Notes from the CEO | The Power of Meetings – Honouring Global Meetings Industry Day
Today leaders from across the meetings and events industry will come together to support the first Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID). It’s a great occasion to showcase the impact meetings have on people, business and communities. Today’s guest blog is from NSB CEO Theresa Beenken who has attended more meetings than she can count in her 20+ years in the speaking, events and meetings industry. 
Whether it’s a morning team scrum in your office or participating as an audience member in an offsite ballroom of thousands, there’s an energy and a shared experience that only meeting face- to- face and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder can provide. I was at a meeting earlier this month featuring Ram Charan, described by Fortune Magazine as “the most influential consultant alive”. He’s soft spoken yet confident, with a worldly yet down-to-earth view, and wholly focused on ensuring we experience greater clarity in our approach to business and a confidence that we have the tools to make a difference in our organizations and for our customers. What was so memorable about his involvement was his ability to engage a room of 500+ audience members to interact with each other during his presentation and share our ideas. He understands the power of bringing people together to collaborate and make strides forward. He challenged us to first of all, ensure we have regular team meetings. And then consider how to make them more impactful – whether it’s a group of 5 or a whole national team. Snapshot of his advice? Continually question: How can you make your customer experiences better? Asking this question and generating ideas regularly in your team meetings will instill a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. He challenged us to think about who is disrupting and who is being disrupted – and what opportunities are we missing in our own industry? Apple may have started disrupting music, but with their culture of ongoing continuous improvement and innovation, we now think of them as a company that can take on and improve most anything. As a group, we envisioned how Apple could influence the power of a nation’s healthcare for example, as they move from handheld technology to mobile, to wearable, and next why not to implanted technology and the big data that could inform the transformation of a nation’s health for the better? These insights are inspired by a presenter who knows how to lead an effective group meeting, and from an organization who invests in the power of bringing people together. In 2016, in Canada we’re celebrating the 20th annual National Meetings Industry Day, where we recognize the power and influence of meetings and events. We welcome the world this year as it becomes a global movement with the inaugural Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) on April 14, 2016. It’s a significant time in our industry – as audiences increase their engagement with each other and their circle of influence, through technology and social media, it provides greater incentive and meaning to come together in person, and leverage the power of technology to enhance the experience and make a difference with the results. In the 2016 AMEX Global Meetings Report, for the first time in years, there is a global upswing in the growth of meetings. We look forward to embracing this momentum and seeing the impact of live events and the power of bringing audiences together, to make a positive impact on how we live and work. Link to source article can be found here. We’re proud to be the lead speakers bureau sponsor at this year’s GMID event in Toronto, and continually support our meetings industry partners in their efforts to design impactful events. This year’s event features: