Incentive travel programs can be a corporation's farthest-reaching meetings, geographically speaking, and the industry's largest association during the past decade has broadened the international makeup of its membership and its educational offerings to reflect that globalization, according to the association's incoming president.
"There used to be a time when SITE was very much an American organization with some members abroad. Now, it's about one-quarter U.S., one-quarter Europe and the rest is spread out all over the world," said Society of Incentive & Travel Executives president Hugo Slimbrouck, director of the corporate division of MCI's Brussels office, who last week began his one-year term at the association's annual conference held in Barcelona.
"We are much more a global society now, which is good. It was the intent we had," he said.
Slimbrouck has worked in the incentive and travel industry for 30 years, but only took on his corporate buyer position six months ago, after years of working for hotels, convention & visitors bureaus and agencies. He joined SITE 10 years ago.
"SITE has given me two things," Slimbrouck said, "peer-to-peer learning and networking."
The organization stays relevant and useful through its global network of resources and contacts, a strength in which Slimbrouck said he will continue to invest.
However, a diverse membership base means diverse needs and views on how the industry should develop, he said. While U.S. members might be concerned with security and exchange rates, European members are looking for multicultural programs and community awareness and service.
"For example, in Africa, conference bags could be produced locally and it would be much better," he said. Eco-friendly locations increasingly are driving purchasing decisions, he added.
"It makes it a more valuable experience than an off-the-shelf program," he said. "If you want to do this well, you have to take one day out of your program and spend it on a community service project."
This year also marks the end of the organization's two-year strategic plan to raise global awareness of the incentive industry, enhance member value and provide business-to-business opportunities between members and alliances. A new plan is under formation.
"I have taken up the third element because I felt it was the element that we haven't fully accomplished yet. I'm taking that as my big objective for my presidency year: the business-to-business opportunities," Slimbrouck said.
To reach this goal, the organization has offered an online request-for-proposals tool for its members.
"This is really my key message for next year. I joke about it as well, because B2B means 'business to business' but also Brussels to Bangkok, Brussels to Boston and Brussels to Beijing. That's the second part of my campaign next year: traveling to industry events—not purely incentive industry events, but also global meetings industry events. We want to bring our education to areas where they are asking for it," he said.
The association offers educational sessions in all parts of the world, not just in areas where it has chapters, he added. Southeast Asia and South Africa are two notable areas of local interest in the global incentive travel industry.
With a new chapter in China, Chicago-based SITE now has 34 local and regional chapters and 2,000 members in 82 countries.
"The most amazing thing that I have seen most recently is the membership retention rate, which is at 86 percent," Slimbrouck said.
"It's not slowing down," he said. "It's coming both from existing chapters and new regions."
As multinational economic organizations increasingly locate and expand operations in Asia, incentive travel programs have followed, Slimbrouck said, and hospitality executives and other travel service providers in the region have expressed strong interest in joining SITE.
The recent Society of Incentive & Travel Executives conference in Barcelona exceeded expectations for attendance, Slimbrouck said, and for the first time joined forces with its strategic partner, global meetings and incentives exhibition EIBTM.
"We have a relationship with EIBTM this year. The conference immediately followed EIBTM," Slimbrouck said, adding that the piggybacking had worked to increase registrations by 50 percent over last year.
The organization also planned to hold a young leaders education track at the conference, by popular demand. The registrations for the course came from all regions SITE represents, not just U.S. professionals, Slimbrouck said.
"People are very eager to learn," Slimbrouck said. "That goes for young people in the profession, who are new in the job—the young wolves of our profession—to people that have been in their job for years and want to learn about trends and what's new."