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The meeting tourism drives business and produces significant benefits, both for organizations and for the places where it takes place.
The segment called MICE (acronym created by the International Association of Professional Congress Organizations to group Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing & Exhibitions) refers to professional, work or various groups that travel to different places (mainly large cities, although they can also be used to promote rural areas), to carry out courses, seminars, symposiums, conferences, conventions, etc.
These events usually bring together one or more groups of people with a similar profession or interest in a field, coming from different places, who seek to exchange information, update themselves, discuss a specific topic, present new products and/or services, recognize achievements, increase motivation, training and/or improving their commitment to an organization.
At the organizational level, they require complex planning and organization, given their great scope and scale, requiring schedules and itineraries to be prepared well in advance (more than a year, in some cases).
It is important to highlight that these meetings must respond to the corporate strategy, following the objectives and the brand philosophy of the organizing entity.
Likewise, they cannot be decontextualized actions, but must be socially responsible and respond to specific objectives, preferably SMART, such as increasing sales or improving internal communication.
Usually, these meetings are held out of season (spring and autumn), and with a frequency that varies according to the needs of the organizing entity. Regarding their nature, they can be of a private, public or mixed nature.
MICE events result in an important economic and cultural contribution to destinations, which receive a high-profile audience and purchasing power that includes corporate managers and directors, international experts, high-ranking officials, etc.
In addition, they contribute to boosting various sectors of local and national tourism, adding value in periods when tourism activity decreases.
The entities in charge of the promotion are usually the convention bureau, who connect the organizations with the destinations, in order to find those events that help to enhance the opportunities for the local office.
Professional conference organizers (PCO), venues (suitable locations for this type of event), travel agencies, specialized providers, etc., participate in the planning.
Given the important value they bring to brands and the tourism sector, the annual meetings of business associations and organizations play a fundamental role in the economic growth of a town or a country.
The MICE events are mainly oriented to B2B (business to business) but they can also cover B2C (business to customer) and B2B2C (business to business to customer). The first case refers to business between companies, in the second they are aimed at customers and in the third, it includes both companies and customers.
Next, I will detail the main types of MICE events:
MEETINGS
Meetings are short-term professional gatherings that seek to address a specific topic. Some examples are:
- Conference(s): consists of a meeting on a specific topic that a certain group wishes to develop. It can last from a day to a week. Attendees actively participate and do not receive ready-made information, but search for it by their own means in a collaborative environment.
- Seminar: it is a didactic meeting in which a group of experts shares knowledge with the participants through instructive talks to improve and broaden their training. The average duration of a seminar is two days and the groups that participate in it are small (a maximum of fifty people).
- Convention: refers to a meeting whose objective is to study a company's progress, objectives, results, etc. At the same time, it has an integrating character, since it is intended to motivate and unite the team of collaborators in order to achieve the objectives jointly.
INCENTIVES
Incentives refers to events that organizations offer to their clients, collaborators or certain members of an organization to motivate their teams.
Incentive events tend to focus on generating memorable experiences, and have a differential and exclusive character. In addition, they add significant value to loyalty programs, aimed towards both external and internal customers.
These meetings allow obtaining benefits such as: improvement of internal and external communication channels, increased confidence in the organization after a change or a crisis, recognition of the achievement of objectives, improvement of the internal climate, celebration of a milestone, motivation and retention of talent, integration of new employees, installation of a culture based on collaboration, innovation and creativity, implementation of a new training system, etc.
An incentive program favors the recognition of employees, increasing motivation, which means an improvement in talent retention and in the results obtained.
These events can be oriented to:
- Training: these are meetings in which the groups share a series of training activities focused on motivation, synergy and continuous improvement.
- Entertainment: in this format, playful and relaxed activities are organized that seek to integrate groups, change negative behaviors and/or strengthen their ties.
Both aspects can also be combined, organizing a program that integrates training activities with entertainment.
Some examples of this type of event are: team building activities, trips to exclusive destinations or excursions, training in convention centers, award ceremonies, family days, etc.
In the case of incentive trips, these must be perfectly organized, taking into account all the details, so it is essential that they are designed by a highly skilled team with experience from the field. To achieve success, all legal, financial and organizational aspects must be taken into account.
On the other hand, it is essential that the proposal is personalized, that is, adapted to the group and in line with the objectives and values of the organization that carries it out.
