Brenda Anderson, CEO of Chicago-based SITE, the main organization for the incentives industry, says that the landscape has changed for everyone involved with motivational programs—not just those who plan insurance meetings.
"We’ve been through an unbelievable year, and we are starting to come out the other side of it," she says. "We’ve spent a lot of the last year untwisting the difference between executive excess and motivational events."
FICP Executive Director Steve Bova has similar observations, adding that the insurance industry is in the thick of the fray when it comes to perception issues surrounding incentive programs.
"Incentive meetings have wanted to fly under the radar this year," he says. "There is a misunderstanding by the general public—not quite knowing the incentive industry to begin with. People could not relate with the high-end rewards that were common with our industry. That is the segment of our industry that has been hit the hardest."
While some insurance companies cancelled 2009 incentive meetings altogether, those who did maintain meeting schedules altered a few things—namely the length, location and type of group gathering.
"Programs are getting shorter and group sizes are getting smaller," says Andjela Kessler, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Incentive Travel & Meetings. "We recently had an incentive program that for years had about 500 participants. This year we had 87 participants. Those are the reductions."
Bova has also seen a decrease in the length of meetings, saying many three-night programs were cut to two nights.
Locations where incentive meetings are taking place have changed significantly as well. SITE’s Anderson says that while incentive meetings regularly lean toward exotic, far-away locations, this year has been a bit different.
"A down economy tends to bring people closer to home," she says. "You see more meetings in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean."
In the past year, incentive meetings have turned toward the greater good, increasing the popularity of corporate social responsibility (CSR)-centric events, according to Anderson.
"People still need to reward top performers, but it is how we are doing that that has changed," she says. "I know of a company that took their top performers to a local community in Africa and worked with people in town directly. That type of CSR is very popular because you are giving back to a community."
Planners are getting more innovative with incentives, often addressing lifestyle issues, Kessler says.
"We are now doing more fitness programs and nutrition education as part of an incentive or meeting," she says, adding that she also sees a blurring of the lines between straight meetings and incentive programs.
"Before now, incentives were very separate from meetings," she says. "Now we are seeing them combining a lot. An annual meeting would be separate from a President’s Club program. But now we might have an annual meeting with a President’s Club on the side. It is easier to justify as part of a meeting."
Anderson says proving return on investment (ROI) has never been so crucial.
"The ROI aspect has never been more important," she says. "There is a need for greater transparency."
Due to widespread layoffs in the industry, Anderson says competition is fierce.
"We have seen a new level of competition in our space," she says. "Companies who have been only focused on outsourcing are now focusing on full-service. There are also more independent planners out there."
At the same time, Anderson says there is reason for optimism.
"We are seeing a lot of activity," Anderson says. "2011 is very busy and we are seeing the second half of 2010 picking up. The first two quarters of the year are not where we all want to see them, but we are seeing activity come back."
