Full page advertYourrewardBook your next meeting or event at a Barceló UK hotel and we'll thank you with a reward of your choice.To make a booking or find out more freephone 0800 652 8412email meetbarcelo@barcelo-hotels.co.ukor visit www.meetbarcelo.co.ukApplicable to any new bookings registered for the promotion made from 1 April - 30 June 2012 for meeting/events up to 31 December 2013. Confirmation & contract of the booking must be made before 31 July 2012. Total reward values will be notified by 31 August 2012 to those registered for the promotion. If the contract for the meeting/event is subsequently cancelled or reduced in the value after the reward value is issued, we reserve the right to recoup full or part of the reward value as part of the cancellation fee. Registered participants will be contacted at the end of the promotion to confirm which one of the four reward options they wish to receive. The money off your next event reward can be redeemed up to 31 December 2013, Barcelo Reward Hotel vouchers have 12 months validity from the date of issue. For full terms and conditions please see www.barcelo-hotels.co.uk/terms.Value of confirmed booking Value of reward£1,000 - £2,499 £100 £2,500 - £4,999 £150 £5,000 - £9,999 £200£10,000 - £14,999 £300 £15,000 - £19,999 £400£20,000 - £24,999 £550 £25,000 - £29,999 £750£30,000 - £34,999 £900£35,000 and over £1000YOUR BOOKING, YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR REWARDYourchoiceperThe package includes: Room hire, tea & coffee and sandwich lunch.delegateBasics day delegate packageINTRODUCING THE NEWfrom£19Barceló Hotel vouchersHigh St shopping vouchersA donation to a charity of your choiceMoney off your next eventSimply contact us to register your interest in the Reward promotion, book and confirm your meeting/event and we will allocate the relevant reward value at the end of the promotion. You can then choose how you spend it, either Barcelo Hotel vouchers, money off your next event, go shopping on the High St or donate to your chosen charity. It's Your Reward and Your Choice.OR

March 2012 . www.conference-news.co.uk . 27 EMEC REVIEWinternational meetings industry". MPI Manager of Strategic Communications Theresa Davis underlined that the idea of "turning innovation into practice" had been a strong consideration of the MPI Board.he meetings industry is operating at levels much stronger than suggested in the general economy, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) President and CEO Bruce Macmillan told a press briefi ng at the association's fl agship annual European Meetings and Events Conference (EMEC). The conference was held this year in Budapest, 29 January- 1 February and attracted 343 delegates to the Novotel Congress Hotel venue. "The corporate sector is driving results, particularly in the US where there has been an increase in employment, something not seen for 18 months," said Macmillan. Innovation and creative risk taking were key elements of EMEC 2012 and MPI can't be accused of playing safe with the agenda. The programme was refreshingly packed with speakers not culled from meetings industry central casting. The 're-imagining' approach, with the accent on innovation, represented an attempt, said Macmillan, to "walk the talk this year to get outside the comfort zone".The reprise of the Flash Point idea assembly, a blitz taster session which offered delegates a preview of content from fi ve of the longer sessions, is something that many conference organisers would do well to copy. Many of the Flash Point speakers from EMEC 2011 had impressed so much, they had gone on to speak at the annual MPI conference Stateside (WEC).MPI Chief Development Offi cer Didier Scaillet acknowledged only "a handful" of Innovating in BudapestIt's time [for MPI EMEC] to walk the talk and get outside the comfort zoneNorth American delegates had made the trip to Budapest, and said it was "a tough sell" to bring US meeting professionals out of their offi ces for four or fi ve days".Despite the dip in attendance, Macmillan described as a "bold move" the Board decision to bring EMEC to Hungary for 2012. "It paid off big time," he said in terms of bringing central European delegates closer into the MPI fold. MPI now claims 2,500 members in its European chapters. MPI presented in Budapest the redesign of its certifi cation practice, the Global CMP (Certifi ed Meetings Professional) qualifi cation, which, Macmillan said, was now "more globally focused". "We are working with the Convention Industry Council to take our programmes into Asia, in particular Taiwan and Beijing this summer," Macmillan said, adding that in the globalisation of the meetings industry, "people were hungry for CMP certifi cation".Coffee RepublicChristian Bitz, former model and nutritionist, was one of the most popular speakers and Coffee Republic co-founder, entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi delivered an usual keynote on the story of how she introduced US-style coffee consumerism to the British market in innovative style.Maria Thyien, key organiser of the education sessions said she had been guided in putting together the 2012 programme "by what other industries were doing that could be applied to the Near right: Nutrionist and ex-model Christian Bitz has his own TV show in Denmark and served up some tasty ideas in Budapest for EMEC. Top right: Hands on workshop with Pacelle van Goethem. Right: delegates doing their bit to feed the homeless in BudapestMeeting Professionals International (MPI) gathered its European clans under the banner of innovation in Budapest, Paul Colston reportsT