DALLAS, TX (January X, 2009) – Meeting Professionals International (MPI) announced today a new concept for its Opening General Session (OGS) at the MeetDifferent® conference this February. One+ Real Time will replace the traditional OGS lineup as an interactive news style format incorporating multiple sets and delivery styles - including single correspondent commentary, interviews, video segments, and viewpoint discussions. MPI will use this unique format to answer the question on everyone’s minds – how to survive and thrive in the midst of today’s economic turmoil.

“When we first announced MeetDifferent® 2009, we promised our attendees real solutions for the real challenges that lay ahead in the coming year,” said Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI. “MPI’s debut of One+ Real Time will allow our attendees to truly utilize the Energy of Many ensuring that our community is prepared for these upcoming challenges.”

One+ Real Time will be anchored by personal finance expert and syndicated Chicago Sun Times columnist, Terry Savage. A regular commentator for CNN, CNBC, PBS, and NBC on issues related to investing and financial markets, Savage will field questions and provide insight along with other industry experts throughout the feature stories, viewpoint discussions and interviews.

Divided into two Feature Stories – “Survival of the Fittest” and “Brave New World” - One+ Real Time will highlight many industry and economic contributors such as Don Reynolds (nationally recognized economic expert), Roger Dow (president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association), Issa Jouaneh (vice president of global meeting solutions for American Express), Mike Gamble (co-founder of SearchWideTM), Walter Akana (a senior-level career consultant and personal branding strategist), and Cindy D’Aoust (senior vice president of Maritz Travel). In “Survival of the Fittest,” Don Reynolds will share his view on how the meeting and event industry will survive the current conditions of the economic downturn and the job market. Followed by a viewpoint conversation about solutions and tactics to weather the industry’s challenges, Mike Gamble and Walter Akana will address the audience’s real time questions.

Directly after the viewpoint discussion, Roger Dow will discuss the current political climate and perception issues significantly impacting the travel and hospitality industries.

Feature Story Two, “Brave New World” will be a frank yet inspiring discussion on how to thrive during seemingly bleak economic situations. Referencing newly released data from the MPI/American Express FutureWatch 2009 study, Issa Jouaneh will bring the big picture into focus, analyzing key industry trends and challenges for the year ahead. Jouaneh will bring real time data to life and deliver insights into how the future of the industry is changing. Immediately following, a viewpoint discussion featuring Cindy D’Aoust among others, will examine immediate, close-to-home issues and will debate how to prepare as professionals and as an industry to meet near future challenges.

Through the use of the latest technology, One+ Real Time will provide an unprecedented forum for the OGS audience – attendees will be able to submit topic questions in real-time via text messaging. Another unprecedented component to this year’s OGS, is the addition of One+ OnDemand – a live broadcast over the internet of One+ Real Time – allowing people from across the world to watch the session and interact via text messaging.

For more information on One+ Real Time and One+ OnDemand, please visit the MeetDifferent Website.

About MPI
Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the meetings and events industry’s largest and most vibrant global community, helps its members thrive by providing human connections to knowledge and ideas, relationships, and marketplaces. MPI membership is comprised of more than 24,000 members belonging to 70 chapters and clubs worldwide.

About MeetDifferent:

Formerly titled the Professional Education Conference – North America, MeetDifferent® is MPI’s annual conference which focuses on innovative meeting design, alternative learning strategies, and emergent technologies from around the world. The spirit of this event is to challenge conventional thinking, allowing meeting professionals to test pioneering concepts in a risk free environment and apply the results in their native work environments to enhance business success.
 

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