CONFERENCES
Usually, a congress brings together people who belong to a certain group (social, political, professional, economic, etc.) to present a thesis from a specific field of study, research or unprecedented experiences in order to submit them to the critical judgment of the participating experts. This is done through talks, panels, conferences, debates, workshops and other activities in which the exchange of ideas is encouraged.
One of the main characteristics of the format is its large scale and the participation of national or international attendees. In most cases, for a congress to be considered international, at least 40% of participants from come from a minimum of 3 countries, and an official language for simultaneous interpretation of the sessions must be defined.
With regard to their periodicity, they are usually differentiated into regular ones, which are held every two or three years, and extraordinary ones, which are held only once.
The dynamic is made up of a set of work sessions on various topics that take place over a period of 3 to 5 days, and which is attended by invited specialists, speakers, authorities and the public interested in the subject. In general, the themes presented are previously selected by an honor committee.
The general structure of a congress consists of an initial presentation where the main advances and novelties are exposed, a development with a series of talks and debates, and a closing where the reports and summaries on the topics discussed are prepared. Several activities can be held simultaneously, such as trade shows, business roundtables, protocol events, a social program, etc.
These events can be incorporated into their academic programs:
- Panel: this is the presentation of a specific topic to the audience by a team of 3 or 4 experts who approach it from different angles, in order to provide new and relevant information on the theme of the event. In the event that the speakers begin to debate among themselves, it can be transformed into a round table.
Each panel is usually coordinated by a moderator who guides the activity, introducing each speaker and managing questions from the public. The dynamic consists in that, once the subject is exposed, the public participates by asking questions, presenting ideas or experiences.
The duration will be between 60 to 90 minutes approximately, with about five to ten minutes for questions and comments from the public.
- Presentation: it is an act whose main characteristic is the public appearance of one or more personalities to deliver a speech on a specific topic and with a particular interest for the society in general or for a group of people from a specific sector.
The objective is the diffusion or deepening of the subject matter addressed and the duration is usually approximately sixty minutes, with five minutes for questions and comments from the public.
Thanks to its versatility, this format is widely used, it can be done in person, virtual or hybrid, and sometimes the press is called to make it known.
- Presentation of work: it is the presentation of a research work or a project related to the theme of the congress. The exhibition is carried out by one of the authors, although there may be more.
The duration is usually approximately sixty minutes, with about five minutes for questions and comments from the public.
- Workshop: consists of an intensive learning activity in which a subject will be worked on in a practical way and in small groups.
The objective is to deepen or seek solutions to a specific problem and enable the exchange of experiences. The activity is guided by specialists and a group coordinator can be appointed to facilitate the interaction between the participants, record the topics of debate and present the group's conclusions in a final sharing.
The approximate duration is two hours and the assembly of the room is conditioned to enable work in small groups.
- Colloquium: it is a meeting of specialists in which there is neither an audience nor a central speaker. All attendees have the same right to participate in a common project, on a topic of their interest.
- Symposium: consists of bringing together a group of specialists or experts on a subject, who successively present their ideas or knowledge to the audience, thus forming the most complete image possible of the subject in question.
It is a formal technique in which specialists present individually and successively, for 15 to 20 minutes. The important thing is that each speaker deals with a particular aspect of the subject, in such a way that at the end of it, it is fully developed and with the greatest possible depth.
In a symposium, authoritative and orderly information is obtained on the different aspects of the same subject, since the speakers do not defend positions, but rather add information, contributing their own knowledge from their specialty.
Symposiums are usually carried out in institutions, universities, health centers, and sometimes, they are a specific activity within the framework of the development of a congress.
EXHIBITIONS
They are far-reaching events in which companies from certain sectors exhibit their products, in a certain time and space, so that visitors can learn about their products or services.
Companies place their stands, which become marketing tools, to boost their business and present their news to a public interested in their products.
The exhibitions attract many people and represent an important source of income for the exhibitors, organizers and the venue in which they are held.
In the case of fairs or shows, their objective is mainly commercial, while in exhibitions the focus is on the display (although products and/or services can also be marketed).
In this sense, both formats work perfectly within the BTL (below the line) marketing strategy and brand positioning.
Some of the benefits that a MICE event brings to the organizing entity can be:
Improvement in brand awareness and reputation.
Creation of new business networks (networking).
Increased economic benefits.
Obtaining more financing.
Possibility of presenting new projects and ideas.
Improved employee engagement and performance.
Dissemination and generation of knowledge on a certain topic.
Typology of MICE events
"The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual."
Vince Lombardi
Daniela Sánchez Silva©
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