During the Annual General Meeting at the 2005 SITE International Conference,…
During the Annual General Meeting at the 2005 SITE International Conference, SITE President Bill Boyd, CITE, CMP, CMM, and SITE CEO Brenda Anderson provided an update on the organization’s strategic plan, membership recruitment results and new initiatives for 2006.
Implemented in early 2005, the SITE Strategic Plan has three key objectives: to raise the global awareness of the effectiveness of performance improvement and of SITE; to enhance member value; and to provide and promote business-to-business opportunities for members of SITE and supporters of FutureSITE.
- To raise the global awareness of performance improvement and of SITE, new Regional Offices are slated to be opened around the world. The first office will open in January to serve the needs of SITE’s European members with one additional global office to be opened in 2006. SITE created an ROI Fact Sheet which demonstrates the value provided by SITE and assists potential members in securing employer support for dues payment through detailed testimonials which also raises the awareness of SITE.
- To enhance member value, SITE launched a new Chapter education program, bringing quality education to all chapters worldwide. SITE increased the number of incentive buyers attending the International Conference; strengthened both the Crystal Awards Program and the CITE Certification program, and developed a Young Leaders Program. A New Member Handbook and New Member Mentoring program to help members get off to a great start in the organization has also been implemented.
- To promote business to business opportunities for members, SITE is providing more networking opportunities than ever before. During industry events around the world, SITE leaders are speaking openly about the opportunities the organization provides to increase interaction with others in the industry using the moniker: “SITE does business with SITE.” The SITE Finder Service was also launched to help members connect with potential clients and business partners.
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In 2005, SITE retained 87% of its members and recruited more than 500 new members, well above the industry standard retention rate of 75-80%. The current SITE membership is the highest in the organizations’ history, representing some 2,000 incentive and travel executives from more than 82 countries.
SITE President-Elect Lex Granaada provided an overview on the organizations’ goals for 2006. Granaada, whose theme for his SITE presidency is “experience the exSITEment” noted that the organization will continue to work on the SITE strategic plan, in particular the development of the Young Leaders Program. Under Grannada’s leadership SITE will develop a number of new programs in 2006, notably: E-Learning, Chapter Education Modules, Chapter On-line Registration, On-Line RFP, Regional Offices and an Incentive Practitioners Scholarship.
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