Waking up in Vegas today as IMEX America begins, it feels a bit like Groundhog Day.
Many of you remember the 1993 movie with snarky weather reporter Phil Connors, expertly played by Bill Murray, who is doomed to relive the same day over and over again until he gets it right.
Even though IMEX America has expanded considerably since its launch 5 years ago, the show routine has remained largely unchanged. Navigating an endless sea of appointments, meetings and events, it’s often a race against time. But that routine yields new opportunities and challenges to be discovered.
This has been a special year at Exclusive Destinations; we’re celebrating 20 years in business. It’s been a whirlwind of celebrations with our industry partners, including some fabulous memories of IMEX past.
We also wrote our own company anthem, take a listen! But as we near the end of our celebratory year, it’s back to business. Recently, I was inspired by a Harvard Business Review webinar on “New ways to Compete: Build a Theory then a Strategy,” featuring Professor Todd Zenger, a global expert on strategy and organization design.
In the webinar, Professor Zenger claims that “well-crafted strategies are road maps to places that yield competitive advantage and generate value for the firm. But once a firm has used its strategy to take it to a destination, the strategy becomes obsolete.”
We’ll be using #IMEX16 as a launchpad to propel forward to our new “destination,” crafting our own theory to guide a succession of moves. Our theory will be a reflection of our core beliefs, our vision and to further our position as a market leader in destination management representation.
Professor Zenger believes ongoing value creation involves taking existing assets and recombining them in unique and novel ways on an ongoing basis. What better way to connect the dots with our global network than at IMEX America!
Though the Meeting & Incentive industry has been fueled by enormous technological advances, an understated but significant constant is the relationship where exhibitors and buyers are equal partners. IMEX America provides the perfect platform to enhance and even reinvigorate those partnerships.
“Routine is the metronome marking most of our time on earth. Phil’s gift is to see the routine and seize the day,” said the late Richard Corliss, in his review of Groundhog Day.
So as you plan for the approaching day, don’t forget to add Sonny & Cher’s, “I Got You Babe,” to your playlist. The forecast calls for sunny skies, all the way through to next October, when it will once again be time for IMEX America!