FAQ's on incentive travel and
educational theme tours:
Did you know that
IIDC will create a motivational package that's a sure answer to firing up your team's creative juices. What results will you plan for? We'll help you reach your goals with our unique training and a once-in-a-lifetime magical, mystery tours into the jungles of Costa Rica. We'll also show you how this can cost less than you'd probably imagine. Email us and we'll send you a 20+ page report showing how our educational theme tours and heuristic teaching techniques are sure ways of accelerating learning and increasing intelligence.
From SALES PROMOTION MAGAZINE
An overwhelming 76% of respondents to a poll by this marketing industry chronicle said that salary and/or commissions were not enough to motivate them to work better or sell more. Not surprisingly their reasoning often went like this: "The older I get, the better I get at what I do and the more money I make anyway. So 'more money' means less and less."
When asked what would motivate them to produce more, the top answer was : "Contests and incentives that push me to excel."
You won't be shocked to learn that "exotic travel" locations are considered the top prize. "Training opportunities to help me improve." is also way up there among the favorites.
From THE MONTREAL GAZETTE
"Incentives spur workers!" read the headline. Paychecks are no longer enough to keep the best people happy was the story's downside. It listed ways companies were compensating top producers. Among the favorites - incentive programs shared top spot with stock options, followed by equity in the company via revenue-sharing and then other profit-sharing or performance contracts. Training was way up there too.
Researchers say 1. money, 2. "continuous training" and 3."incentive travel" are the best ways of promoting employee loyalty and assuring a productive and creative spirit.
From THE CALGARY HERALD
"A new kind of Indiana Jones travel combines eco-adventures with opportunities for learning and growth." The article showed at how rewarding and empowering wilderness treks are and then went on to debunk four myths related to adventure travel: 1. You can either be too old or too young; 2. You have to be superfit; 3. You need "outdoor" experience to enjoy yourself; 4. Finding the right adventure is a shot in the dark.
Small groups, teams and families are discovering how Nature and wilderness tours can be "user friendly" and that there's an entire « eco-, adventure- and spirit- travel industry » out there to help them enjoy it.
From the DARTNEL HANDBOOK
This motivation products company will give you the low-down on managing successful employee incentive programs via contests and programs. The basics are simple: the great ones are equitable, have several levels of reward and rules for "healthy" competition. The best rewards involve theme travel.
Choose either a results based or task-oriented program, give it a unifying theme, a great name and some pizazz, outline the rules, then enchant the participants. Dartnel Corporation suggests you take time to reap all of a promotion's potential and benefits before planning a next on; the pros say exotic travel is the best prize.
From TECHNO TALK
A communications newsletter tells its members to save time and energy by 'grouping' activities and obligations. They suggest managers get away into Nature to reclaim their creative energy and the "attention" they need to understand and integrate new ideas or to help them prepare for important decisions. And they say entrepreneurs should combine leisure travel with scouting missions to new markets and should use vacation time to catch up on important training and gather creative energy.
From MEETING AND EVENT PLANNING
In a magazine article top industry consultants agree that "remote meetings pay off with real dividends". Exotic locations automatically create an aura of anticipation and excitement that fosters open mindedness and receptivity to new ideas. They are great incentives. They allow alternative thinking and formal and informal networking and team-building; they generate goodwill and creative synergy.
Taking care of all the details is a simple checklist: Pick an exotic location, allow for cultural and/or language differences, assess the group's compatibility with that location, rate the "currency to value" factor, check climate/calendar considerations and complication entering the country, road access after the airport and main highways, the quality of accommodations and hospitality, the local attractions, sites and activities, and the relative safety if participants choose to stay on after the meeting or event.
From the CANADIAN PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION
No organization can grow and prosper without a great marketing and sales team. The "pros" suggest there are two sure-fire ways to transform average people into top performers: On-going training and an adequate compensation plan.
They say you should balance salary and commissions or bonuses but that money isn't enough; keeping good people happy SHOULD include incentives. They say dream vacations are the #1 choice.
From E MAGAZINE
"The thought of a self-indulgent vacation in a Mexican beach resort just no longer has the appeal it once did. Now people are looking for adventure and spirit. They want to return feeling better not worse."
A beautifully illustrated article
suggests the best way to spend your
precious vacation time is eco-traveling through Costa
Rica, Belize or Ecuador.
Safeguarding Earth's heritage for our children
must come from educational experiences, they wrote, so beneficial
trips are based on respect for local culture and ecology. The
article listed a half-dozen outfitters ready to supply a magic time
but warned that large groups of people are dangerous to fragile
ecosystems - eco-adventures are best in small
groups, they asserted,
with
expert animation and
guides.
From FAST TRACK
An article called "Report From The Future" in the June'99 issue talks about several "non-traditional approaches" to training. It uses as an example Taco Bell's 7000 managers who were trained as a group while on a trip to Nashville, Tennesse. They were greeted with the unifying theme "Welcome to the jungle" and with a program that identified all the pitfalls the company would face as it strove to increase its marketshare. The theme and the training prepared them to undertake the challenge of making Taco Bell the best place to work, eat, and own as a franchise.
Experts agree that companies can never have a truly sustainable advantage that's based on products or prices alone. Success in this information age is - of course - based on continuous learning and adaptability. New training methods are needed because now corporate success is driven by the speed of learning - and that means the learning speed of the many, not the brightest few.
Whole-brain learning - i.e. [left-brain
logic + right-brain emotional commitment] in fact makes for
a heck of a more powerful learning
session than sitting around a
classroom, boardroom or "bored room" with only 1/2 your mind (or
less) on the subject. Getting people "out of the box to teach them
'out of the box thinking'" makes perfect sense.
From THRU THE GRAPEVINE
Employee focused events consultant Michelle Francis helps companies recognize top performers. She says a wilderness adventures make a big difference to morale and team spirit. She tells her clients that three factors assure a successful employee recognition campaign: A unique incentive, a great off-site location and a customized package.
She also says
training programs that are part
reflection and part outdoor activity
are the best; she recommends all sorts of variations and themes.
These kinds of training sessions are
known to be more enjoyable, more profound and more
satisfying than superficial
experiences that don't require any real thinking.
From THE NEW YORKER
This popular magazine's August 23 & 30 1999 cover story hails adventure travel is 'corporate therapy'. There is a malaise in Corporate America, they discovered. A soul-sickness. Nature is a powerful healing resource.
Mark Singer, the writer, explores the concept and tourism's offer and concludes promising the best adventures needn't entail exorbitant costs and exclusive luxury resorts or elaborate preparations but they do need real wilderness and expert animation. That same issue is devoted to adventure themes and has stories by George Plimpton, Jonathan Raban, Bill Buford (who camps out in New York's Central Park) and Ryszard Kapuscinsky.
The "baby-boomers" are still in love with
life's « most excellent adventure »
the article concludes. The idea is
to drop out for a reality check once in awhile and then come back
stronger and wiser by adding value to your "most precious assets".
From DESTINATION DIGEST
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority says Nature is the best venue for learning. An article with the screaming headline BACK TO NATURE quotes Janet Eagleson, the region's marketing director, and then goes on to describe four new training facilities incorporated in the 33,000 acres of natural and wilderness areas that are part of the greater Toronto area.