Meeting and Event Manager: certification is born

A dedicated certification finally regulates the profession of the Meeting and Event Manager and guarantees the know-how of the operators of this sector

The UNI 11786 standard and the Meeting and Event Manager certification aim to define and regulate the meeting industry sector, recognizing the highly specialized preparation of professionals working in the meeting industry.

The profession of the meeting and event manager

The pandemic and the forced stop of the entire events sector have demonstrated the great difficulty of the authorities in understanding the role and weight of the meeting industry in the public sphere, forcing the sector associations to carry out a pushing work of information.

Why is it so difficult to understand what an event organizer does?

Because the Meeting and Event Manager is the less visible, the better he does his job: he coordinates participants, speakers, sponsors, and all suppliers while remaining behind the scenes of the event.

Yet, the events sector generates an induced amount of around 65 billion euros with a direct impact on the GDP of 36.2 billion euros/year and employs 569,000 people (source Federcongressi website), encompassing an enormous variety of professionals specialized in different types of events and shows.

A variety of realities brings an equal heterogeneity of skills and knowledge necessary to ensure the high-quality standards that make Italy the 6th country in terms of economic impact generated by events and congresses.

The UNI 11786 standard and certification

The project was born from Law No. 4 of January 14, 2013, dedicated to “non-regulated professions”. The definition of the UNI 11786 standard is the result of a long standardization process that began in 2017 and concluded in 2020, operated by Federcongressi, in association with the technical commission of the Italian Standardization Body.

Standardization process saw the definition of the specific tasks and activities of the Meeting and Event Manager. The process identified the requested knowledge, skills, and abilities in each phase of the event organization (to learn more about the topic, Read HERE).

This careful analysis of the process of organizing an event (of any type) allows us to understand the complexity of a professional figure with a thousand facets and able to move, within its own business, between very different realities and contexts.

The importance of certification for us at Gaya Event

A certification is a fundamental tool for obtaining recognition and identity as a professional group.

We at Gaya Events have welcomed this project with joy. It was a high-level training experience, a source of notions and ideas to grow as professionals.

Here are 4 good reasons to get certified according to Gaya Events:

1. Certify our skills and acquire new ones: the meeting industry scenario is too broad and varied to stop learning!
2. Update to face the present and the future: the world is constantly changing, and the events sector is changing with it, we must always be ready for new challenges (Covid has shown us!)
3. See our experience recognized and certified: the work of the meeting and event manager is learned event after event, always adding new skills.
4. Contribute to give an identity to our profession: the pandemic has shown the importance of creating a united and well-defined professional category.