A new pan-industry partnership is relaunching this month, with three industry association powerhouses teaming up to deliver two educational offerings designed for new MICE industry talent.
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).
The Collaborative says it aims to provide a convenient single solution for education and training to accelerate workforce development and destination capabilities within the business events industry worldwide.
Initially launched in 2018, the Collaborative delivered educational content in Shenzhen (China) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) before the global pandemic caused a pause in its activities.
The Collaborative is now re-launching with a keynote on Business & Event Trends for MICE Professionals at The Meetings Show, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (17-18 April, 2024) followed by MICE Fundamentals: Conference, Exhibition & Incentive Events, a one-day course available in-person in Germany on 13 May, 2024, the day before IMEX Frankfurt commences. This course will also be available at future industry events with dates to be announced.
Commenting on the re-launch, IAEE president and CEO Marsha Flanagan, 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 event 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 change 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 specialised certification programmes that each of our individual associations offer: IAEE’s Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM) Learning Programme; MPI’s Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM); and SITE’s Certified Incentive Specialist (CIS) and Certified Incentive Travel Professional (CITP).”
SITE CEO Annette Gregg, said: “As more regions, countries and cities around the globe recognise 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 serving an industry that currently makes a $1.6 trillion contribution to global GDP.”
Further details on the Global MICE Collaborative and registration for the MICE Fundamentals course are available at http://micecollaborative.com/
IAEE, MPI, and SITE relaunch the Global MICE Collaborative
