Europe currently plays host to EIBTM, the annual global meetings and incentive exhibition. According to a report in Successful Meetings magazine, Reed Travel Exhibitions is planning to introduce a companion event, Americas IBTM, in the Summer of 2009. Like EIBTM, the event would rely heavily on “hosted buyers” from around the world.

The umbrella is called The Motivation Show but for travel execs, today signalled the opening of IT&ME, an event that meetpete first attended in 1977! IT&ME remains far-and-away the largest gathering of incentive buyers on U.S. soil. And speaking of U.S. incentive travel companies, a list of the 25 largest was recently published by Corporate Meeting & Incentives Magazine (meetingsnet.com). Major criteria for inclusion on the list were number of programs planned and total number of room nights used.

MotivAction, a United Kingdom-based incentive company, has elected not to do business with ExxonMobil because of that company’s alleged attempts to “undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.” According to an article in the July issue of Corporate Meetings & Incentives, MotivAvtion managing director Tim Waygood recently wrote in his blog that “we arrange all sorts of events that could fit your (ExxonMobil’s) needs. However, as a company we are very concerned about climate change…and we are aware of evidence that ExxonMobil is funding climate change deniers.” Waygood goes on to note that ExxonMobil is “the only major oil company that denies the urgency of global warming and funds skeptics that cloud the facts and create a debate where there isn’t one.”