The Curious Professional: How the Best in This Industry Never Stop Growing - Part 4 of 4
- Nikki Bibbero
- 11 minutes ago
- 7 min read
On volunteering, industry associations, and the kind of learning that only happens when you show up
We started this series with books. Then podcasts. Then conferences and certifications.
All of those are forms of learning you can do largely on your own - in your living room, on a flight, at your desk. They are inputs. Valuable ones. But they are passive in a way that this final week is not.
This is the week about the kind of learning that only happens when you get off the sidelines and into the room.
August has always felt like a season of reinvention to me. Back to school energy isn't just for student - it's for anyone who wants to show up differently in the second half of the year. And nothing will accelerate your growth in this industry faster than deciding to actually participate in it. Not just observe it. Not just attend it. Participate in it.
Here is everything I know about how to do that well.
Why Bother? The Real Case for Getting Involved
I want to give you the honest version of this, not the polished nonprofit brochure version.
Yes, getting involved is good for the industry. Yes, giving back matters. Yes, it feels meaningful to be part of something bigger than your own event cycle.
But I also want to be real with you about the practical, career-building reasons - because those matter too, and pretending this is purely altruistic does you a disservice.
Exposure and Organic Network Building
Your name and your brand get known - by peers, future clients or employers, vendors, and hotels - through real relationship building, not business card exchanges. The most valuable connections I have made in this industry did not come from happy hour networking events. They came from being in the room, being at the table, being on the Zoom where decisions were made.
That kind of visibility compounds over time in a way that advertising never well.
Leadership Skills You Can't Learn at Your Desk
Managing volunteers, building consensus, running a committee, presenting to a board - these are skills that sharpen you professionally in ways your day-to-day client work may not. You practice them in a lower-stakes environment where the relationship allows for growth.
Credibility That Opens Doors
Industry involvement positions you as a go-to person - not just a vendor or a service provider, but a thought leader. Clients notice. Employers notice. When you are the person shaping the conversation in your industry, you are not chasing business. Business finds you.
Unexpected Opportunities
Some of the best gigs, partnerships, and collaborations I have landed came form being involved - not form a pitch or proposal. Someone knew my work, trusted my judgment, and made a call. That only happens when you have built real relationships over time through real participation.
Reigniting Your Passion
This industry can be exhausting. The events never stop, the logistics never simplify, and the stakes never get lower. Getting involved gives you something larger to connect to - a sense of purpose beyond your own event calendar. I have never walked away from an industry association board meeting or chapter event feeling less energized about this work. Always more.
The Associations Worth Knowing
One of the things I love most about this industry is that there is an association for everything. Whatever your specialty - government meetings, catering and events, corporate travel, exhibition management, association leadership - there is a community of people doing that same work who have built a home for it.
Here are the major ones, specifically in the events sphere, and who they are built for:
MPI - Meeting Professionals International
The broadest community in the meetings and events space. Both planners and suppliers are members, which creates a genuinely useful cross-industry network. MPI has active local chapters around the world that host regular events - lunch and learns, happy hours, golf tournaments, galas. If you are newer to the industry and want to build a network fast, start here.
PCMA - Professional Convention Management Association
Focused on the convention and business events side. If you work primarily in large-scale conferences, conventions, or association meetings, PCMA is your peer group. Strong education programs and a very active global community.
ASAE - American Society of Association Executives
This is the home for association professionals - Executive Directors, nonprofit leads, and the teams that support them. If your clients are in the association world, this is where they live. Being involved here puts you in proximity to the decision-makers you want to serve.
IAEE - International Association of Exhibitions and Events
The trade show and exhibitions community. If exhibit halls, tradeshows, or expositions are a significant part of your work, IAEE is where the deep expertise in that space lives.
NACE - National Association for Catering and Events
Built for catering and event professionals - caterers, venues, and the planners who work closely with them. Strong local chapter culture and a very active community.
