MICE Events in the USA: Everything You Need to Know

In the USA, MICE stands for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions. If you’re still none the wiser, then you’ve come to the right place.

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The meaning of the MICE industry can seem opaque at times. In short: MICE business travel can encompass a wide range of events, including MICE meetings, incentives in MICE, MICE conventions (sometimes conferences), or MICE exhibitions (sometimes events).

Despite variations in nomenclature, the meaning of MICE industry events is fairly consistent: large-scale gatherings that fulfill a corporate function.

Everything You Need to Know About MICE in the USA

This article will discuss meetings, incentives, conferences, and events to help flesh out this otherwise sterile definition, giving you some corporate MICE ideas for your business and your staff.

Once you’ve selected from the types of events in MICE, below, it’s worth thinking about your mode of arrival. If you’re heading on a business trip and want to guarantee that the time you invest is best utilized, removing the stress of commercial travel is a surefire way to achieve that aim.

Corporate events air charter is the perfect mode of arrival, ensuring that group MICE travel is facilitated with minimal fuss and freeing up your travelers to focus their efforts solely on getting the most out of the MICE event that they attend.

Meetings

The M in MICE represents meetings. These company get-togethers are a crucial aspect of any business, and their inclusion in the MICE sphere is a testament to their importance.

The meetings that we’re talking about in MICE events – where corporate travel is often used and where destinations tend to be somewhat grandiose – are more than your simple lunchtime chat around the water cooler. Think AGMs, shareholders’ meetings, and the like.

The IATA’s 2021 AGM, for example, spanned 3 days and involved over 600 delegates converging in Boston, MA. Huge meetings like this can require high-capacity hotels to stage the whole affair, and the US is home to some of the best in the world if this is your aim.

Meetings can also be combined with some of the other elements of MICE, and when trying to combine MICE meetings and incentives it can make sense to be a little pickier about the destination.

Selecting from some of the best destinations in the US to host a meeting can guarantee that the proceedings will be both productive and enjoyable for all attendees – a double benefit for any business.

In the future, some might think that the shift to online meetings brought about by the pandemic could spell the end of this element of MICE.

There’s an argument to be made to the contrary, however: if we’re seeing each other less frequently in our day-to-day roles, then doesn’t that mean that those annual or bi-annual meetups ought to be much more significant?

As well as conducting the business for which the meeting was convened, these events can now also serve as a way to check in and touch base in person, offering a layer of cohesion and team intimacy that, frankly, just isn’t there over Zoom.

Incentives

A MICE incentive is a great way to reward a team for their hard work, encourage cohesion and bonding, or simply foster some goodwill within any organization.

The scale of these events can range from the low-key – think Christmas party – to as far as the imagination can roam, including multi-day international vacations and more.

If a department has exceeded its targets, maybe a day of go-karting is in order. If a small group of employees has gone above and beyond to get an order through, why not treat them to a fancy dinner?

If you’ve smashed those goals, you could even look towards a more substantial all-inclusive getaway – are you hiring, by any chance?

MICE travel incentives aren’t just about rewarding one-off performance, though, as companies with a robust MICE incentive policy can reap the benefits year-round.

Airbnb, for example, offers their staff an annual $2000 vacation credit, which benefits both employees and employers alike. Consider: Airbnb attracts some of the most highly qualified industry experts, lured in by this MICE incentive alongside other perks, guaranteeing that the company has some of the most impressive staff around.

Employees, meanwhile, benefit from the extra financial assistance provided by the vacation credit, but are also relaxed, de-stressed, and suffer far less burnout as a result of the ease with which they can access a getaway.

Conferences

Representing the C in MICE, “conferences” is used interchangeably with “conventions” to represent large-scale, often industry-wide events that bring together the brightest and best representatives of a field.

A MICE conference is a great way for industry newcomers to make an impact and create a platform from which to spread their brand, but it’s equally a tried-and-tested staging post for established firms to remind their peers that they’re there to stay.

These events can be enormous and can trail long into the multi-day (or even multi-week) timescales. If your company operates in a market that is the subject of a week-long MICE convention, ask yourself: Can you afford not to be represented?

A cursory glance at a list of upcoming conferences will confirm the scope and scale of what’s on offer, and will no doubt be followed by booking inquiries to arrange MICE business travel.

Along with representing your brand and broadcasting what you’ve already achieved, the unique benefit of these kinds of MICE corporate events lies in innovation.

Conferences are often used to present new research, and any business looking to utilize these novelties needs to have its ear on the ground when it comes to fresh ideas.

The best place to do this is at source: by heading to a conference and making use of what’s on the show to ensure that your firm stays cutting-edge.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions, events, or sometimes even a “MICE Expo” – this E is contested in the MICE arena. The range of definitions of this acronym speaks to its inclusivity, as ultimately most business-related travel affairs are, in some way or another, a MICE meeting, incentive, conference, or exhibition.

Exhibitions are a little more specific in their focus, admittedly, and usually concern large trade shows where the aim is to show off. If a business wants to get the word out about its brand, its people, or the quality of its product, there’s no better place than at a trade show, trade fair, or exhibition.

The competitive advantage for firms is obvious here: they can spread their brand and access new customers. As an extra benefit, though, these events are also the perfect place to set eyes on the competition, as seeing what else is going on in the market and how your offering sits within it is key to any successful business.

It’s no surprise, then, that exhibitions form a key pillar of the MICE industry, permitting access to a broader customer base for newcomers and allowing market stalwarts to re-exert their influence alike. Whatever the nature of your company, you really should consider attending at least one MICE exhibition – if only for the free samples on offer!

Departures and Arrivals

MICE and events tourism is an ever-growing market, especially in the post-pandemic rush to get back out there. If attending a MICE meeting, incentive, convention, or exhibition sounds like the perfect plan for your company in 2022 and beyond, why not make the most of the experience by utilizing a MICE air charter?

The MICE events examples above are all great ways for companies to foster team cohesion and build goodwill among staff, but if you want to make your team feel like they’re a truly valued part of your business then there is only one mode of travel.

It’s not all about luxury and the benefits of having a team that values their employer. Think pragmatically: if you’re sending a delegation to a mice meeting, incentive, convention, or exhibition, ostensibly to spread the message of your business, then surely their performance will affect your future success.

If that’s the case, then you want them to arrive ready to put forward the best face of your company: fresh, invigorated, and enthusiastic – three words that have never been used to describe a passenger on a commercial flight!

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