Denver will soon play host to some of the finest up-and-coming students in the international meetings and incentive travel industry. The Future Leaders Forum will take place in association with the Green Meeting Industry Council Conference (GMIC) Green Meetings 101 on February 9, 2010 at the Sustainable Meetings Conference in Denver, Colorado.

The program, designed and delivered jointly by the IMEX Group, the leading international meetings exhibition, and GMIC, offers gifted young students the opportunity to gain a unique insight into how to develop a successful career in the meetings and incentives travel industry. The focus of this Future Leaders Forum will be on green meetings and sustainability.

GMIC’s vision is to transform the global meetings industry through sustainability utilizing education and research. The Future Leaders Forum provides an opportunity to encourage the next generation of meeting industry professionals to embrace the green agenda as they set out in their careers.

Students will attend a day of presentations from leading professional meeting planners who will discuss the green agenda for the meetings, incentives, conferences and events industry. Presentations will include an overview of sustainability, process and context for events from Beverly Oviedo, Sustainable Solutions by Design, and a talk on “implementation process, event management and green” from Joanna Lanzirotti, CMP, U.S. Green Building Council. These will be followed by a student challenge during which attendees will be tasked with planning a perfect event for the future.

Students also benefit from an ongoing communications, networking and mentoring program, allowing them to stay in touch with peers from around the world and continue to build their industry knowledge.

“We are investing in new talent for the future,” says Carina Bauer, IMEX marketing and operations director, “and also engraining the importance of green issues early on to keep awareness high and encourage the next generation to think ‘green.’ The Future Leaders Forum successfully supports graduate event organizers in expanding their talents and improving their understanding of the market, so they are equipped with the knowledge needed to lead the industry in the future. The fact that the Forums have now become hunting grounds for well-informed employers who want to snap up the best students at the very beginning of their careers just goes to prove this.”

The annual Sustainable Meetings Conference draws a network of senior, experienced meeting professionals who’ve built their green checklists into strategic action plans that support their companies’ core values and objectives. The program for the 2010 Sustainable Meetings Conference is built around green meetings standards soon to be released by the CIC (APEX) and other internationally recognized sustainable event standards (BS8901). Registration is still open and day rates are available at www.sustainblemeetingsconference.com.

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