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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” That’s a piece of wisdom credited to Benjamin Franklin.

Ben knew what he was talking about. Lifelong learning affords many benefits, including personal development, social enrichment, career advancement … and greater earning potential.

Many professionals — nurses, doctors, dentists, accountants, attorneys, architects, engineers and educators, to name a few — require yearly continuing education to maintain proficiency and remain certified. That list also includes elite meeting and event specialists, according to Stacey Hoyt.

“It’s a way to set yourself apart in terms of your professionalism and demonstrate that you have the necessary qualifications to do the job,” Hoyt says.

It’s not just talk on her part. Hoyt is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) — a designation awarded by the Events Industry Council (EIC) — as well as a Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP), a classification conferred by the International Live Events Association (ILEA). In addition, she serves on ILEA’s board of governors, focusing specifically on CSEP certification.

Hoyt is also director of events at KMFA Classical 89.5 in Austin, TX — where she orchestrates more than a hundred events a year — and an adjunct professor at Austin Community College, teaching event design in the department of hospitality management.

By prioritizing continuing education, top planners demonstrate their professionalism and qualifications to get the job done. Courtesy of Stacey Hoyt

Staying Ahead of the Game

Some continuing education subjects for event and meeting planners are evergreen and will always be topical, applicable and pertinent, but like life, nothing remains static, and unforeseen developments require new and revised education. The pandemic was unquestionably uncharted territory, forcing planners to pivot and seek out training on virtual events.

While technology and logistics are always relevant, Hoyt reminds planners that sustainability “is a current and evolving topic that’s important to both your clients and your job.” There are multiple paths to certification in this critical area. An umbrella organization for the global business events industry, the EIC promotes high standards and professionalism through its CMP program and activities, offering many resources for event professionals. In one month alone, there were 14 EIC events in locations as diverse as North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, Texas and New York, as well as Taiwan, Ireland, Australia and Turkey.

ILEA — formally known as the International Special Events Society — was founded to foster “enlightened performance through education while promoting ethical conduct” in planning and producing events. The organization currently has over 1,500 members, including event planners and producers, caterers, decorators, AV technicians, entertainers, educators, journalists and photographers across a wide spectrum of sectors: corporate, nonprofit, sports, tech, tourism, retail, fashion, arts, entertainment, government, politics and education. It has more than 40 chapters in 35 countries, with 23 local chapters across the U.S. and four in Canada.

Hoyt is active in her local Austin chapter. There are excellent opportunities to commit to a continued learning process, she says, by getting involved locally and at conferences. “If you have particular areas of education you want to deepen, you can help drive the educational content by getting involved and volunteering in a local association,” Hoyt adds.

It’s important, she says, for people to understand the difference between getting a certification credential — such as a CMP or a CSEP — and being certified in something specific such as sustainability or virtual event security, which can enable planners to target specific gaps in their knowledge.

Determining Value

In some cases, a certification is harder to get than a certificate, but all are not created equal, Hoyt reminds. Some don’t necessarily hold the same prestige in the industry. As a result, she advises event planners to be careful when choosing certifications and find out how universally accepted they are.

“I think one of the clues is how easy a certification is to achieve,” Hoyt says. “I had one of my students come to me and say: ‘Oh my gosh, I found this online program. For $3,000 I can get these letters behind my name.’ I looked into it and saw that it had a relatively low bar, and it was very expensive for what the student would be getting. Things like accreditation are extremely important. You have to be discerning and do some research to make sure that what you’re paying for actually has value.”

As the world’s largest Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) association, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has a global community of 140,000 professionals, 75 chapters and 13,000 members in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.

MPI Academy director Tim Luepke explains that his group’s mission is to be a developmental catalyst for event and meeting professionals by providing education, advocacy, networking, collaboration and innovative solutions. The goal is to advance both the industry and the careers of the people working in it. Although corporate meeting planners make up the majority of participants by far, suppliers and those in other allied professions can also join.

The organization exists to help its members grow, not just by facilitating the acquisition of new skills, but also by supporting them to “re-skill and up-skill their tools for their particular positions,” Luepke says.

To that end, MPI offers a broad selection of courses and certifications in areas such as AI, sustainability and meeting fundamentals. Its premier offering, a Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM) — advanced learning intended for senior directors and executives who lead teams with large budgets — has become “the business standard of excellence for our industry,” Luepke adds.

For those graduating from college or just entering the industry, MPI offers a second targeted designation called Emerging Meeting Professional (EMP). Luepke calls it a “mini-designation” to help prepare participants for success as they enter the workforce.

Because the meeting, events and hospitality industry leans so heavily on face-to-face business, the impact of the 2020 pandemic was overwhelming, with up to 80% of the workforce being laid off or furloughed. Coming out of those years, one in every two workers was brand-new to the industry, so MPI became a strategic resource for the professional development of this new influx of workers. College graduates, people looking for a second career and those who had retired from the industry and were now returning — they were all being hired by hotels, restaurants and agencies that didn’t necessarily provide access to education.

In response, MPI partnered with Visit Detroit, for example, to focus on hospitality workforce development, and that collaboration yielded results that MPI has been able to share with younger workers, to give them an idea of what a career in the field might look like.

In addition to online education, each year MPI hosts 20 to 25 in-person events, where “true connection and collaboration happen,” Luepke says.

