April 2008

Comment


Spring isn't in the Air

It’s clearly Spring, it must be I’ve noticed trees showing leaf and there are lambs leaping about in the field next door, but with the coming of Spring we usually start to feel a little more positive and that I haven’t noticed.  Headlines are depressing ‘Credit Squeeze May Spread to Other Parts of The Economy’, 'Soaring Demand Drives up Oil Prices’, 'Tight Supplies Add to Jump in Food Prices’ hardly inspiring.



AIM


What Next?

Did you know you can now apply for Silver or you can elect to go straight for Gold? Achievement at Silver and Gold levels indicates to buyers that you are committed to delivering service excellence



Maximise the Brand

It’s great to see so many of you using the AIM brand on your website, there are some excellent examples which include detailed explanations of why buyers should be using AIM accredited venues and we have recently seen a recruitment advertisement which states ‘the Derby Conference Centre is an AIM accredited venue’.  Well done Derby!



MIA Team


New Recruit

For the first time in the history of the association we have recruited a PR & Communications Officer; Jo Carpenter joins us on May 1st.



Joiners


March and April New members

Find out who's joined your association recently.



The Challenges of AIM accreditation


Going for Gold

Tim Yates, General Manager, NCSLIn the first of this new series Tim Yates, General Manager, National College for School Leadership prepares to 'bare all' as he works towards achieving AIM's Gold Standard



Council


Get Involved!

This year your 2008 Council, led by Nick Milne, have committed to delivering a lengthy list of initiatives ranging from developing a member get member programme, through to delivering a whole library of useful research documents and development of an exciting programme of events which could include both social and educational events throughout the forthcoming year. 


Awards


Meetings Industry Marketing Awards

Now in its 7th year, the Meetings Industry Marketing Awards (MIMA), which is supported by the MIA, was created to raise the standards of marketing in the events industry and to recognise the marketeers.



News from the Membership


Q Hotels Achieves AIM for All!

David Taylor, Q HotelsQHotels have underlined its belief in the MIA’s AIM accreditation scheme announcing today that all hotels in its portfolio have achieved Entry Level for Accredited in Meetings (AIM) status