40 Under 40: Virginia Hall

Virginia Hall 28, Program Specialist, Meeting Professionals International Dallas When it comes to planning live educational content for 18,500 MPI members who also book speakers regularly for their own conferences, Hall is ready for critics (although she rarely gets them). The Howard University graduate has been wowing MPI attendees by diligently doing her homework. For Hall, curating incredible educational sessions involves reviewing hundreds of speaker proposals, preparing presenters through one-on-one consults, designing learning environments for adult students and executing it all on-site perfectly. She tested her meetings mettle when she jumped the pond and successfully managed the education for MPI’s European Meetings & Events Conference in Krakow, Poland. “Navigating the cultural differences, language barriers and learning styles of international industry professionals reminded me of the importance of being extremely resourceful and flexible, and always being graceful under pressure,” says Hall. Something she has learned from her mentor, Matthew Marcial, senior director of events at MPI, is “to be unashamed of my ambition and transparent about my aspirations, and that has impacted me,” she says.