When it comes time to line up speakers for your next conference, will you find yourself buried in piles of prospectuses from potential presenters, or searching high and low for someone qualified to address your topics? Mike May, principal of The...

Meeting Planners are always looking for interesting destinations, many of which are featured in this magazine. I have an idea for your next meeting that is both exotic and historic: Visit the pyramids of Egypt for a rollicking good time...

It was morning in Madrid and the IFEMA Convention Center was alive with activity, occasioned by an art fair opening scheduled for that evening, with attendees to include such luminaries as Spain's King Juan Carlos and Mexican President Vicente Fox...

When agents and brokers were asked by this magazine in past surveys what motivated them to qualify for incentive conferences, the No. 1 answer, year after year, was “an all-expenses paid vacation.” It follows that the prevailing wisdom about sales...

The FICP Summer Education Forum will sport a new look in 2006, with an upgraded education program suitable for all levels of meeting planners. The event, to be held at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga., begins...

Meeting Professionals International's Professional Education Conference — Europe in Davos, Switzerland, March 26 to 28, marked the culmination of a year of growth for the association's European arm...

When your organization needs to gain perspective on a situation and initiate change, a corporate retreat is the way to go. Unlike corporate meetings, where the objective is to teach or motivate participants — or just to deal with day-to-day...

FICP is pleased to report that at the end of 2005 it had 457 planner members, which is up 15.7% from the end of 2004. Contributing to the growth was a membership retention rate of approximately 80 percent of the existing membership (an improvement...

Is insurance reform in the cards? In April, Sens. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) introduced a bill that would overhaul insurance regulation in the United States by giving companies the option of following federal rather than state...

FICP exists to create a climate in which insurance and financial services conference planners, together with hospitality partners, can exchange proven meeting management techniques and explore trends and new ideas that enhance the value of...