Meeting Support Institute

A meeting architect is an individual that focuses on the potential meeting objectives, the meeting formats and designs, and the conceptual and practical building blocks to construct a meeting for better learning, networking and motivation in the participant population. A meeting architect also knows how to measure the meeting results up to its Return on Investment.
The meeting architect works in four (IDEA) phases:
- Idintifying meeting objectives
- Designing the meeting to support these objectives
- Executing and guiding the meeting towards its objectives
- Assessing the meeting results compared to the objectives
The meeting industry that exists today (2007) focuses mainly on the tourism and hospitality side of meetings: Travel, lodging and F&B. The meeting industry is professional in creating the shell where meeting architecture wants to help in building the substance.
Creating the profession of meeting architecture besides the meeting planner that focuses on the hospitality side of meetings will lift the meeting industry from its current logistic and more operational position to a tactical and maybe even strategic position. Tons of knowledge needs to be assembled, translated and put into a curriculum for a master degree in meeting architecture. Scientific, social, creative, technical, technological, conceptual and many more areas are the sources that will provide the elements for a knowledge base to be fully understood by meeting architects.
Meeting architects as defined here don’t exit yet. There is no degree, no certificate, no tradeshow or association.
We have a long way to go but it will be a fun and rewarding trip.

This Blog invites all to contribute to that new profession of meeting architecture.
Extensive information on this topic can be found in the Book “Meeting Architecture” (MSI 2008) and on the website http://www.meetingarchitecture.com/

Thanks for helping to move this forward,

Maarten Vanneste, CMM