Since the coalition launched its rebrand from BEICC to MMBC in January 2017 MMB Canada, Meetings Mean Business Canada, has raised over $100,000 of initial funding and counts over 130 industry executive leaders amongst its supporters to date.

BEICC, Business Events Coalition of Canada was founded in 2009 to advocate on behalf of the Business Events Industry in Canada with its $27 Billion in annual economic impact and over 341,000 full-time jobs.  The BEICC was a coalition of Associations whose members all work in the business events industry and we are proud that CAPS was a founding member and our own Bob Parker, CSP was instrumental in establishing the coalition and its by-laws.  We are thankful for the work that Bob did and for pushing for CAPS to have a seat at that table.

In 2017 we signed a licensing agreement with Meetings Mean Business Coalition (MMB) in the US and changed our name to MMBC, Meetings Mean Business Canada. Meetings Mean Business US is a large and successful coalition with a board of 50 industry-leaders and $1 million in annual core funding.  They have a powerful resource toolkit that provides industry data and evidence of the importance and economic impact of in-person meetings. We will be able to leverage the success of their model, their resources and their reach.

The Meetings Mean Business Canada Board is set to continue its mission to advocate for the power of face-to-face meetings and to connect with Business Events Industry Leaders.
The 2018 goals of MMB Canada include the following:

• To be the advocacy voice/platform for the Business Events Industry in Canada;
• To align our efforts and work in tandem with TIAC, Tourism Industry Association of Canada (our secretariat);
• We have formed 4 committees to research and recommend:
  • A sustainable financial model
  • Curation of unified data for our industry
  • Executing a plan to tell our Story
  • Development and implementation of a Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) strategy that provides consistent and aligned messaging for the organizers of these events in all cities.
• Lastly, we also need to develop a board of directors’ succession plan that will include national representation.

To learn more about MMB Canada and to view the current supporter list, visit the website here https://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.ca/supporters.

About Meetings Mean Business Canada
Meetings Mean Business Canada, the first coalition to execute the Meeting Mean Business licensing agreement, was formed to advocate on behalf of the Canadian Business Events Industry. The MMB Canada board is actively reaching out to key industry stakeholders across all sectors of the Canadian Business Events Industry to transform the coalition into a proactive, well-funded advocacy movement with strong connections to federal, provincial and municipal governments.

I am excited and honoured to represent CAPS as we build the Coalition.

Jennifer Spear, CAPS, affiliated with the Toronto Chapter