Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID), celebrated annually in April, is one day of the year where meeting and event professionals around the world step out from behind the scenes to celebrate the importance of their work.  

The History of GMID 

What began as Canadian National Meetings Industry Day more than two decades ago expanded to include North American Meetings Industry Day in 2015 and, finally, GMID, as the day has been known as since 2016. Though initially an incentive spearheaded by Meetings Mean Business (a coalition that’s now fully integrated into the U.S. Travel Association), as of 2025, dozens of industry-specific associations and organizations host their own events in the day’s honor.  

This year, GMID took place on April 3, with the U.S. Travel Association encouraging revelers to amplify how #MeetingsMatter. Why? Because in 2024, more than $126 billion in meeting and event-related travel spending took place in the U.S. alone, directly supporting nearly 620,000 American jobs, according to U.S. Travel. 

Some other impressive stats worth mentioning in the spirit of GMID 2025: 

• Members of a Zurich, Switzerland-based association, the International Association of Professional Congress Organizers (IAPCO), were on planning teams across 20,000 global conferences in 2024. In total, those events generated €17.8 billion (approx. $19.5 billion USD) in economic impact, marking a 19.8% increase over the previous year, according to IAPCO’s 2024 Annual Member Report. 
• China Canton Fair (also known as the China Import and Export Fair), the region’s largest trade event held biannually in Guangzhou, is among the trade shows generating the highest economic impact in the world. Its 2024 event reported $27.73 billion in business turnover, per CEIC data. (For reference, IMEX America 2024 generated a total economic impact of $15.1 billion.) 
• In 2024, the number of trade show and conference planning businesses rose in the U.S. to 45,872—an increase of 3.4% from 2023, according to global research firm IBIS World. 

#LightingUpBlue 

Meetings Means Business’ Canadian chapter encouraged GMID 2025 celebrants to hashtag imagery on social media #LightingUpBlue in honor of GMID’s official color. Convention centers, meeting venues, hotels, and other attractions across the Great White North jumped on the bandwagon, boasting blue to mark the day, including Exhibition Place in Toronto, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg, and RBC Place London in Ontario. The Toronto Sign at Nathan Phillips Square and the famed CN Tower tourist attraction were also basked in blue to raise awareness of the meeting and event industry’s far-reaching impact. 

In the U.S., iconic New York City landmarks also participated in spotlighting GMID by shining blue on April 3, 2025: the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Javits Center, One World Trade Center, Pier 17 at The Seaport, the SUMMIT One Vanderbilt observatory, Bank of America’s global headquarters at One Bryant Park, and One World Trade Center, among others. 

Live GMID 2025 Celebrations 

In true event industry fashion, a slate of live events also took place for GMID 2025, including: 

Hilton’s World’s Most Welcoming Events Big Idea Contest 

Hotel giant Hilton, which operates 8,400-plus properties worldwide, is holding the World’s Most Welcoming Events Big Idea Contest in honor of GMID, encouraging any industry visionary to share how they’re planning to make attendees feel more seen, heard, and valued at their next event. 

Ideas taken on by Hilton’s events team will be featured in Hilton-branded content and tested at future signature events, while the person who submitted the idea will receive the choice of Hilton Honors Points to redeem for Event Credit vouchers or a charitable contribution.  

The contest is open now through April 30, 2025. 

Industry Exchange 2025 

Chicago-based industry organizations and coalitions including local chapters of ILEA (International Exhibition Logistics Association), MPI (Meeting Professionals International), NACE (National Association for Catering and Events), PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association), and SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Executives) teamed up for Industry Exchange 2025 on April 3.  

The ticketed event, which took place at the 90,000-square-foot Convene Willis Tower, took on the theme “Bridging the Generational Gap,” and sought to celebrate GMID 2025 while bringing together MPI Chicago Area Chapter members, industry non-members, and students across generations and sharing insights on how to appeal to younger folks in Gen Z who are just entering the workforce and events landscape. 

The Association Forum, Destination Reps, and Choose Chicago also served as supporting organizations for the event, where speakers included Freeman’s chief instigator David Saef, Show Strategy’s vice president of operations Walter Young, and Alexis Aldridge of NHS Global Events. 

PCMA’s Greater Philadelphia Chapter 

PCMA's Greater Philadelphia Chapter’s GMID celebrations saw record-breaking attendance when 175 industry professionals descended on Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia for its five-hour event. 

There were two panels throughout afternoon, titled “State of the Global Meetings Industry” and “Power of Mega Events,” featuring speakers based locally and beyond, including Mònica Garcia, association meetings manager of the Barcelona Convention Bureau; GES’s executive vice president of business development, Chuck Grouzard; and William Squires, FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026 New York New Jersey Host Committee chief venues and operations officer. 

Audience members, meanwhile, included representatives of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) and Philadelphia City Representative Jazelle Jones, who formally recognized April 3, 2025, as GMID in The City of Brotherly Love. 

MPI’s Eight-Hour Broadcast 

On April 3, MPI hosted an eight hour-long broadcast designed to connect industry leaders based around the globe. Programming for each hour differed, featuring local MPI chapter representatives, educational sessions, keynotes, partner messages, and state of the industry sessions.  

The event was free, though MPI asked attendees to each donate $10 to support the MPI Foundation’s efforts to fund grants, scholarships, and pan-industry research in support of the global meeting and event industry.  

Myrtle Beach Area Chamber’s GMID Awards Ceremony 

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (MBACC) and Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) celebrated GMID with a special event that honored six individuals who made outstanding contributions to the region’s tourism sector.

Among the winners: Rusty Watson of South Atlantic Shrine Association (SASA), whose work on the SASA Fall Festival brings more than 10,000 visitors to Myrtle Beach each year, as well as assistant fire chief Christopher Nash of Horry County Fire Rescue, who was honored for his role in securing the 2025 Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association Conference that’s expected to bring an estimated $600,000 in economic impact to the area when it kicks off on April 27, 2025. 

Overall, “group-based tourism generated more than $282 million for the Myrtle Beach area last year, helping to support thousands of jobs and fund essential public services,” according to Tracy Conner, the interim president and CEO at the MBACC and CVB. 

Lead image: PHLCVB team members celebrating GMID 2025. Courtesy of PHLCVB

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