Reed Travel Exhibitions’ (RTE) global meetings portfolio of events, Incentives, Business Travel and Meetings (IBTM), has created a partnership with the Associations and Meetings Professionals’ Advancement Portal, powered by RecertTrack, that will provide the industry with an ’Official Education Tracking Service’ for all event attendees. RecertTrack is the first company to offer an e-certification renewal support system solution to certified professionals in the sector.
RTE says the new initiative will boost its commitment to the value and importance of industry certification and with more than 40 knowledge sessions within its global portfolio, all earning CEU credits for attendees, RecertTrack will now provide an online tracking service for industry certifications. At the same time, members of organisations such as Meeting Professionals International, Professional Convention Management Association, International Congress and Convention Association among others will also be able to sign up if they are attending IBTM events.
“As the largest provider of events for the meetings sector, it made sense that we partner with this new industry initiative,” says RTE Marketing Manager for IBTM Portfolio of Events, Mandy Torrens (pictured). “Not only is RecertTrack sustainable as an online portal that complements our ISO certification, but it’s a clever idea and much needed in a sector where there is so much education and so many industry certifications. We will be launching this value added service for EIBTM in Barcelona this year, but all of the IBTM portfolio of attendees will be able to receive a special subscription rate once they have uploaded their details and have registered to attend one of our shows.”
Michael Dominguez, Chair of MPI International Board of Directors, adds: “This type of service portal is desperately needed in an industry that has put an emphasis and priority on increasing our value as meeting professionals. With the variety of certification programmes available, an aggregator that manages global education and news as well as the storage of documentation, activities and reminders for individuals certified through these programmes is making the best use of technology to fit a need in the meetings industry.”
Cedric Calhoun, RecertTrack CEO and Founder, has spoken at various industry events on the value of certification and will be holding specific sessions at EIBTM on the importance of education and certification. He says: “If doctors and lawyers require certification to be regarded as competent and trusted in their occupations, why should event and meeting organisers be regarded as any different. This isn’t just about qualifications, it is about creating a structure which can sustain ongoing re-certification which will support career progression and help people move up within their industry.”
IBTM portfolio attendees will be asked to subscribe to the RecertTrack portal and while they are creating their profile they will be asked to enter a Group Code, which will be supplied when individuals sign up for an IBTM event. Attendees will automatically be given the special subscription rate.
“One of the major advantages to subscribing to the RecertTrack portal is that IBTM’s Education Team will automatically upload an attendees education activities directly in to their profile so all there is left to do is assign the activities to the certification you are tracking. It is a very simple process to achieve maximum efficiency in tracking education activities,” says Torrens.
Do you have a news story for CN? Email: zvernor@mashmedia.net
