Emeritus CMPs

Carol A. Locke, CMP
Chattanooga, TN

“How the CMP Designation has Helped in my Professional Life and Why I think it is Important to retain the Designation”

A lecturer once defined ‘Certification’ as ‘Bridging the Gap between our Formal Educations and the Jobs we have to do today”. Many professionals train long and hard for a very specific job. Other people train long and hard in a field which they love, and ultimately will not provide a career, or the income, needed to live life fully.

As a Journalism Major in college, I had studied for a career reporting the news, sports and weather! My first job was far from the journalism arena, but got me started in the world of event planning.

Not long into this new world, it became clear to me that Events involve a great deal more than I imagined. Planning is an integral part of the success, and, just a tip of the iceberg!

In 1989 a business associate suggested that I would be a good candidate for the CMP designation and it would behoove me to learn more about what Certification can mean to a career. At the time there were fewer than 1,000 CMP’s in the world and the demand would most certainly increase. A Designation could be earned in less than a year! Globalization changed our world, and with that, an increased demand for Certified Planners.

Earning the CMP designation allowed me the opportunity to grow in my field, learn the minutiae of Event Planning, and mostly importantly, it gave a shot of adrenalin to my self confidence. I knew that I could do whatever it takes.

One Monday morning in 1999, I arrived at my office to a ringing telephone. The caller inquired if I could arrange a Press Conference for 10:00AM that morning and the answer was a confident “Yes!”

One hour later I greeted the Press and the caller, a Representative for then Governor Bush of Texas. A few minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Bush arrived, along with an entourage including Texas Rangers, and a Press Conference began. Mr. Bush announced his intention to run for President of the United States! That experience was an opportunity which I would have missed had I not has the confidence that I could make it happen.

With all of the high technology available to us, the most effective way for effective communication is still for people to sit down together, face to face, and talk. No technology can replace that communication, and no technology can replace the importance of the planner who makes it all happen.

Maintaining CMP designation is a critical component to the success of those planning communications in business and organizations connecting people. These special events can only be made better with the careful assistance of a CMP!