IACC and Meeting Professionals International (MPI) have announced a five-year global partnership to share event and learning platforms, including education delivered at annual conferences, regional events, and online as well as research initiatives.
Negotiations for the partnership started two years ago when the two organizations began collaborating on projects, most notably last year's "Meeting Room of the Future" study.
"The collaborations showed both our organizations how much we have in common, and it spurred us to explore creating a more formal partnership," IAAC CEO Mark Cooper told the 250 attendees at the opening session of the annual IAAC-Americas Connect, held this week in Los Angeles.
One new project slated to roll out in 2017 will entail MPI conferences streamed live to IAAC venues. MPI's 2017 World Education Congress (WEC), which takes place June 19-22 in Las Vegas, will be the first conference featured.
"This is part of the value the partnership can bring to IACC members," said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. "Meeting planners, especially non-traditional planners, are starving for venue options. Streaming our conference content at IAAC certified venues will introduce these facilities to a host of our planner members who can't make it live to our events."