The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) Board of Directors has approved a revised CMP Blueprint, or "body of knowledge" — to be known henceforth as the CMP International Standards — that defines and categorizes the key competencies, skills and abilities that meeting professionals must demonstrate in order to receive the CMP certification, the Convention Industry Council (CIC) announced yesterday.
"Our standard practice is to update the blueprint every five years. The last blueprint was revised in 2007, so this update is right on schedule," said Karen Kotowski, CEO of the CIC, which administers the CMP program and awards the CMP certification.
For this year's update, CIC consulted the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council's (CTHRC) "Event Management - International Competency Standard," as well as Meeting Professionals International's (MPI) "Meetings and Business Events Competency Standard."
"To complete this process we conducted an additional job analysis to validate the resulting body of knowledge and ensure alignment with the CMP," Kotowski said. "The resulting CMP International Standards are much more detailed than the previous blueprint, so it was really a matter of re-weighting the topics and adding updates that have occurred in the industry, over the five years since the previous analysis. Candidates will not see sweeping changes."
Because they incorporate the CTHRC's competency standard, which has been adopted by several countries, the CMP International Standards will help CIC expand the CMP program globally.
"The process of making the CMP globally applicable has been under way for some time," said CMP Board Chair Martie Sparks. "The first major change was implemented last year with the introduction of the new CMP application. The new application places the emphasis on industry experience and education. The next step was to conduct an international analysis of the skills and competencies required of today's meeting professionals. That has been completed and is embodied in the new CMP International Standards. Now that we have the new standards there is additional behind-the-scenes work that needs to take place before they goes into effect. Those candidates planning to take the exam in 2011 and through the January 2012 exam will prepare and test against the outgoing CMP Blueprint."
To further globalize the existing CMP exam, CIC is presently evaluating the exam's item bank, reviewing the questions for applicability and language comprehension at a global level. These improvements to the exam will take effect with the July 2011 exam, resulting in a heightened accessibility and relevance to candidates outside the United States and Canada.
"Adoption of the CMP International Standards is part of a large-scale project," Kotowski concluded. "Next steps will include development of additional exam questions to address any new competencies in the standard, and taking a look at study materials to see if additional materials need to be developed. Additionally, the CMP Board has initiated the process to move to computer-based testing in the second quarter of 2012. This will truly open up the CMP certification to the world with a global testing platform. With paper and pencil-based testing, we are able to offer only 40-50 testing sites, primarily on two specific days, per calendar year. Our testing partner has access to more than 10,000 testing facilities in 166 countries, and with this change, we will be able to offer testing windows that are five to seven days long, several times a year. Access to the exam and convenience for candidates will multiply exponentially."
For more information on changes to the CMP program, visit the CIC's website, www.conventionindustry.org.