In 2003 JMIC members recognized that the Meetings Industry was at a disadvantage relative to other industries as a result of having a low level of awareness as to their purpose, activities and benefits. In order to address this, the Council commissioned the development of a strategy to raise the profile of the industry world-wide. The result was a report entitled “Profile and Power” which recommended a “bottom-up” strategy based on individual community initiatives which JMIC could support by providing materials and recognition while acting as a vehicle for sharing the experiences and successes of participants.

The idea of the program is that by improving community and governmental awareness of the importance of what the Meetings Industry does and the benefits it creates for host communities, industry members will be in a much better position to influence decisions that affect their collective future.

The basis of the program is that awareness begins in the individual communities where meetings activities take place, and that is where a program of activities to build industry profile must be carried out. It is at this level that individual members of the industry have the connections, the impacts and the specific information required to create better awareness of the benefits the industry generates and to make a difference in how both governments and the public perceive this sector.

With this approach, the role of JMIC is to support these individual efforts by:

• Providing information, graphics and a guidebook to make it easier for individuals to participate;
• Creating a theme to link individual efforts together and make them more effective;
• Sharing and promoting the experiences and successes of participating members with others;
• Recognizing the successes of members in achieving increased awareness with the annual “Profile and Power Award” Award, and
• Working with industry trade shows and media to create more vehicles for building industry profile and influence.

Click on “ Profile and Power Resources ”

to access the materials prepared by JMIC for use by industry members.