When is it ethical for suppliers to issue and for planners to accept invitations to events?
WHEN THERE IS BUSINESS ON THE TABLE IT’S NEVER ETHICAL 6% NO 67% 4% 24%
WHEN THERE ARE SEATS TO FILL
29% YES 71%
Is it ethical for planners to keep the points (from airlines, hotels, etc.) that they accumulate through their professional work?
WHEN YOU KNOW THE PERSON EVEN IF THERE IS NO BUSINESS
This past summer, Convene invited readers and PCMA members to participate in a short online survey on the subject of ethics. The response we received took us by surprise. Approximately 630 meeting professionals answered each of 10 questions—and left pages upon pages of comments regarding how and why they think the meetings industry does or does not operate in an ethical manner, and whether there is room for reform. In short, we touched a nerve. But why? And
why now, with the many pressing issues that meeting professionals face on a daily basis, especially the still-uncertain economy? To find out—and to explore the greater topic of ethics —we spoke with planners, suppliers, educators, and thinkers from both inside and outside the industry.
ment of his time to get one. For Task Force Chair Anne O’Neill, CMP,
CERTIFICATION MADE POSSIBLE
CAE, an account manager for Denver-based The Meeting Edge, ethics is of particular con- cern because she thinks that some clients might be confused as to how meeting planners get
The Perception’s the Thing At the heart of the issue is the question of perception. Our survey was inspired by a discussion among the Convene Task Force—a volunteer group of planners and suppliers who help guide the magazine’s editorial direction—at the PCMA Education Conference this past June. Task Force members felt that there are a lot of people in the meetings industry who are unethical and abuse the system. They were particularly bothered by the story of an industry professional who admitted that he added “CMP” after his name without having actually earned the Certified Meeting Professional designation. He knew it carried respect in the industry, it seems, but he personally didn’t think it was worth the invest-
60 pcma convene October 2010
paid. “Some people might think that the way we get paid… might give us a horse in this race”—that is, a personal finan- cial interest in which destination or venue is chosen for a par- ticular meeting, O’Neill said. “Personally I don’t think it’s true, but I think the perception might be out there.” Thanks in no small part to the AIG Effect, perception
has been of particular concern to the meetings industry for the last two years. Indeed, 60 percent of respondents to Convene’s survey said that when someone in the meetings industry behaves unethically, it reflects poorly on the entire profession. One respondent, Sean Kirklen, CMP, manager of educational conference services for the University of Cali- fornia, San Francisco’s Office of Continuing Medical Educa- tion (CME), said that a discussion about ethics was already under way among the six planners who work in his office