Questions

1. What does the acronym MICE stand for?

2. What forms of meetings do MICE cater to?

3. What is the importance of MICE industry?

4. What does the industry statistics show regarding the tourists’ spending?

5. What parties are generally involved in the group business travel industry consumption cycle?

6. What are the primary sources of the MICE industry revenues?

7. What does the pricing strategy of MICE industry depend on?

8. What factors are evaluated when determining the venue?

Meetings and conventions

Meetings are conferences, workshops, seminars, or other events designed to bring people together for the purpose of exchanging information. Meetings can take any one of the following forms:

• Conference: The most general term to indicate a meeting for discussion, most commonly adopted by associations and organizations for their regular meetings.

• Forum: An assembly for the discussion of common concerns. Usually experts in a given field take opposite sides of an issue in a panel discussion, with an opportunity for audience participation.

• Seminar: A lecture and a dialogue that allows participants to share experiences in a particular field. A seminar is guided by an expert discussion leader, and usually thirty or fewer persons participate.

• Symposium: Nowadays, this describes a meeting at which a particular subject is discussed by experts and opinions are gathered, but its original meaning defines it as a drinking party devoted to conversation and following a banquet. A symposium thus has a slightly more informal character than a conference.

• Colloquium: This term indicates both a traditional conference and a conversational seminar. Colloquia tend to privilege the aspect of debate.

• Workshop: A brief intensive educational program for a small group of people that focuses on techniques and skills in a particular field. It is adopted to describe meetings reserved for small groups of specialists who come together for some activities or discussion.

• Roundtables: The roundness of the table clearly symbolizes the equality of all participants. Each of them will have the same right to take the floor. Roundtables commonly bring together academics who usually are invited as key-note speakers. Discussion nevertheless plays the leading role in this kind of meeting.

• Panel discussion: Three or more subject area specialists each give a brief presentation after which the audience has the opportunity to ask the panellists questions.

Meetings are mostly organized by corporations, associations, or social, military, educational, and religious groups. The reasons for having a meeting can range from the presentation of a new sales plan to a total quality management workshop. The number of people attending a meeting can vary.

Meetings are set up according to the wishes of the client. The three main types of meeting setups are theater style, classroom style, and boardroom style.

• Theater style generally is intended for a large audience that does not need to make a lot of notes or refer to documents. This style usually consists of a raised platform and a lectern from which a presenter addresses the audience.

• Classroom setup is used when the meeting format is more instructional and participants need to take notes or refer to documents. A workshop-type meeting often uses this format.

• Boardroom setups are made for small numbers of people. The meeting takes place around one block rectangular table.