Meeting Professionals International’s (MPI) first Gulf Meetings and Events Conference, which took place in Dubai on 5-6 April 2008 at the Intercontinental Hotel Dubai Festival City exceeded expectations with over 175 delegates from 19 different countries.

Participants came from as far as the USA, Canada, Argentina, UK, France, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore and India while regional attendees from Middle Eastern countries also took part in this first inaugural educational conference dedicated to this. Students from the Emirates Academy also attended the conference thanks to the support of the MPI Foundation, whose Board of Trustees met prior to the conference and announced additional scholarships for students to attend the MPI World Education Congress in Las Vegas, NV, USA from 9-12 August.

Bruce MacMillan, President and CEO for MPI said: “Coming to the Gulf region was critical to further our vision to build a rich, global community for the meetings and events industry. We are pleased to have offered our members the opportunity to experience the abundance of offerings that exist in the Gulf region, as well as meet and interact with their peers from the local community. The richness of the conversation we experienced was inspiring for all.”

The opening general session created an open dialogue with questions from the floor to representatives from the Dubai Convention Bureau, Emirates and Jumeirah on hot issues for the industry in the Gulf including human capital recruitment, talent development and CSR responsibilities. Breakout sessions provided further insight to key topics for meeting planners with sessions covering future trends, legal issues and bidding for international events.  

At the end of the conference, international delegates – mostly senior meeting planners coming from Europe and North America to discover the possibilities offered by Dubai and the Gulf region – commented very favourably on the accessibility of the region, the quality of the existing infrastructure and the many new developments planned for the future.