UNTITLED
(Essay for Emeritus Status)
By Nick C. Jannes, CMP, CLU, ChFC
East Moline, IL
Originally Certified: 1989
The CMP Program was just four years old when I sat for my CMP exam.
On January 27, 1989 I received a letter form Professional Advancement International, Ltd., informing me that I had passed the CMP examination I had taken on December 10, 1988. My name, along with the other successful candidates, was submitted to the Convention Liaison Council for certification. I can’t describe how happy and proud I was to receive the news that I had passed the examination.
I had been a meeting planner for about nine years handling a variety of meetings for a mid-west insurance company. As the type, amount and size of the meetings grew, so did my responsibilities. I found myself serving as a planner, negotiator, communicator and marketer. I was involved in site selection, budgets, entertainment, setup, program and transportation. I began to seek advice and information from many of my peers and it was about this time when I first became aware of the CMP Designation. I began making inquires about the availability of a set of common practices dealing with the meetings and convention industry. I read the usual magazines and attended a few seminars but was unsuccessful in finding an organization that had within its structure a tried and consistent outline for handling meeting procedures and practices. That’s when I became aware of the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) Program. It was described to me as a program whose purpose is to increase the professionalism of meeting planners through a program of study, education and certification. Just what I needed!
Further inquiry into the CMP designation revealed to me that, through study and an examination that covers the many functions of meeting planning, a person could attain a designation that defines the level of experience and expertise required of a professional meeting planner.
By attaining this designation, I believe the value of the planner to his/her organization increases considerably and it defines one as a professional meeting planner. One of the most positive effects in attaining the CMP designation was management recognition. The designation in my eyes has promoted a greater awareness of the meeting manager as a professional.
CMP has expanded the concept of meeting planning. They recognized early on that the basic educational techniques of meeting planning can be applied to ALL meetings, regardless of content; and it is the planner’s responsibility to learn and share these techniques.
Since retiring from full time meeting planning four years ago, I have been involved in some independent meeting planning and consulting. I found that the greatest problem most independent planners face when getting started is to establish credibility with the client. The CMP designation goes a long way to reinforce credibility. Attaining the CMP Designation was one of the best moves I ever made in the planning field!
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