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A very special meeting

I attended the UK and Ireland meeting just a few weeks after my appointment as International Executive Director by MGI and, having led another international network for many years, I was impatient to find out how MGI was functioning.

At first glance I could say that the meeting provided a good opportunity for UK and Irish members to get together, the agenda was well-built with interesting topics, the location offered the perfect balance between space, quality meeting rooms and good technical support, and luckily the food was a bit improvement on that which I remembered from 30 years ago as a teenager travelling in the UK!

But observing the meeting more carefully, I realized that there was a unique and very special feeling to it, for several reasons.

First of all, because of the people! In this specific field of activity I actually expected to meet people who might not share the communication skills of well-known orators. After all, we would not blame them for that, knowing that theirs is a very different core business. Well, on the contrary, they were all entrepreneurs with interesting communication skills, no-nonsense people willing to do their best and to provide their clients with the best-quality service. They do know how to argue and how to convince. They also know what it takes to build credibility on the market and how to keep it. Shedding my original feelings, I was therefore not surprised to see them actively speaking about best practice, sharing new ideas and projects with a high level of participation and involvement. 

Secondly, as experts in their field, they also want to serve the association. When you work in the subsidiary of an international organization, it is written on your business card, which does not mean that you are really thinking or practically working internationally. When you decide to join MGI, you decide for yourself to be involved in international matters. This is probably why; members from Australia, South Africa, USA, Asia, Northern, Central and Southern Europe also decided to join the UK and Ireland meeting, feeling that there would be business opportunities for them to collaborate with representatives of the British Lion and Celtic Tiger.

Thirdly, when you participate to such a meeting, very often you feel that, although the meeting is interesting, people remain passive instead of engaging proactively in discussions. Just before the meeting, an interesting issue arose from the association questioning the independence of the UK MGI area versus continental Europe. Touchy topic when you know the background of the association and its British roots. To my big surprise, room was made in the agenda to talk about that issue and let democratically all 80 participants react to this sensitive topic. Whatever the outcome is, or will be, an association using such meetings to feel the pulse of its members in a very open and transparent way can only be on the right tracks, because it makes sure that the needs of its members are not only taken into consideration but also handled in a very fair way.

In a nutshell, this is the feeling I got during this very special meeting. I am delighted to be able to contribute to MGI and will do my best to bring added value to an association of professionals for which I have already sympathy and respect. I have a dream –making MGI the best worldwide association in its field. Are you in?

I wish you all a happy and very successful New Year.

Thierry Delvaux