SGMP provides members with powerful professional resources. A majority of the organization’s membership must be comprised of meeting planners to ensure that SGMP is not deemed a prohibited source by the federal government. This is why a planner applicant may join on their own at any time but a supplier applicant is required to join along with two planner applicants.
Supplier applicants for the Rocky Mountain Chapter currently must submit a planner match in the same month in order to join SGMP.
A supplier cannot pay the dues for his or her planner match. Each member must arrange for payment of their own dues. Supplier applicants can only join SGMP when they submit an application referencing the planner match in the same month. Please make sure that the planner you are joining with submits the matching supplier name and company name on their application at the time applications are submitted SGMP headquarters.
To join, please go to the following link: www.sgmp.org
Click the red “Join” button at the top right of the page.
If a paper application is needed, contact membership@sgmp.org and one will be sent to you.
Any Rocky Mountain Chapter Board Member may accept an application on your behalf at a chapter meeting and will forward it to SGMP headquarters within 15 days. If you cannot pay online, checks are also accepted. Please do not email your credit card information for payment.
SGMP National Office Staff will normally review and respond to your application within two business days of receipt. If your application is approved, you will receive an email with an invoice for your dues payment, which you can then go back online to process. If it is not approved, you will be notified as to why that determination was made. Your membership is not confirmed and official until SGMP sends you an email that confirms the processing of your dues payment, which represents the start of your membership term. In order for a supplier application to be approved, it must meet the criteria outlined below.
It is the supplier applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application in their supplier application package refer to one another via the “Name of Planner Match” line on the supplier application. It is the supplier applicant’s sole responsibility to ensure that both supplier and planner match applications arrive at SGMP headquarters. The responsibility of ensuring that a thorough and accurate and timely supplier membership application package is received at SGMP headquarters does not rest with the planner match applicant, the intended chapter of the applicants, or SGMP headquarters.
Supplier applications will be processed after the planner match application is processed per the policies below. If the planner match’s application is not received at SGMP headquarters, the supplier application will not be processed and will be returned. In the case where a supplier application is returned, any corresponding planner match application will be processed (so the supplier applicant will have to find another planner match and resubmit that application).
Each of the following requirements must be met by the supplier applicant. Failure to adhere to all of these requirements will result in the immediate return of the membership material(s):
- The payment for each membership must be included with each application (a corporate check that does NOT include either an application or a specific reference to the individual applicant’s name will be returned immediately).
- The “Name of Planner Match” field on a supplier application must include the name of its planner match applicant.
- A supplier application must note the same chapter as its planner match application.
Annual Dues
There are two supplier membership categories — Supplier and Associate Supplier — which are defined below.
SUPPLIER — $400
Companies or individuals who provide facilities and services to government or contract planners outside of direct assistance in the planning and implementation of meetings. [Supplier members are paid by agencies/planners. Hotels and CVBs are supplier members.]
ASSOCIATE SUPPLIER — $275
Individuals, organizations or companies being compensated through commission from suppliers. [Associate suppliers are paid by suppliers.]
Tips for Finding a Planner Match
We recommend three sources for supplier applicants to research to find an eligible planner match. First, we recommend soliciting government professionals involved in meetings previously who have used the location or services you represent. Second, we recommend attending a local chapter meeting to network with non-member planner guests. Third, we recommend contacting the membership chair of the chapter you wish to join to see if they have any knowledge of planners interested in or intending to join that chapter.
We recommend attending a meeting along with your prospect to show them the value and benefits the organization has to offer, and for the government professional to have the opportunity to meet their peers.
Please Note:
- Incomplete or illegible applications will be returned. There is a $40 returned check fee.
- Be sure to select the chapter with which you wish to affiliate on your application (applicants not noting a chapter will be placed into the At Large chapter).
- Current or past planner members are not eligible to re-join along with a supplier as their “match” until their membership has lapsed for 12 months.
- Federal government employees operate under ethics rules that do not allow them to accept membership as a gift.