LGBT Meeting Professionals Association announces more member benefits
Today the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (LGBT MPA) announces new member benefits including the first LGBT Supplier Diversity resource guide and a new member portal with educational content, mentoring, and professional development opportunities. The new benefits also include a Members Guide and Forum are designed to build community and advance inclusivity of the meeting planning industry.
The MPA Supplier Diversity Guide is the first comprehensive resource listing vendors that meet the LGBT
MPA’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) standards. The guide is available online at the organization’s website.
“We know some meeting planners don’t control where their meetings are held. This alone can make it difficult to meet diversity expectations,” said David Jefferys, Executive Director. “Our new Supplier Diversity Guide provides information so meeting planners can choose to support vendors that meet LGBT MPA D&I standards and allow them to plan meetings that comply with their organization’s inclusivity goals.”
The LGBT MPA’s new member portal is a business resource as well as an active professional development source. In addition to the LGBT MPA Supplier Diversity Guide, members can post RFPs and job listings.
“We are very proud of our new member professional benefits and we are equally proud of the addition of our business-focused benefits,” said Jim Clapes, LGBT MPA Board Chairman and Conference & Events Manager for the Drug Policy Alliance. “We believe that the LGBT MPA Supplier Diversity will allow members to allocate dollars to vendors who support inclusivity.
Because, in the end we are all business professionals and diversity is good for business.”
The LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (LGBT MPA) is the first and only association for this industry group. Statistically, there are an estimated 100,000 meeting professionals currently practicing in the United States. LGBT MPA predicts in the US that 8,000 to 12,000 of these professionals working in the field are members of the LGBT community. Globally the current estimate is 18,000 to 23,000.
The LGBT MPA was founded in August 2016 by Dave Jefferys, president and CEO of the Altus Agency, a Philadelphia-based marketing enterprise firm specializing in LGBT travel and the Executive Officers and the Board. Membership for LGBT professionals is free.
