I recently attended the Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress (MPI WEC) in Las Vegas Nevada. The overriding theme of the meeting was “When we meet, we change the world”.

This motto was plastered everywhere you looked. At first glance, this mantra comes across as a bit audacious and presumptuous. The gathering was for professional meeting planners. Their pursuit: to find new and innovative ways to plan and execute successful meetings.

I started wondering if the following statement would also be true for hospital art, “When we paint, we change the world”. Deep down inside, the answer is a strong, affirmative “yes”. When groups of people come together for a common cause, to improve our healing spaces, we are truly changing the world.

As I interacted with other attendees at the various sessions and breaks, I discovered a strong desire to include hospital art in a wide range of meetings. Regardless of the industry, meeting type or size, the overwhelming consensus was that a PaintFest would be perfect for their next meeting.

Amongst all of the glitter and extreme glamour of Las Vegas, there were over 2,000 meeting planners ready to work hard at improving their game. The appeal of a give-back and teambuilding program that you can execute anywhere at any time is huge to a meeting planner.

I left Las Vegas encouraged and optimistic about the future of meetings and how a Foundation for Hospital Art PaintFest® can improve the results of meetings. There are a lot of options for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, but a PaintFest delivers on all key criteria.

So when you are planning your next meeting, please consider how you can change the world, one brush stroke and one patient at a time.

Scott Feight