President's message Christine Tascione 2010-2011

It’s my pleasure and privilege to serve as your President for the South Florida Chapter of Meeting Professionals International in 2010-2011.  And the concept of SERVE is important to me as to what I can return to you – our membership.  To understand what I mean, read this quote from the book “The Secret, What Great Leaders Know and Do” by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller – “A responsible leader must be able to see the future, engage and develop others, reinvent continuously, value results and relationships and embody the values in all team members.”   What this means to me is: S= See the Future: SFMPI has a plan for the future, and we’re going to work toward it step-by-step, remembering that what we do today will make a difference tomorrow. E= Engage and Develop Others: No member is an island – we’re all in SFMPI together. We need your opinions, ideas and thoughts.  We are successful when everyone is involved. R= Reinvent Continuously: Change is constant.  Because things are always evolving, so must we as an organization.  Just because something worked in the past does not mean that we will get the same result from doing that today. V= Value Results and Relationships: Working together with our committees, let’s trust and guide one another to make a difference in the value of your membership.  And, if we fail at something, we need to learn from it and work to improve it in the future.  We need 360 degrees of communication. E= Embody The Values: True leadership is built on trust.  If you don’t trust your leaders, you will not follow them no matter how great their plan is.  This year is going to be a terrific year for educational programming for SFMPI!  We’ve recently completed our budget, and have increased our allocation for educational speaker funding by 200%.  We heard you – MORE EDUCATION, BETTER QUALITY.  We’re going to make that happen.  We’re also partnering with some other organizations – Visit Florida and BizBash to co-locate educational programming within or around other events to make it convenient and to collaborate across organizations. Additionally, we’ve put in place a monthly networking event, the MPI Mix N’Mingle, that will rotate between Miami/Dade, Palm Beach and Broward.  This will give people that just wanted a networking opportunity after hours, to get together with other industry professionals in different restaurants or unique venues.  So be sure to check out our upcoming events page to find the location of our next Mix N’Mingle and come join some of your industry colleagues. And I hope to see you at many of our planned events – educational, networking or special events.   Keep a watch on the website for more information as it becomes available.  Or if you’re traveling to MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC) in Vancouver in July, please let me know.  I’ll be there representing our chapter along with other MPI members across the world, from July 24 – 28.  As well, I hope that you’ll join me and other South Florida MPI members as we cross the state to the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, for this year’s SEC on August 19 – 21.  The Tampa Bay Chapter and committee members have put together an outstanding three days of educational and networking opportunities – that is Anything But Ordinary!  For a very reasonable price of $260 and a location close to home, you’ll have the opportunity to meet or see more than 500 other industry colleagues.  Be sure to visit www.mpisec.com  about why you don’t want to miss this event! Finally, as many of you know, tourism in the Gulf Region, including our state of Florida along with AL, LA and MS, has been significantly impacted directly and indirectly by the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.  And Roger Dow, President and CEO of U.S. Travel has asked for everyone in the industry to help by having our voices heard in DC to encourage an important short and long-term recovery plan to maintain a strong travel economy in the area. So I’m asking you to please click on this link here to add your name to this sign-on letter to HELP our industry be heard about this tragedy!  And support our state businesses whether located in South Florida or in the Gulf Region or throughout.  We need your business, so support your fellow members! [Embed URL http://www.ustravel.org/government-affairs/take-action-now/preserve-travel-gulf-region]