From left: EIC board chair Stephanie Harris, EIC president and CEO Amy Calvert and EIC board chair-elect Jason Dunn Sr. announcing the launch of Pathways at IMEX America.
The Events Industry Council has launched Pathways, a workforce education initiative intended to help people enter, develop and progress through careers in the global business events industry.
Announced at IMEX America, the framework brings EIC programmes, learning resources, credentials, student outreach, mentoring and volunteer leadership opportunities together under one strategy. It forms part of the organisation’s Vision 2030 commitment to advocacy and workforce development.
Pathways is structured around four stages: Discover, Develop, Advance and Lead. Each stage groups resources and programmes around a different point in a professional’s career.
Discover focuses on introducing students and emerging professionals to business events careers. Its components include APEX Future Workforce, which brings high-school students to industry gatherings for exposure to roles and employers.
Develop covers continuous learning and career planning through resources including the Pathways newsletter and Reflective Practice Exercise. EIC is also working with Snapsight to make its APEX Accepted Practices more interactive, accessible and multilingual.
Advance connects professional development with work readiness and credentials. It includes the CMP Work Readiness Certificate, an entry point to the Certified Meeting Professional ecosystem, as well as the updated CMP International Standards and exam and the Sustainable Event Professional Certificate.
Lead is intended to extend development across later career stages through expanded ambassador, mentoring, reverse-mentoring and volunteer leadership opportunities.
EIC president and CEO Amy Calvert said Pathways is designed to turn industry research into practical career support and make opportunities easier to navigate throughout a professional’s career.
The launch follows EIC research highlighting the sector’s scale and workforce pressures. Its 2026 Global Economic Significance of Business Events Study found that business events support 24.2 million jobs worldwide, attract 1.65 billion participants, generate US$1.3 trillion in direct spending and support US$1.8 trillion in total GDP.
In the EIC Futures Landscape Study 2025, 75% of respondents rated talent and workforce development as very or extremely important to the industry’s future. Technology, including AI, received the same rating from 68%, while wellbeing was cited by 69%.
EIC said Pathways will continue to expand with input from its members, partners, employers, educators and volunteer leaders.
“Building the workforce our industry needs cannot be the responsibility of any one organisation,” stated EIC board chair and president of the Incentive Research Foundation Stephanie Harris. “It requires a collective effort across employers, educators, associations, partners and individual professionals. Pathways gives us a stronger framework for connecting that work and helping people see a future for themselves in this industry.”
Incoming EIC board chair and CEO of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals Jason Dunn added: “Our industry has an extraordinary depth of experience and leadership. Creating stronger connections between those who have built careers in business events and those just beginning theirs is essential. Through mentorship, knowledge sharing and greater opportunities to engage, we can strengthen both the individual career journey and our industry as a whole.”