Mentorship Breaks Boundaries in the MICE Sector: An International Model from MPI Turkey with 30 Participants

The human resource issue in the meetings and events sector is not just about finding new graduates.

It is also a separate matter for a young professional to learn how the international MICE sector operates, its connections, and career paths after graduating from university.

The Beyond Borders: International Mentorship Program, launched for the first time by MPI Turkey in 2026, aims to address this gap with a small-scale but international model.

A total of 30 people participated in the first term of the program, consisting of 15 mentors and 15 mentees from Turkey, Italy, and Poland. The study, which included Istanbul Bilgi University’s Tourism Management Department and international students, was completed with a final program held in Istanbul at the end of August.

The important point here is not the "30 people participating in the mentorship program."

The contact of young talent with the industry is being structured rather than left to chance internships or personal connections.

The program started in April

The first term of Beyond Borders was not limited to just a two-day closing meeting.

According to MPI Turkey’s program announcement, the first introduction and information meeting with mentors was held on April 1, 2026, at the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center. The program's aim was defined as bringing together future leaders with industry professionals, sharing knowledge, and developing professional connections.

Publicly available shares from participating mentors also indicate that the process spanned several months.

For example, one of the program mentors, Mine Güneş Kaya, states that she held more than six meetings with her mentee from Italy within five months starting from April. This number is not a verified common standard for all mentor-mentee pairs; it is the experience of a single participant. However, it supports the idea that the program is not just about the final event.

The real value in mentorship programs is created here.

Listening to a panel provides information.

Talking to the same professional over several months can create an opportunity to see career decisions, expectations, and the unwritten ways of working in the industry more closely.

The final meeting also brought industry organizations to the same table

The program's finale was held in Istanbul on August 27-28, 2026. TÜRSAB hosted the final meeting on August 28.

The panel titled "Your Career, Our Commitment" was moderated by Ömür Yeker; Mustafa Yalçın, Hasan Dinç, Dr. Hakan Arslan, and Dr. Zehra Saltık were among the panelists. TÜRSAB Board Member Tülay Salihoğlu and MPI Turkey President Şen Günersel spoke at the opening.

The program was not limited to sessions inside the hall.

According to Turizm Günlüğü, a lunch was organized at Liman Han, hosted by the Istanbul Congress and Visitor Bureau; participants experienced Istanbul as a destination through a networking event held on the Bosphorus.

This choice is significant in terms of MICE education.

Because the meeting industry is not just about learning event planning.

Seeing the venue.

Understanding the destination.

Communicating with the supplier.

Managing the networking environment.

Experiencing how a city is presented to congress visitors.

All of these are part of the profession.

Why mentorship might be more critical in the MICE sector?

The meetings and events sector operates with a highly fragmented business network.

Congress organizer.

DMC.

Hotel.

Convention bureau.

Technical production.

Event agency.

Airline.

Transfer company.

Catering.

Exhibition operator.

Destination management.

It is difficult for a university student to learn this entire ecosystem solely from their course program.

Similarly, a young professional who says, "I want to be an event manager" may not be able to distinguish different career paths within the industry at first glance.

A mentor becomes more than just a person who shares experience.

They turn into a guide explaining how the industry map works.

The value of international matching is different

What distinguishes Beyond Borders from a classic local mentorship program is the participation from outside Turkey.

Including young professionals from Italy and Poland in the program creates an opportunity to compare the working methods of different MICE markets, in addition to career development.

This feature is particularly meaningful in the meetings sector.

An event can be held in Istanbul, but;

the client can be from Germany,

the agency from England,

the speaker from the USA,

and participants can come from 30 different countries.

Therefore, international communication is not just a matter of foreign language.

Being able to manage different business cultures and customer expectations is also a professional competency.

Establishing an international connection at the beginning of a young professional's career may be more valuable than just adding a line to their CV.

In line with MPI Turkey's previous strategy

Beyond Borders is not MPI Turkey's first activity aimed at young professionals.

