As most of you know, I was recently invited to speak at HMI’s Incentive Leadership Forum. The annual event is a way for HMI to host their most strategic clients in an ideal location, with its goal being to bring together forward-thinking executives and industry thought leaders to discuss the latest trends and concepts in the world of performance improvement. This year, The Forum took place at the spectacular Paradisus Palma Real Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It offered a perfect blend of academic theory, real-world research, and presentations on innovative best practices. Some of the presentation topics included:
- “The Future of Channel Reward Programs”
- “New Advances in Sales and Loyalty Program Design”
- “The New Frontier of Data and Business Analytics”
- “Social Media & Community Dialogue”
- “Group Travel Incentives”
- “Several Shades of Grey” of Programs
There was almost zero vendor positioning at The Forum, with HMI simply acting as a facilitator for these industry-relevant discussions. One of the great things about The Forum was that its attendees were all in positions to actually put into practice many of the themes and ideas that were talked about over the 2-day event. In fact, this small, exclusive group included some of the world’s most respected organizations, and represented some of the largest channel incentive programs being run today. Many of these attendees expressed interest in the various ways that they could take their programs to the next level, all while moving the entire channel incentive industry forward.
The Leadership Forum also brought together members of academia and research leaders from around the world, and who were eager to share their insights on the exciting evolution of global incentives. Topics that were discussed in terms of the global arena included “Global Reward Strategies and Execution,” “International Engagement Issues,” and more.
The Forum wisely reserved one of the last sessions for a discussion entitled “All About You.” During this session, attendees were encouraged to talk openly about their specific goals and challenges for the upcoming year. Each channel leader received tremendous feedback and suggestions from their peers, who were representing a wide range of unique industries. The all-in brainstorming session hit just the right note, serving as the perfect coda to an event where, for a few short days, sharing and learning took on a primary role.
It turns out that no matter what your industry is, or who you call your channel partners, almost all performance improvement principles are universal when it comes to Moving the Channel. Without doubt, the most valued component of the forum was not on the agenda at all. It was the rare peer-to peer-sharing of channel marketing leaders from other world-class companies.
Please stay tuned as I continue to share “lessons from the leaders”.
Move the Channel,
Travis