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Event Minds Matter Merges with Club Ichi

October 2, 2024

Janice Cardinale on building a robust community to ensure mental health and wellbeing for event professionals.

Event Minds Matter, the leading advocate for mental health awareness and education in the meetings industry, has merged with Club Ichi, the industry’s dedicated connection hub for B2B event marketers. “In August of this year, I made a decision to merge the Event Minds Matter community with the Club Ichi community,” says Janice Cardinale, VEMM, founder of Event Minds Matter (EMM). “The benefit that we both brought to the industry was a mutual respect for human sustainability. Finding like-minded people who care about trust and safety within our industry is critical if we want to thrive as an industry in the future. We are now Event Minds Matter Empowered by Club Ichi.

Prevue recently caught up with Cardinale to talk about the merger and her plans for IMEX and beyond.

Prevue: What does the merger mean to you and to the event planning community?

Cardinale: The merger is purely organic. I would like to emphasize that I do not work for money. I have privilege and choose to give back to the industry that I once thrived in. My relationship with Liz and Nicole [Club Ichi co-founders Liz Lathan, CMP and Nicole Osidodu, XOXO] is authentic and honest. We believe in the same things. We care about human capital and how people are being treated which is being masked in silence. I am here to end the fear, shame, and stigma and educate the next generation with everything we never knew or understood.

Prevue: What’s the latest on your efforts to make psychological safety training compulsory for the events industry?

Cardinale: Our relationship with Mental Health Innovations Consulting has enabled us to explore peer support and psychological safety training in the workplace. I have taken an emotional intelligence course which has prepared me on how to recognize problems in the workplace, speak empathetically and guide a troubled person with tried and true resources. There are plenty of coaches, but when someone is in trouble, they do not need just any coach—they need someone to listen in a brave space, while being flexible enough to allow that individual time to find a credible resource who is educated in mental health. We have a responsibility as leaders to know how to deal with any health or safety problem in the workplace. We are very good at physicality but terrible at anything to do with the brain.

My goal is to mandate psychological safety training as part of the EIC [Events Industry Council] curriculum; mandated for every person taking courses to earn the CMP, CMM and other industry titles.

Prevue: Any updates on industry partnerships?

Cardinale: We have sponsors but not actual partnerships. At IMEX for example, Event Minds Matter Empowered by Club Ichi is being sponsored by Prestige AV & Creative Services with a special shout-out to Cincinnati’s Brian Monahan. Gather Voices, with thanks to the incredible Michael Hoffman, is another valued sponsor. And we have Don Soublosky with Lollipop Signs by Moving Products providing the cool lollipop signs that are seen at every Olympic game to enhance our space.

Prevue: What else is happening at IMEX?

Cardinale: Event Minds Matter Empowered by Club Ichi will be in the Inspiration Hub where much of the activity, networking and trend-forward things are happening. We will also be making a lot of mini videos at IMEX featuring people of all ages, races, cultures, etc., sharing their thoughts on mandating health and safety training for our industry. Each person will have 15 minutes to make a mini video on site. These videos will be completed and turned into a documentary by Michael Hoffman of Gather Voices. The very talented Nidhi Tewari, a young woman who has spent 10 years as a mental health therapist and who is a sensation on TikTok, will be a voice on the documentary. Nidhi is the new ambassador for EMM’s mission and goals and I am ecstatic to welcome her.