Guest blogger and video created by Jordan Hathaway, CMU senior

Recently, ten Central Michigan University Event Management minor students from CMU’s student chapter of MPI (Meeting Professionals International) traveled down to Nashville, Tennessee, also known as Music City, to volunteer at country music’s biggest night… the 2011 Country Music Association’s Awards Show. This one-night event consists of 12 award categories and performances from the top country music stars along with plenty of tomorrow’s stars.

The morning of the award show the group worked on a marketing and promotions team with a CMA staff member to excite the streets of Nashville. With iPads in hand, they signed up hundreds of county music’s biggest fans for five chances to win a pair of tickets to the event. Even if they did not win, they had the same CMA guitar pic used by the hottest artists performing that evening to hand to them.

Just before the event took way, the group met up with another CMA staff member on the evening’s second largest stage — the red carpet! The CMU MPI students had the opportunity to serve as personal escorts to many celebrities, transporting the artists from the backstage area to the arena VIP section.

Behind the scenes, they had the opportunity to mingle with dozens of CMA staff members and volunteers who share the passion of special event production. The group was also able to catch a few short performances just before they were quickly summoned to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to work the CMA Post Party, concluding the volunteerism part of the experience. Their roles at this venue were to meet and greet the exclusive attendees and to direct them upstairs to the Hall of Fame rotunda where the silent auction and the winner of the Food Network’s Cupcake Challenge was located.

After returning home, catching their breath, and being able to take everything in, they can now share this experience and knowledge with their peers in the event management minor program at CMU. This opportunity provided them with real-world experience and an understanding of what it takes to succeed in such a competitive industry.

Follow CMU event management students on Twitter @CMUMPI and find our group on Facebook at MPI Central Michigan University Student Club.