GBTA Announces Partnership with MPI to Deliver New Meeting and Event Education Track at Upcoming Conference

London, 18 September 2017- The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – the voice of the global business travel industry – and Meeting Professionals International (MPI) today announced the two associations are collaborating to present meeting and event focused education at GBTA Conference 2017 Frankfurt in Partnership with VDR, taking place in Frankfurt, 28-30 November.

GBTA’s European Meetings Committee, in partnership with MPI, will deliver four engaging educational sessions during the conference, sharing best practices from companies across the globe as well as industry-leading case studies.

The educations sessions will include:

How the West is Won: Success Stories from Optimized Meetings & Events Programs: This session will focus on recent research on Strategic Meetings Management Program (SMMP) trends and forecasts and how best to capitalize on these trends in 2017 and beyond.

Measuring the ROI of Learning: A learning event includes experiences that facilitate gaining knowledge, skills, attitudes and/or behaviours. This session provides a best fit, pragmatic approach for measuring the ROI of learning that can be adapted to a wide range of contexts and learner types.

Travel Management Meets Meeting Management: This session provides a step by step practical guide on how to manage a combined meetings and travel spend to benefit your organisation. The session will include guidance from travel managers who have already taken on this responsibility.

The Meeting of the Future: This session will look at technology disruptors affecting the meetings space and what meetings may look like 20 years from now.

“We are delighted to be working with MPI,” said Catherine McGavock, GBTA Regional Vice President – EMEA. “Our members have identified meetings and events as a growing part of their portfolio and this new partnership addresses their needs for specialized education and expertise in this area. As a global association, MPI has the international experience to help travel managers and buyers effectively manage their meetings and events business.”

“MPI looks forward to sharing our meetings and events expertise during GBTA Conference 2017. The business travel professionals that attend these sessions will learn key industry trends and gain actionable advice that can be immediately applied to their business,” said Matthew Marcial, CAE, CMP, Vice President, Education & Events at MPI.

GBTA Conference 2017 Frankfurt in Partnership with VDR is Europe’s largest business travel conference. Over 1,000 business travel professionals from around the world will gather in Germany’s financial capital for state-of-the-art education on the industry’s most pressing issues, exclusive networking opportunities and announcements on the latest products and services by the world’s leading suppliers.

This year’s theme, Convergence, was developed to address the industry-wide disruption caused by the merging of various functions, roles and policies. From the changing role of the travel manager to the emergence of new and transformation of existing players in the market, these disrupters have paved the way for the evolution of business travel. For more information, please visit: europeconference.gbta.org.

CONTACT:

Catherine McGavock, +44 (0) 7980 588181, cmcgavock@gbta.org

Nikki Stimson, +44 (0) 7764 618199, pressfra@gbta.org

Colleen Gallagher line, +1 703 236 1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

Meeting Professionals International (MPI)

MPI is the largest meeting and event industry association worldwide. Founded in 1972, the organization provides innovative and relevant education, networking opportunities and business exchanges, and acts as a prominent voice for the promotion and growth of the industry. MPI has a global community of 60,000 meeting and event professionals including more than 17,000 engaged members and its Plan Your Meetings audience. It has more than 90 chapters and clubs in 19 countries. “When we meet, we change the word.” www.mpiweb.org

Travel Association of Germany (VDR)

The VDR represents the interests of German industry and deals with the general and competitive conditions surrounding business trips and mobility. It campaigns for efficient, economical, safe, unhindered, worldwide travel possibilities for companies. The VDR with its over 530 member companies represents a total annual turnover in the business travel sector of more than EUR 10 billion.

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, gbta.org