Attendance at the 21 education sessions during the 2009 Rejuvenate Marketplace in Birmingham last week (Oct. 27-30) was a testament to the high level of professionalism of faith-based meeting planners. Rooms were filled for presentations ranging from critical Excel tools for the business professional to managing risk and liability.

Planning meetings and events is a challenging job that keeps growing. Budgeting skills are more important than ever in the current economic environment, but marketing has taken on a new dimension with social media now an essential part of the meetings mix. While many planners for faith-based conferences do not have industry certification, they are exceptionally motivated and informed, driven as much by a commitment to fulfill the mission of their organizations as the demands of their job. And, like other meeting planners, they face an increasing emphasis on meeting effectiveness and return on objectives and investments.

Professional industry groups continue to expand their education programs. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Convention Industry Council (CIC) have joined together to upgrade the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation to ensure it encompasses increasing performance expectations and expand it from a North American to a global standard.

“Enhancing the relevance and global availability of the CMP program is a critical next step in the ongoing development of the meeting and events industry,” said Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI.  “As meeting and event professionals face increasing challenges to deliver elevated performance results, MPI believes it is imperative to invest in the future of our professionals and the contribution they make to global business …”

Getting in on the game, the National Business Travel Association launched its Strategic Meetings Management Certification (SMMC) this week with classes at Emory University in Atlanta.

“The business community has enthusiastically adopted the concept of strategic meetings management, first developed by the NBTA Groups & Meetings Committee more than five years ago,” said NBTA President & CEO Craig Banikowski, CCTE, CMP, CMM. “When NBTA members and meeting professionals came to us seeking a professional development program to help advance this maturing concept, we listened and got right on it. Now, after much dedication from the SMMC task force and industry thought leaders, the program is complete and ready for its first registrants.”

The SMMC program consists of two core weeks and elective classes. The curriculum is designed to drive further development of accepted best practices, lead to creative new “next-practices,” and enhance communication and leadership skills in developing and implementing meeting policies, workflows and technologies. Upon completion of the course, graduates will earn the SMMC designation, indicating a proficiency in strategic meetings management.

Meeting planning is identified as a growing career by the U.S. Labor Department. How much pressure these new programs will put on meeting planners overall to prove their industry credentials remains to be seen. Whatever the outcome, we remain impressed with the performance of the 300 faith-based planners we met last week, many of whom did not carry the “CMP” designation after their name — maybe because they answer to a higher authority.

Additional information on the Convention Industry Council and the CMP program can be found at conventionindustry.org.

For more information on the SMMC course from NBTA, visit nbta.org.