Workshop Details

Date & Time: Wednesday, January 15, 2025, from 9 AM to 12 PM, with registration starting at 8:30 AM
Location: The Savoy Hotel, London
Moderators: Mark Struik and Thijs Peters, Partners at Conventus Consultants

The timing of the workshop “Designing leverage of MICE potential in the business mix” is set to be part of the HSMAI Europe Commercial Strategy Week, taking place in London from the 15th – 17th of January 2025, where many of the industry C-level and Directors will be present. Below you will see the structure for the workshop, aimed at gathering expert input to inform a potential year-round HSMAI Europe MICE program including training both on a national and regional level.

As HSMAI Europe expands and our members would like to increasingly prioritise MICE, we are dedicated to enhancing our focus on this both locally and regionally. We kindly asked you to identify who from your senior team we should invite to join us for this important workshop by sending us an email at postbox@hsmai.eu.

To identify opportunities for a year-round MICE program for HSMAI Europe (local and regional).

We’ll be examining this from multiple perspectives, including MICE marketing & sales, the RFP process, distribution networks, yield management, sustainability, training, and data analysis.

Included in the discussion will be the terminology. Is MICE the correct program name or should we look at alternatives?

• Advice MICE program

• Clear picture of how the market stakeholders perceives a MICE program and its needs 🡪 present back to the HSMAI Europe Board of Directors in the afternoon on the same day.

   Phase 1: Introduction and Objectives (30 minutes)

• Welcome and Objective Setting
  We briefly introduce the workshop’s purpose: identify the possibility of a MICE program within HSMAI Europe to meet the needs of the MICE market and strengthen HSMAI’s overall offerings that will also include training.

• Icebreaker: Speed Brainstorming
  Participants brainstorm in pairs, focusing on the question: What are the biggest challenges in the MICE market from a hotel perspective? – Post-it up canvas

• Share Key Insights
  Share their top insights to establish a shared understanding of current industry challenges.

   Phase 2: Defining the Core of the MICE Program (90 minutes)

• Context Mapping
  Participants will be divided into small teams. Each team will create a context map, identifying the key elements impacting the performance of MICE teams within the hotel industry. Here the perspectives MICE marketing & sales, the RFP process, distribution networks, yield management, sustainability, training, and data analysis are the starting points – Context map Canvas
• Dot Voting for High-Impact Elements
  Participants vote on the elements they feel have the most impact on MICE team performance. – Dot voting
• Hot Air Balloon Exercise
  The Hot Air Balloon method; teams will visualise what will help the MICE program “take off” (positive forces and opportunities) and what may hold it back (challenges and barriers). This will provide a clear overview of essential and limiting factors for the program. – Hot air balloon canvas

   Phase 3: Developing Actionable Structure and Vision (60 minutes)

• Cover Story
  Participants in teams have to imagine that the newly launched MICE program has become a huge success, leading to a cover story in a major industry publication. Each team will develop this cover story, describing what the MICE program provides, how it looks, and what impact it has achieved. – Cover Story canvas
• Final Sprint: Roadmap Development
  Each team outlines a roadmap for implementing the key components of their MICE program proposal. Use dot voting to identify the top priorities and most actionable next steps.

   Conclusion (10 minutes)

• Wrap-Up and Next Steps
  Summarise the key insights from the workshop. Discuss takeaways to present to the HSMAI Europe Board of Directors.

We kindly ask you to identify the senior team members you would like us to invite to this important workshop and to share their details at postbox@hsmai.eu.