same time…and helps you be remembered for your style.

What Duncan taught us: Creativity, Intuition, Curiosity and Imagination are the four traits that will dominate the workforce of the future. 

Duncan also keynotes on:

• Think Differently, the Disney Way!

• Embedding Innovation into Everyone’s DNA

• Leading for Creativity

[Request Duncan Wardle for your next event]

 Dena Blizzard

photo courtesy of MPI website

MPI WEC 19’s hostess Dena Blizzard is a bit of an industry icon in these parts. Well known to MPI for her candid humour, frank delivery, and warm energy, Dena did a terrific job of keeping the ball rolling and drawing the personality out of anyone on stage with her. We were impressed but not surprised by the audience’s reaction to Dena – laughing, participation, and engaged attention – this comedian and “One Funny Mother” kept us entertained, informed and awake even at the earliest morning sessions!

What Dena taught us: It’s ok to laugh at yourself, make sure others are laughing too!

We had an amazing time at #MPI #WEC19, so much inspiration, education, and connection – it really was a shared experience for the books! We would love to hear what you gained from attending the conference, did we miss anything for the presentations? Connect with us on Linkedin, Instagram, or Twitter and tell us what you thought! 

If you are interested in hearing more from Marc & Craig Kielburger about revolutionizing attendee experience and creating year-long audience engagement at your next event, you can request for information on them below.