The Meetings & Hospitality Alliance of South Florida
Meeting held January 20, 2011at The Bimini Boatyard, Fort Lauderdale
Notes
(Page 1 of 3)
Alliance Partners(and their representatives at this meeting)
Florida Association of Meetings and Events Professionals
Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association – Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach Chapters (an affiliation of the National Restaurant Assn. & American Hotel & Lodging Assn.)
Florida Speakers Association (South Florida Chapter of the National Speakers Association)
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
Stacie Faulds, Creative Director
Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association
Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International – South Florida Chapter
Stacie Faulds, President
International Special Events Society – South Florida/Caribbean Chapter
Victoria DeSilvio, President-Elect
Meeting Professionals International – South Florida Chapter
Judy Goldman, Immediate Past-President
National Association of Catering Executives – South Florida Chapter
Bonnie Fimiano, President
National Association of Wedding Professionals – Miami-Dade and Broward Chapter
Frank Paul Cangemi, Sponsorship
Skål International – Miami Chapter
Jerry Eastep,Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Society of Incentive & Travel Executives – Florida Chapter
Dahlton Bennington, CMP, CMM, VP Education/Advocacy
South Florida Professional Videoartist Association
Meetings & Hospitality Alliance of South Florida
Steven Pollock, CMP, Chairman
Guest Association
Green Meeting Industry Council – Florida/Caribbean Chapter-in-Formation
Danielle Adams, CMP, President
Steven Pollock, CMP, VP Membership
1) Industry Holiday Party – re-cap of 2010, moving forward in 2011
The party on December 14th had 212 attendees and raised $6,420, which will be donated to the Broward Outreach Center (BOC).
Stacie, Judy, and Scott Evans will coordinate a presentation by mid-February to BOC, to include President or designee from MPI, ISES, NAWP, SITE, and HSMAI. A press release with photograph will be issued to local media and trade publications in the Southeast.
Steven will e-mail Alliance representatives to solicit participation in planning and production of the 2011 Party.
The Meetings & Hospitality Alliance of South Florida
Notes of meeting held on January20, 2011 (Page 2 of 3)
2) Alliance Guidelines – Revised
The following decisions were agreed upon:
- Alliance associations will now be referred to as “partners”, rather than “members”.
- Approval of matters considered by the Alliance will require a simple majority of Alliance partner associations.
- Notes from Alliance meetings will be posted on ProNews.net, and it is suggested that association leaders encourage their board members to review these notes as a way to get collaborative thinking kick-started between associations.
- Alliance partners are encouraged to promote ProNews.net to their board as a planning tool, and to their membership, but this will no longer be a requirement.
- ProNews.net will continue to be recognized by the Alliance as“the official hospitality association portal”.
3) ADJA – Request to join the Alliance
At the September meeting, the South Florida Chapter of the American Disc Jockey Association (ADJA) requested partnership in the Alliance. While we welcome new associations to the Alliance, it was agreed that certain basic criteria apply to meet the Alliance’s mission and goals. After careful consideration, it has been determined that this organization does not meet the criteria for partnership.
4) ProNews.net – Relationship between the Alliance and ProNews.net
ProNews.net is an independent website published by Steven. The site will continue to list the events of Alliance Partner associations on its “Calendar” page, as well as links to the web sites of these associations on its “Associations” page. And, the Alliance will continue to recognize ProNews.net as “the official hospitality association portal”. However, some aspects have changed:
- Although Alliance Partner associations are encouraged to promote ProNews.net to their membership, this will no longer be a requirement in order to be an Alliance Partner.
- The list of featured hospitality industry events displayed on the “Home” page will list many, but not necessarily all, events of Alliance Partners. Those included on the home page will be at the discretion of ProNews.net.
- Recognition of “The Meetings & Hospitality Alliance of South Florida” will continue to be prominently displayed on the Home page. However, the listing, as a group, of the Alliance Partner associations and links to the web sites may be relocated to another page on the site.
- The inclusion associations listed on the Home page in the area promoting opportunities for sponsorship and contributions to those associations will be at the discretion of ProNews.net.
5) Name Change – for our Alliance
We agreed that the full name of what we refer to as the Alliance, “The Meetings & Hospitality Alliance of South Florida”, is long and cumbersome. Alternative names were proposed:
- META – Meetings, Event and Travel Alliance of South Florida
- MARBLE – Meetings Associations Restaurants Bureaus Lodges & Events / Executives Alliance of SouthFlorida
After discussion, it was decide to keep the current name. As a way of shortening the name, we can say either “The Alliance” or “The MHA”.
The Meetings & Hospitality Alliance of South Florida
Notes of meeting held on January20, 2011 (Page 3 of 3)
6) Coming Events
- Jan 27 – MPI – CMPeducational session at the Renaissance Boca Raton
- Feb 8 – HSMAI – Leadershipconference and regular meeting. Lunch at PGA National. There will be a bus from IGFA in Dania.
- Feb. 16 – HSMAI – Networkerat Grateful Palate, $10. Physic readings will be available.
- April 12 – BizBashFlorida Expo 2011 – Last year, association members were offered discounted admission. Let Steven or BizBash know if your assn. hasn't been contacted.
- May 2 - MPI South Florida Summit – Full educational day (originally scheduled for May 24)
- July 23-27 – MPI WEC in Orlando. (There will be no MPI-SEC this year. The next SEC will be in Orlando in summer of 2012.)
- July 24-27 – NACE – National Educational Conference in Reno, NV
- Sept 24- 25 – NAWP NationalConference in Naples, FL
7) Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) – Florida/Caribbean Chapter
Today’s meeting was attended by Danielle Adams, CMP, President of the GMIC Florida/CaribbeanChapter-in-Formation. Her group now has the requisite number of members for official chapter status, and is finalizing the procedure to attain its charter from GMIC. As soon as the chapter is official, it will request that we accept it as a Partner in our Alliance.
In addition to its own meetings focused on advancing sustainable practices in the hospitality industry, the chapter will offer to assist allied associations in developing the “green” component of their educational programming regarding their own specialties such as meeting & event production, catering, lodging, transportation, etc.
8) APEX/ASTM Sustainability Standards, British Standard 8901 ISO 20121
Danielle reviewed these sustainability standards.
The APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards, being developed by the Convention Industry Council (CIC), are expected to be finalized in the next couple of months. They will cover nine sectors within the planning process: Accommodations, Audio/Visual and Production, Communications & Marketing, Destinations, Exhibits, Food & Beverage, Meeting Venue,On-Site Offices, and Transportation.
British Standard 8901 (BS 8901) was developed in preparation for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The British Standard is set to become an international standard through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
As noted in item #7 above, GMIC has offered to assist education chairs of other associations in putting together educational programs about these standards.
9) Next Meeting for the Alliance Leaders
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, May 5, 2011, Noon - 2:00 pm, at the Bimini Boatyard, 1555 SE 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Steven Pollock ()