Meeting and Incentive Forums Reach Record Meetings Milestone

Meeting and Incentive Forums (M&I Forums: http://www.mi-forums.com), the four-day trade shows for meetings and incentives suppliers and buyers have reached a record milestone having organised over 10,000 one-to-one meetings between buyers and suppliers throughout 2009. The events have also experienced a growth of 18% in comparison to 2008, proving the continued success and growth of the events throughout the last year despite the impact of the recession on the meetings and incentives (MICE) market.

M&I Forums have enjoyed success despite the shrinking MICE market as buyers and suppliers become more aware of the importance of face-to-face meetings and the value the events provide in terms of return on investment. The popularity of the events also led to the launch of Meeting & Incentive Forums Asia (M&I Forums Asia) in September 2009, adding to the European and US events. The first M&I Forum Asia took place at The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel in Macau, China and was a resounding success with over 50 companies in attendance.

A total of over 280 exhibitors and 380 buyers took part in the M&I Forums throughout last year with over 77 countries represented. The high number of attendees highlights the importance companies are putting on maintaining face-to-face sales and ensuring return on investment in times of economic uncertainty. The number of enquiries has also remained steady with an average of 3.5 placed at the event itself and many more placed after the event as a direct result of attending the forums during 2009.

Richard Barnes, managing director of M&I Forums comments, “In 2009 the M&I Forums expanded despite a considerable contraction in the MICE market and the marketing budgets of the suppliers. The reason that we have grown through this recession is that suppliers find they can rely on the return on investment that the M&I Forums deliver. It has become increasingly vital for suppliers to meet the market’s key buyers face-to-face and our Forums facilitate exactly that. 2009 has been very tough for MICE suppliers. There is business out there, but suppliers have to work really hard to find the buyers who have the business and have to be creative and competitive to win it. We are already experiencing greater demand than ever for our events in 2010 and with so many factors pointing to a recovery in the MICE market in 2010 we are looking forward to facilitating more meetings between buyers and suppliers than ever before.”

Exhibitors throughout 2009 included a mix of independent hotels, hotel groups, DMCs, convention bureaus and convention centres such as The Palm Dubai, Disneyland Paris, the Ritz London, Hotel Arts Barcelona, Hilton Cavalieri Rome, Helsinki Convention Bureau and Maxin Prague. Meeting planners included a range of corporate and agency buyers from companies such as Nike, Grass Roots, Amadeus, Publicis, American Express, Zibrant and MasterCard.

Last year’s M&I Forums took place in Prague, The Algarve, Florida and Macau – all popular meeting and incentive destinations. In addition to scheduled meetings, exhibitors and buyers were also invited to gala dinners and lunches and took part in a number of networking activities including sumo wrestling lessons, medieval evenings and city rallies.

The dates for this year’s M&I Forums are as follows:

Asian Meeting & Incentive Forum Spring, April 25-27, Bangkok, Thailand
European Meeting & Incentive Forum Spring, June 15-19, Madrid, Spain
Asian Meeting & Incentive Forum Autumn, September 12–14, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
USA Meeting & Incentive Forum, September 19-23, Florida, USA
European Meeting & Incentive Forum Autumn, October 26-30, Cannes, France

For more information on Meeting & Incentive Forums or to register as a buyer or supplier visithttp://www.mi-forums.com or call +44 (0) 20 7380 8587.

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