The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Congresses & Events) has always been among the most demanding and developed spheres of the tourism and hospitality industry. It usually refers to the high level of service quality, higher-end budgets, and the organization of the top travel agents. In some destinations, that are a frequent traditional choice for the organization of MICE events, this industry occupies a substantial revenue as well. In Barcelona, for example, more than 50% of all tourism revenue was coming from MICE, just before the pandemic. Knowing Barcelona’s general importance and scale of tourism, this must have been a tremendous figure.

However, even though being referred to as top quality travel products in terms of organization and service, MICE cannot remain aside and not affected by the trends that are now already all around us, in tourism, as well as in our regular lives. Sustainable work and life are getting more attention each year, as it becomes obvious that many traditional habits we adopted over time and never consequently questioned are in fact useless and damaging to our environment.

How the strict business standard sabotaged creativity

The required high level of service gradually led the MICE into a form where each event became a look-alike of the other events. The famous business standard began to mean that there is little discrepancy or creativity left to play around when it comes to the “serious” MICE industry. Recognizability and differentiation have become hardly possible to achieve, meaning one can easily mix up if he/she is sitting in a congress hall in Hilton Berlin, or Hilton Paris*. The role of the participants’ passive involvement during these events is also a factor that contributes to the image of an event that “does not offer anything special”, besides its topics and the expertise that is probably discussed.

*Hilton is in fact working strongly to achieve its Travel with Purpose initiative by 2030, but the nature of chain hotels can never truly escape its primary global standardized corporation identity with very little left to the imagination and authenticity of the place and the local community.

However, some recent events are beginning to shift these business standards toward more out-of-the-box thinking, as the contextual copy/paste principle is not responding to the changing world out there. There is in fact a strong need for new concepts. The primary association when we speak about “sustainable practice” when organizing events is ditching single-use plastic and leaving out the printables. This is way too superficial and leads to a trap of simple greenwashing.

Sustainability is so much more – it’s a balanced approach to the use of all resources, including the people of the community, as well as the reference to their use of traditions, heritage, and culture.

The perception of a green or sustainable event can mean a lot of things, from food provision to transportation issues. However, the real deep honest approach should aim at creating an event that supports the local land, community, and small businesses. According to the old-fashioned MICE practice, the organizators used to ship the event’s materials etc. to a location where in the end only local staff is indeed local; even the destination loses its charm since the events’ hub is most often a standardized resort.

All along the global shifts of perception (link na članak Mindset shift), an appropriate answer is very much needed in the events industry as well. The pandemic has accelerated the issues of connection, the use of technological advances, meaningful planning of activities, global footprint, and overall impact analysis… We have had time to reinvestigate our lives and, on some levels, there has been a major shift toward a more conscious presence in all of our activities in life.

Application of innovative concepts in MICE

As a reply to this trend (actually a global change of perception), the MICE is shifting as well. Innovative concepts, a newly designed approach, and active participation and integration of the MICE events can really work well both ways: enriching the participants’ experience to new levels, as well as involving the local community in a healthy way, in terms of sustainable living.

Exactly that was the leading note for Manifesta’s awarded congress that took place in the Šibenik old town in 2018 where the city hall and library became the congress halls, the cobbled little streets were playing the role of hotel hallways, the local restaurants were serving meals to the participants, the coffee breaks were organized in cute little corners of the old town, every and each of them genuine and unrepeatable as a micro-location. This was an event that uplifted the town as well as its guests. This was a fantastic applicable example that was strongly led by the will to push the boundaries of the local events, not step by step, from year to year, but all at once, and immediately on all levels. This has given the event more power and visibility so the success was rightfully recognized and awarded.

Overtaking the leadership role in introducing significant change

Making steps like the Manifesta’s opens a conversation and starts leadership of change led by example. The meeting planner (MICE travel agent) plays a crucial part of the decision-making chain that can truly introduce sustainability-favored changes in behavior:

On one hand, the agent/planner has the power to promote and justify this approach to the client (firstly as the value system, where the catchiest part is the fact that this approach today means a lot of positive notions for the company’s reputation).

On the other hand, the agent will consequently order appropriate services from the providers whose aim is to realize the sale and satisfy the demand. In the end the cycle successfully closes around the same values, which is a tremendous achievement.

So, how to take the first step? Choose an event planner that will be able to deliver an idea that proves their forward-thinking and satisfies the deeper connection of holding MICE events. This will be the person/company making an event happen in a sustainable and meaningful way, where joined forces can make wonders for the people, economy and the world.