Starting in June 2014, there are now six “Certified Meeting Professionals” working for the Vienna Convention Bureau.
Congress experts are only permitted to use this title if they have taken part in a demanding training program and demonstrated the knowledge they have acquired in a rigorous examination. No other European convention office currently has so many employees who have been awarded this “seal of quality”.
The Vienna Convention Bureau of the Vienna Tourist Board (VCB) now has the accolade of being Europe’s most highly qualified convention office: Verena Jandak, Marketing Manager for the USA, Canada, India and Australia, Judith Settele, Marketing and Project Coordinator for the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada, and Eva-Maria Hauer, Assistant and Web Manager, have successfully passed the examination to become Certified Meeting Professionals (CMPs). Ulrike Arnold, Deputy Director of the VCB, and Market Managers May Sollinger-Soucek and Ingeborg Schneider passed this exam before them in 2009.
The training to become a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP for short) is carried out by the Convention Industry Council (CIC), an association of 33 organizations worldwide dedicated to the exchange of information and developing the highest professional quality standards in the international conference industry. Even to be admitted to the CMP training program, candidates must be able to demonstrate their qualifications as well as many years of professional experience in the conference industry. Only then are candidates permitted to take the training course using teaching materials provided by the CIC, at the end of which they also have to sit a written examination lasting several hours.