SGMP - Society of Government Meeting Professionals
If you plan government meetings or work with government clients, this is your community. The regulations and requirements around government meetings are genuinely unique, and SGMP exists to help professionals navigate them.
HSMAI, GBTA, NSA, and Others
HSMAI serves the hotel side of our population. GBTA is for the travel managers. NSA for the speakers. The list goes on - and the point is that wherever your work takes you, there is almost certainly an association that has already built the community around it.
Do not try to join all of them. Pick one or two that genuinely align with your work and your goals, and go deep.
How to Actually Get Involved
Getting involved does not mean joining a board of directors on day one. There is a spectrum, and most people start much smaller than they think they need to.
Start by Showing Up
Attend the local chapter events your association hosts. Most of them - lunch and learns, happy hours, seasonal socials - are low commitment and high value. You meet people, you learn something, you become a familiar face. That is the foundation everything else is built on.
Volunteer for Something Small
Every association has committee work that needs doing - abstract review for an education conference, awards selection, sponsorship outreach, volunteer coordination. These are bite-sized ways to contribute without a major time commitment. They also get your name in front of leadership in a positive context.
Consider the Board
When you are ready, a board of directors role is one of the most accelerating things you can do for your career. You help shape the direction of the organization. You lead a team. You sit at the table where decisions are made.
Common board roles include positions in the office of the president, membership, finance, marketing and communications, education, and programming. Each has direct reports and real responsibility.
I started by helping a Director of Leadership Development place volunteers on committees. That one small contribution opened a door to the board, which opened a door to the Vice President of membership role, which eventually led to President, Regional Council, and beyond. I share that not to impress you but to illustrate the trajectory that is possible when you start somewhere and stay consistent.
Speak, Write, and Share What You Know
If public speaking feels approachable, pursue panel discussions and speaking opportunities. If it does not, offer to moderate - it is a powerful position that requires less preparation and still gives you significant visibility.
Writing is another underused avenue. Reach out to hospitality publications and organizations - The Meeting Professional, PCMA Convene, your association's own blog - and offer to contribute. A well-placed article does more for your positioning than almost any paid marketing effort.
Mentor Someone
Especially students and emerging professionals. This one is about giving back in the truest sense - and it will teach you things about your own expertise that you did not know you knew. Explaining what you do to someone who is just starting out has a way of clarifying your own thinking.
A Special Category: Customer Advisory Boards
This one deserves its own section because it is genuinely unique - and most people do not know it exists as an option.
Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) are peer groups convened by Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs or DMOs) who invite selected planners to give feedback on their city - helping shape tourism strategy, advocate for infrastructure improvements, and inform marketing and branding decisions. You typically do not apply; you get asked.
I have been involved with several CABs, and the experience is unlike anything else in this industry. You spend real time in a city giving real opinions that result in real change - funding for convention centers, new hotel development, website revamps, city branding. The impact is tangible.
And yes, you also get to do genuinely fun things. I have done a guacamole-making competition as well as a pizza-making class with a food styling photo shoot at a food magazine in Birmingham, Alabama. I have seen the Christmas lights around Baltimore, Maryland. I've gotten to make dog treats with an awesome team of special needs young adults in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These are not perks bolted onto a business trip. They are intentional experiences designed to help planners understand what a city has to offer their attendees.
If a CVB reaches out to you about joining an advisory board, say yes. And if you want to be considered, the path there is the same as everything else in this section: show up, build real relationships, and become someone whose perspective is worth seeking out.
The Close on The Curious Professional
Four weeks. Four ways to keep growing.
Books that reshape how you think. Podcasts that keep you sharp in motion. Conferences and certifications that invest in your credibility. And now this - the kind of involvement that compounds quietly over years and builds something no single class or credential can replicate.
The professionals I respect most in this industry are not the ones who figured it out once and stopped. They are the ones who stayed curious. Who kept asking questions. Who kept showing up - even when it was optional, even when they were busy, even when no one was watching.
That is the whole point of The Curious Professional.
September is coming. The reset is yours to keep.
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