IMEX-MPI Future Leaders International University Challenge
What is the International University Challenge? |
For the past two years, students attending Future Leaders Forums in Warsaw, Thailand, MPI's World Education Conference (WEC) and the European Meetings and Events Conference have been involved in an informal university challenge. Students representing different universities in each location have been asked to prepare presentations related to the meetings industry and present to a panel of judges consisting of the speakers from the Forum.
The concept of the International University Challenge sponsored by the MPI Foundation is to develop the existing model and invite students from different parts of the world to compete against each other in an international competition to be held in Frankfurt during the IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum. This will
allow more involvement from the students attending the regional Future Leaders Forums as well as give them the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity.
This year’s Challenge will consist of individual students attending the Future Leaders Forums at:
- MPI's World Education Conference (WEC), Vancouver, Canada, 25 July, 2010
- IMEX-MPI - IT&CMA Future Leaders Forum, Bangkok, Thailand, 5-6 October 2010
- IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum at the European Meetings and Events Conference, Dusseldorf, Germany, 13-15 February 2011
- The V Student Scientific Conference, Warsaw, Poland, 2011
The selected winners from the above Forums will attend the Future Leaders Forum at IMEX 2011, Frankfurt, Germany, 25-26 May 2011 where an overall winner will be announced at the gala dinner and will be presented with the MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award.
This year, Renea Anderson from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, USA was the deserved winner of the MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award which was presented to her by Bruce MacMillan, CEO and President, MPI. Renea Anderson is an event management student and also President for the UCF Chapter of MPI. On receiving the award she commented:
"The University Challenge offered such a unique opportunity for me to voice the innovative ideas I have on the future of this industry. I am humbled that MPI would ask for the vision of students such as myself, providing us with a platform to share our ideas. The Future Leaders Forum Programme has meant more to me and my career than I can ever articulate. To win this award really is the icing on the cake!"
What Do I Need To Do?
Each student accepted into the Future Leaders programme at the MPI Conferences will be encouraged to develop a bid for a conference to be attended by Generation Y, held in the destination of their choice. The conference will be a showcase of the organisational, creative and technical skills of this generation and will demonstrate the shape of meetings to come to the meetings industry with special emphasis on CSR and sustainability.
All the bids will be reviewed by a professional body and the top three will present their bid in a 10 minute presentation at Future Leaders Forums with a final presentation being made at IMEX in Frankfurt on Wednesday 25 May 2011.
What Is In It For Me?
The winners from each conference will have their flights and accommodation paid for by the MPI Foundation and will be invited to the IMEX Gala Dinner where the winner of the International University Challenge will be announced.
The lucky winner will be awarded:
- The MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award.
- An invitation to attend the MPI World Education Congress in 2011. Flights, accommodation and registration fee will be paid for by the MPI Foundation.
The winning student and their university will receive considerable worldwide publicity and exposure through the PR departments of IMEX, MPI and associated international media.
Contacts
Please contact either Charlie Spiegel, MPI cspiegel@mpiweb.org or
Tom Hulton tom.hulton@imexexhibitions.com for more information.
Past Winners
The winner of the 2010 IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum University Challenge and IMEX-MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award was Renea Anderson from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, USA.
The winner of the 2009 IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum University Challenge and IMEX-MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award was University of Westminster student, Miguel Neves.
