On Nov. 2, LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (LGBT MPA) will make a major mark on the industry by hosting its first Professional Workshops + Networking Event.
Held in conjunction with the Community Marketing & Insights (CMI) 18th Conference on LGBT Tourism & Hospitality in San Francisco, the LGBT MPA event will include the first set of workshops specifically designed for the LGBT meeting professional. It will include discussions focused on one common goal: how to increase the success of inclusion and diversity in meetings and events. Topics will range from LGBT online marketing to planning a successful LGBT-friendly event to navigating new bathroom legislation.
Started in August 2016 by David Jefferys, president and CEO of the Altus Agency, a Philadelphia-based marketing firm that specializes in LGBT travel, the LGBT MPA is the first and only organization dedicated to the advancement of LGBT meeting professionals. “We provide access to a powerful network of LGBT professionals with experience running large global and national meetings to smaller regional meetings,” says Jefferys. “Our industry is growing, and so are the business opportunities for leadership at all professional levels to impact diversity, innovation and inclusivity.”
The association is supported by an advisory board that welcomed Richard Gray and Alexis Dinyovsky earlier this summer. With an annual LGBTQ budget of more than $1 million, Gray’s work at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau brings more than 1.5 million LGBT travelers to South Florida annually who spend $1.5 billion. Dinyovsky currently works for the Southern Comfort Transgender Empowerment Conference as well as does consulting for the CVB of Broward County on travel issues affecting the transgender community.
“I am excited to represent the transgender meeting professionals in this new association,” says Dinyovszky. “The LGBT MPA is an important entity for all event planners, and I am looking forward to sharing my professional experience with the growing membership.”
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