According to MPI Turkey's own corporate history, the chapter has previously conducted mentorship programs, training, and certification studies for young leader candidates in collaboration with universities.

The Turkey structure was approved by MPI Global as the Turkey Club in 2011. It also played a role in organizing EMEC 2014 in Istanbul and brought the EMEC conference back to Istanbul in 2025.

The difference of Beyond Borders is that it visibly adds international mentor-mentee matching to this educational approach.

Why is support from the MPI Foundation important?

The program was also supported by the MPI Foundation.

The MPI Foundation's mission is to support the education, career development, and industry research of meeting and event professionals through grants and scholarships.

The Foundation's C2C: Connections to Careers program similarly aims to enable young professionals to work with experienced industry employees, network, and see event operations in practice.

Therefore, Beyond Borders can be read as a local implementation aligned with MPI's global talent development approach rather than an independent student event.

However, participant numbers alone are not enough for "success"

It is positive that the first year of the program has been completed.

However, there is still insufficient publicly available data to evaluate the expression "successfully completed" as a measurable industry outcome.

For example, the following indicators have not been disclosed:

How many mentees started working in the industry?

How many continued to work with their mentor after the program?

Did new projects emerge from international matches?

Did mentees' career expectations change before and after the program?

What was participant satisfaction?

How many applicants are expected for the second year of the program?

Therefore, the verifiable success for the first year is the completion of the program as planned and the creation of international participation.

Long-term career impact requires follow-up data.

Why is mentorship an investment for hotels and event companies?

At first glance, a few hours of meetings per month between an operations manager and a young employee may seem like a non-revenue-generating task.

However, considering that staff turnover and finding qualified employees are significant issues in the hospitality and MICE sectors, mentorship can serve a different purpose:

Helping the employee understand the industry better.

Developing realistic career expectations.

Preparing for their first managerial role.

Gaining a professional network.

Seeing the potential for advancement within the organization.

Some of these can create economic value in terms of employee retention.

However, for this to happen, the mentorship program needs to go beyond the "having coffee with a senior manager" format.

Goals.

Frequency of meetings.

Career topics.

Feedback.

Evaluation at the end of the term.

If these are not defined, the mentor-mentee matching can turn into a good-willed but hard-to-measure networking activity.

Students should enter the sector earlier

The career journey in the MICE sector may start too late after university graduation.

If a student can see the congress area,

the hotel sales department,

event operations,

destination management company,

technical production

while still in education, they can better understand which area they want to pursue.

The fact that Beyond Borders brings together Istanbul Bilgi University students and international students with industry professionals is significant in this regard.

There is also an advantage for the sector.

The company can start getting to know the talent during their student period instead of explaining what MICE is after hiring a new graduate.

Istanbul is also one of the products of the program

Another dimension of the mentorship program is destination promotion.

Young professionals from Italy and Poland not only met with their mentors; they also experienced Istanbul's congress and visitor infrastructure.

It is not possible to claim that such programs yield significant congresses in the short term.

However, a significant portion of MICE decisions are shaped through professional relationships.

Today's student may become a planner at an event agency a few years later.

Today's young professional may become the person managing the corporate event budget.

Experiencing Istanbul positively in the early stages of their career can therefore be considered a long-term relationship investment in destination marketing.

Stafflink's view

In our opinion, the most valuable aspect of the Beyond Borders program is not the number of 30 participants.

It is its attempt to systematize the professional relationship that is often left to chance when entering the MICE sector.

In the hospitality and events sectors, young employees are often expected to "network."

However, how someone at the beginning of their career can access that network is less discussed.

Mentorship can fill this gap.

The experienced professional's role is not to provide the young person with ready jobs; it is to show how the industry works, which skills are valuable, and which mistakes can be costly.

In the second phase of the program, what should be primarily monitored is not how many people liked the event, but rather;

how many mentees stayed in the industry,

how many international relationships continued,

how many career and project opportunities emerged.

The future of the MICE sector will not be built solely with a new congress center or new hotel investment.

How the new professional generation that will sell, manage, and execute international events is trained is also part of competitive strength.