A Task Force of industry leaders working under the Convention Industry Council (CIC) banner have selected a partner to help articulate the value of face-to-face and live events. The effort will compliment the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) Meetings Mean Business campaign.
"As an industry, we need to articulate the key values in face-to-face human interaction; not in an economic sense, but in intrinsically human terms. We all know it innately," said John Graham, CAE, the Task Force co-chair and president and CEO of ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership (ASAE), "but all of our industry organizations need to be saying it explicitly, and saying the same thing."
These key messages will be developed with Y Partnership, Inc. an Orlando-based company with roots in the hospitality, meetings, events and exhibitions industry. Participating CIC organizations are: American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), International Special Events Society (ISES), International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), Site and Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR).
"USTA's Meetings Mean Business campaign has done an excellent job in stating the business case and economic value for business travel and meetings," said Eric Allen, chair of CIC and executive vice president for the Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association. "Now, we need to support that with the benefits of face-to-face (meetings) and the value they bring to the individual as well as organizations and society."
The project will develop five to six key messages that the CIC participating and member organizations can use within their respective organizations and external communications.