Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Montserrat

For those who cannot make it to Ireland to celebrate St. Patricks Day, Montserrat is an unlikely alternative. Yet, the island is the only other nation that recognizes St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 as a national holiday. With festivities running from March 8 through 17, Montserrat recognizes its Irish heritage (still evident today) and commemoration of the slave uprising of 1768 that occurred on the celebrated day. Read more at Modern Agent.

Bob Marley Celebrated at Smile Jamaica

December 1976 marked the first ever Smile Jamaica concert as Bob Marley took to the stage in Kington, Jamaica to bring together a divided nation. Thirty-two years later, Smile Jamaica will reemerge and be combined with the Africa Unite concert which has previously taken place in Ethiopia and Ghana, Africa.

According to  this article in the Jamaica Observer, the month of February, which also marks the birthday of the late Robert Nesta Marley, is now dubbed Reggae month. The Smile Jamaica – Africa Unite concert will take place on Saturday February 23 at the James Bond Beach in St. Mary, Jamaica.

Giving Back

Here are some of the ways that our destination partners are engaging their clients and communities as we give back.

Clients

ECT, our DMC partner in the Dominican Republic, won an award for “Most Outstanding Event at an Incentive Program” at the 2007 Trophées de l’Événement in France. Developed and managed for Elebor/EOS, the program for which ECT took this award was a humanitarian teambuilding event for Allergan, a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company. With over 450 participants, ECT broke the group down into teams of 30; each team assigned different projects ranging from renovation and painting, to gardening and construction of a children’s playground. ECT’s coordination of the full-day teambuilding included a team of 50 staff members, with two red-cross medics on hand, and culminated in an emotional moment shared between the participants and children from the village.

And sometimes, giving back does not necessarily involve a teambuilding effort on such a grand scales as demonstrated when ECT welcomed a group of psychiatrists who were holding their annual retreat in the Dominican Republic a week after Tropic Storm Noel in November 2007. Although the area of Punta Cana, where they stayed was not affected, the storm left some communities being cut off by flood waters. According to the meeting planner who was also onsite with the group, “Coming at the end of the severe tropical storm was also something that while not planned, added immensely to the program.  The group raised on site a total of $700 USD and donated $600 in clothes to go for the victims of the storm.  ECT’s representative, Ernesto, was given the task of getting these donations to the proper folks – cash to be used to buy mosquito nets and clothes for the folks.”

Our DMCs

Pam Arthurton of Carib World Travel in Antigua is one of the three women who conceived the idea of Antigua’s Caribbean Literary Festival in 2006. The annual event attracts internationally acclaimed authors who are inspiring local students to read books and in turn write. Part of the proceeds of the festival go toward the rebuilding of the National Library with was destroyed by an earthquake in 1972 and is only now being rebuilt.

Giving back to children was also a philosophy of the late Johnny Cash who with his wife, June Carter Cash, spent many months at their home in Barrett Town, just outside of Montego Bay, Jamaica. What few know is that the Cashes donated money to build a family house in the SOS Children’s Village in Jamaica in 1974, and later purchased a home of their own next to the village. Now a private venue open to small groups, Great Vacations, our DMC partner in Jamaica, works closely within the area to arrange special activities both at the venue and with the children of the village.

These are but a few examples of which we are proud to share.

The Future Looks Bright: Today’s Young Leaders

Having just returned from SITE Academy for Young Leaders held in London this week, I am inspired by some of the industry’s young leaders who are already proving to be our future leaders. Here are profiles of just a few.

Ali Alsaloom
I first met Ali Alsaloom last year while he was still with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s MICE department. Ali has since started his own businesses, one of which is Embrace Arabia, borne of his passion for cultures and people. His mission is to welcome and train newcomers to region, imparting knowledge and information that will provide understanding and appreciation of the Arabian Culture. Ali’s other venture is that of Ask-Ali, a web-based portal that will allow him to share with others about his homeland, United Arab Emirates.

Todd Black
Todd Black has for the past two years served as co-chair of the Young Leaders Program (YLP) committee. Himself participating as a panelist, Todd (who has worked with companies such as Extraordinary Events and is at present Director of Incentive and Convention Sales at Wyndham Jade), took the reigns to lead this year’s conference which was successful by all accounts. In this article appearing yesterday on MeetingsNet, Todd along with his co-chair, Sebastien Tondeur, share their tips on creating an outstanding program across the generational divide.

Jon Bradshaw
Many of us have come to know Jon Bradshaw as Sales Manager for the trade event, IMEX. But many others are getting to know Jon as a rising motivational speaker who imparts his passion for a healthy mind and body. At last year’s SITE International Conference, Jon shared with us just what it took for him to summit Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the UNICEF Emergency Appeal Fund for the children of Darfur in Sudan. Jon, who runs Equinox – his performance improvement consultancy, just returned from climbing to basecamp at Mount Everest.