Determining Value

MPI held its 2025 European Meeting and Events Conference (EMEC) in Istanbul in February. The last time this event was held in Istanbul was in 2014, and this return marked a significant moment for both the organization and its host country, says MPI president and CEO Paul Van Deventer.

“EMEC has long been a cornerstone for the global events community, fostering professional development through innovation, learning and connections,” Van Deventer says. “Returning to Istanbul after more than a decade is not only a testament to the city’s enduring appeal but also a clear indicator of the excitement and popularity surrounding this iconic destination. Istanbul offers a unique blend of tradition and modernity that resonates with our international audience, and we are thrilled to bring EMEC back to this vibrant city.”

The World Education Congress, MPI’s signature event, will be held this year in St. Louis, MO. With over 2,000 attendees, it’s the world’s largest association gathering for meeting and event professionals. The two-and-a-half-day program offers instruction on the latest innovations and trends, promotes industry growth and provides opportunities for business exchanges and networking.

MPI also collaborates with IMEX — known as America’s largest trade show for the global meetings, events and incentive travel industry — to provide the educational component for two shows a year. One is held in Frankfurt, Germany, while the other takes place in Las Vegas, NV. The Las Vegas show is free for attendees and attracts more than 15,000 visitors and 3,500 exhibitors from 150 countries.

In addition to those larger showpiece events, to bring timely content to planners in a localized way, MPI hosts four to six regional events a year in strategic locations such as New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago.

MPI also offers niche programs. “We have a thought-leaders summit every year, where we bring a topic and do a deep dive with approximately 50 or so planners and a few key suppliers to talk about a specific subject matter,” Luepke says.

For example, as AI emerged, MPI brought in strategic leaders from across the industry to address the new technology. The meeting produced a research paper which ultimately led to the creation of an AI certificate program that MPI now facilitates for planners and customers worldwide.

“Or if, for example, planners in a destination or area have a strong interest in a topic such as sustainability — which by the way has become extremely relevant — MPI will bring in-person certificate courses curated for them,” Luepke adds.

In various U.S. cities, MPI also offfers a certification program called Healthcare Medical Meeting Compliance (HMMC), which supports nearly 5,000 pharmaceutical, biotech, medical, life sciences and healthcare meeting planners worldwide. It teaches them how to successfully navigate these rapidly changing fields, while also providing access to a unique peer group forum in which members can exchange viewpoints, share recommendations and enlarge their circle of trusted colleagues.

Says Luepke: “Our goal is to lead and empower an inclusive meeting and event community to change the world.”

The ‘Bar Exam’ of Event Planning

Tavar James is vice president of events and industry partnerships for BoomPop, which describes its mission as bringing people together by pairing expert services with next-generation software to help clients plan incredible experiences. Although only in existence since 2020, BoomPop now has its hand in events at all levels, using AI to plan and manage gatherings for the likes of Apple, Netflix, Nike and Google.

James agrees with Hoyt and Luepke that meeting and event planners have access to considerable resources through online schools associated with organizations including the Convention Industry Council, MPI, Professional Conference Managers Association (PCMA), Corporate Event Marketing Association and the Event Leadership Institute. They all offer a multitude of courses, both virtual and in person, with tracks available based on the type of planner, where they are in their careers and exactly what it is they want to learn.

However, among the many industry certifications available, he believes that the Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) is the most coveted.

“Many consider it to be the ‘bar exam’ of event planning,” James says. “You must be at a certain level in your career and have completed a certain number of continuing-education hours to take the course. There are online and in-person study groups, as well as facilitators whose full-time job is to coach and prepare people for the CMP exam. You have two chances to take it in one year. If you fail both times, you have to wait until the next cycle to take the exam.”

One of the biggest roadblocks for continuing education in the field is equitable access, James says. “Some of the more sought-after courses are expensive, which can be hard for younger, newer planners who don’t yet have the funds to pay for the courses, or don’t have the backing from their corporations.”

Another negative is that learning can sometimes be redundant. “The industry has changed quickly,” James adds, “but some of the coursework hasn’t changed in years, and many of the courses have overlapping content with small margins of new, applicable content specific to that track. The events industry is such a hands-on field, a learn-through-experience industry, that many planners find learning in real time to be better, versus taking courses or learning through a facilitator.”

How to Avoid Wasted Time in Meetings

Steven Rogelberg, Ph.D. literally wrote the book — two of them, actually — on continuing education for meeting planners. He is a chancellor’s professor of organizational science, management and psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for distinguished national, international and interdisciplinary contributions.

A consultant to some of the world’s most successful companies, Rogelberg has been featured in National Geographic and Forbes. He has also been profiled on CBS This Morning, BBC World, CNN, NPR and CBC, as well as in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and the Washington Post, which recognized his first book, “The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance,” as the number one book on leadership for 2019.

Recent estimates suggest that employees endure a staggering 55 million meetings a day in the U.S., but Rogelberg insists that this tremendous time investment yields only modest returns.

“No organization made up of human beings is immune to the all-too-common meeting gripes: those that fail to engage … inadvertently lead participants to tune out and … blatantly disregard participants’ time,” Rogelberg says. “Most companies and leaders view poor meetings as an inevitable cost of doing business, but managers can take heart because researchers now have a clear understanding of the key drivers that make meetings successful.”

“Is it possible to achieve meeting perfection?” he asks. “Probably not, but with intentionality, you can turn your meetings into efficient, engaging and inclusive events. C&IT