New Association for incentives sector

An association for the incentives sector of the business events industry in Australia and New Zealand is to be launched, with an inaugural meeting in Melbourne on 11th May.
The man behind the move, Peter Gray of Motivating People, Victoria, says the meeting will be to endorse the constitution of the Incentive Association as well as approve an application for incorporation.
Since the demise of the AustralAsian Incentive Association (AIA) in 2002, the term 'incentives' has largely disappeared in any meaningful form from the lexicon of business events. Although the acronym MICE continues to be used in Australia and Asia (with C&I being the preferred acronym in New Zealand) the 'I' seems to represent less and less.
Incentives, a highly effective strategic marketing tool, are frequently referred to as being 'events' and/or are included as part of many National Tourism Organisations' tourism portfolios. However, while travel is certainly the reward most favoured by participants in incentive programmes travel only accounts for some 44% of rewards offered. Merchandise and lifestyle rewards (club memberships, sporting or adventure activities and so on) continue to dominate.
The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) and its predecessor (the MICE Council) has had no incentive industry representative for over a decade although its web site claims that it "...provides a formalised umbrella structure for the key industry associations operating in the Australian business events sector".
It's latest report published in January 2011 - 'Performance Monitors for the Australian Events Industry' - doesn't mention incentives at all.
This new body will largely be an on-line association with plenty of opportunities for networking and for sourcing suppliers or to elicit advice from more experienced members of the industry, in public or in confidence. Companies looking for incentive practitioners will be able to do so through publicly accessible pages on this website.
It is anticipated that there will an annual conference which will enable individuals new to the incentive industry to interact with more experienced practitioners and for suppliers to learn more about the industry in general.
For more information contact 03 9819 0645.
info@incentiveassociation.com
http://www.incentiveassociation.com