Three global event industry associations – the International Association of Exhibitions & Events (IAEE) Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) – have relaunched their Global MICE Collaborative (GMC) to advance education and training opportunities across the sector.

The Collaborative aims to accelerate workforce development and destination capabilities within the business events industry by providing a single solution for education and training.

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. GMC 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.

This will be 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. This course will also be available at future industry events, which will be announced in later communications.

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 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 change in workforce composition. Some reports show that upwards of 60 percent 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 offer – 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 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 USD$1.6T contribution to global GDP.”