Meeting News - January 25, 2010 - (Page 12)

Association Watch DMAI Launches $4M Committee Effort Destination Marketing Association International this month launched three new committees focused on advocacy, technology and social responsibility that are tasked with developing new business initiatives and tools and resources to aid meeting planners’ destination selection processes. Each committee is comprised of about 30 DMAI members. Meetings already have begun and will be held at least quarterly, according to Dan Fenton, DMAI board chair and president and CEO of Team San Jose. The committees and their initiatives are funded with $4 million raised by the Destination Travel ermint.com, a Web site that enables meeting planners to search and compare destinations and meetings facilities, submit and manage site and venue requests for proposals and house historical meetings program profiles. Fenton said the committee also plans to provide other resources, including digital visitors guides, and develop ways to provide targeted destination information through such technology as handheld mobile devices. The advocacy group’s role is to work with local governments and community leaders to help bring business to a destination, raise the awareness of convention and visitors and tourism bureaus and influence elected officials for funding and other initiatives, Fenton said. The social responsibility committee, meanwhile, is working with the Green Meetings Council and others to lay out a consistent green platform for DMAI members. The committee also is working to promote tourism marketing and promotion as a career and providing resources to planners on how to select a local charity or philanthropic organization for their event. “As opposed to being reactive, they can see what they want to do and match a charitable program with a planner’s organization before they choose the destination,”Fenton said.“If we can continue to increase the amount of that type of activity that goes on in our communities, it becomes a national story.” Fenton also said that DMAI plans to carry these initiatives to the 10 percent of its membership based outside of the United States. —Seth Harris ITM To Manage New NBTA European Organization The National Business Travel Association this month announced it has expanded into Europe. The new organization, called NBTA Europe, is owned by NBTA but its management has been contracted to the U.K. and Ireland’s Institute of Travel & Meetings. NBTA said NBTA Europe is being launched with travel management associations from five other countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. The Finnish Business Travel Association and German business travel association VDR have not joined. Members of the partner associations of NBTA Europe are being offered free membership in the organization for its first year of operation. For other travel buyers, membership is E395. Beginning in 2011, the annual fee for members of affiliate organizations to join NBTA Europe will be E395. There are no fees for affiliate organizations to be part of the NBTA Europe network. Among the services NBTA Europe said it will offer are regular research and reports plus access to Project Icarus, the ITM toolkit on corporate social responsibility, which ITM CEO Paul Tilstone said will be expanded to a European format from its current U.K. and Ireland design. NBTA Europe also plans to launch a European benchmarking tool and introduce the NBTA’s U.S. professional development certification programs. Other ideas include the launch of special interest groups, such as one for government travel buyers, and educational and networking events, including a conference this autumn. Both Tilstone, who also takes on the new role of managing director for NBTA Europe, and Caroline Strachan, U.K.-based global category leader for business travel at AstraZeneca, who will chair a buyerled advisory board, stressed that NBTA has gone to great pains to Europeanize the new organization. “They have done it in an incredibly respectful way,” said Strachan. The advisory board and a council con- ITM’s Paul Tilstone sisting of partner associations have been created with the purpose of maintaining a European focus. The initial partner associations were all members of the more loosely affiliated Paragon Partnership. Tilstone said NBTA Europe would look to recruit travel management associations from other European countries “in the near future.” VDR president Dirk Gerdom, however, said,“We do not see eye to eye on the purposes and approach of the new NBTA Europe. We prefer to continue cooperating on a bilateral basis as appropriate and will therefore communicate regarding international topics.” —Amon Cohen www.meetingnews.com DMAI’s Dan Fenton Foundation. According to Fenton, about $2 million is being allocated to technology, with the other half split evenly between the advocacy and social responsibility groups. “One big difference now is that it’s not just a committee that talks about ideas, but has no resources and can’t implement it,” he said. The technology committee oversees the recently launched Empow12 MeetingNews January 25, 2010 http://www.empowermint.com http://www.empowermint.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - January 25, 2010

Meeting News - January 25, 2010
Contents
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Association Watch
Meeting People
Ad Index
Dateline: Las Vegas
Construction Cites
Dateline: Florida
South Regional
Golf Meetings

Meeting News - January 25, 2010