The Greenville-Pitt County Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit Greenville, NC) is pleased to announce that Rachel Whitten, Director of Sales & Services has recently completed the Inclusive Event Strategist program from Meeting Professionals International. MPI’s Inclusive Events Strategist certificate focuses on practical actions that meeting professionals on both sides of the marketplace can take to create inclusive environments at their events.
“Learning how personally, and as an industry, we can continuously be more intentional when it comes to inclusivity is important to me. This certification has inspired me to frame the services we offer to meeting planners who choose to host their events in Greenville-Pitt County, as those of an inclusion broker,” stated Rachel Whitten, Director of Sales & Services for Visit Greenville, NC. “I look forward to helping our partners from the beginning of the planning process to ensure sure all potential attendees will have an equitable and delightful experience when they visit our destination.”
Not only is focusing on inclusion is the right thing to do, but it also enhances business value and profits for organizations and destinations when they send the right messages to audiences and embrace all the ways in which people are different.
“Inclusion is directly tied to the overall success of any event,” states Andrew Schmidt, President & CEO of Visit Greenville, NC. “It is vital that our destination facilitate events that provide a welcoming environment for everyone and encourage full and respectful participation by all.”
During the Inclusive Events Strategist certificate program, Whitten learned how to use the dimensions of diversity in event planning and design to create fully inclusive environments, strategies to represent the diverse people at meetings and events, recommend personal and organizational actions that can be taken to create inclusive environments, and committed to taking those actions by completing an Inclusive Action Plan.
For more information on Meeting Professionals International and the IES program, please visit: https://www.mpi.org/education/certificate-programs/inclusive-event-strategist
