Chicago – Tuesday, 9 April 2024 The Global MICE Collaborative (“the
Collaborative”) is a joint initiative of the International Association
of Exhibitions & Events® (IAEE), Meeting Professionals International
(MPI) and the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE). With its
overarching aim to advance the global meetings, incentives, conferences
& exhibitions (MICE) industry, the Collaborative provides a convenient
single solution to provide education and training to accelerate
workforce development and destination capabilities within the business
events industry worldwide.
Initially launched in 2018, the Global MICE Collaborative delivered
educational content in Shenzhen (China) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab
Emirates) before the global pandemic imposed a mandatory pause in its
activities. The Collaborative is now re-launching with a keynote on
Business & Event Trends for MICE Professionals at The Meetings Show [1],
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, 17-18 April 2024 followed by MICE
Fundamentals: Conference, Exhibition & Incentive Events [2], a one-day
course available in person in Germany on Monday, 13 May 2024, the day
before the commencement of IMEX Frankfurt. This course will also be
available at future industry events, which will be announced at a later
communications.
Commenting on the re-launch, IAEE President and CEO Marsha Flanagan,
M.Ed., CEM said “The Global MICE Collaborative brings three of the
industry’s best-known associations – IAEE, MPI, and SITE – together
to provide the global community of business events professionals with
a ‘best of’ collaboration, initially focused on education. MPI
brings networking, thought leadership, and education for Meetings, SITE
for Incentives and IAEE for Conventions and Exhibitions. We bring
indispensable connections to our combined communities of over 110,000
MICE professionals located all over the world.”
Paul Van Deventer, President and CEO of MPI added “Over the past three
years the business events industry has seen significant changes in
workforce composition. Some reports show that upwards of 60% of industry
professionals are new and the average age has declined by nearly 10
years. This brings forth a significant opportunity for new, fresh
thinking, yet also demonstrates the need for skill development. Our MICE
Fundamentals course provides the perfect pan-industry immersion for
those new individuals entering this amazing industry. It also provides
the perfect primer for the more specialized certification programs that
each of our individual associations offers – IAEE’s Certified in
Exhibition Management (CEM) Learning Program, MPI’s Certificate in
Meeting Management (CMM) and SITE’s Certified Incentive Specialist
(CIS) and Certified Incentive Travel Professional (CITP).”
Annette Gregg, CEO, SITE concluded “As more and more regions,
countries and cities around the globe recognize the hard dollar and soft
power contribution of Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions,
the demand for professionally trained business events executives is
increasing. That’s why the leading associations in the industry have
joined forces to develop the best MICE workforce in established and
emerging markets worldwide. IAEE, MPI, and SITE look forward to expanding
the scope of our ‘collaborative’ and to serve an industry that
currently makes a USD$1.6T contribution to global GDP.”
Further details on the Global MICE Collaborative and, specifically, to
register for the MICE Fundamentals course are available at
http://micecollaborative.com/ [3]
