November 15, 2009 marks another round of the annual swim through Pattaya Bay themed “Swim for Clean Water”. As in the five years before, Rotary Club Jomtien-Pattaya will again be staging the competition for a good cause: All returns from the race will be used to install clean drinking water facilitites in schools in Thailand.

With climate change being one of the greatest challenges of our times, the GCB German Convention Bureau together with solutions provider for climate-friendly meetings and events, CO2OL, has launched a calculator that measures the carbon footprint of conventions, meetings and events.

A free link to the CO2 Calculator is available on the GCB’s website – www.germany-meetings.com.

Briefing catches up with Roger Dow, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, the national umbrella organisation representing all segments of the $770 billion US travel and tourism industry.

Briefing: Your leadership achievements have been widely recognised and celebrated through many industry awards. What is the secret of good leadership?

Roger: Good leadership requires a clear vision, enthusiasm and energy, and a willingness to allow your team to have input into the process.

Applications will open in December for the prestigious IMEX Green Awards, jointly run with GMIC (Green Meeting Industry Council). Developed to recognise organisations within the meetings and incentive travel industry that are making an effort to minimise their environmental and social impacts, the Green Awards have become some of the industry’s most significant and sought after accolades.

The next IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum at BTC on 6 November 2009 in Rome follows a series of successful Forums over the last four months in the USA, Iceland, Serbia and Thailand. Iceland and Serbia are both new to the programme which has taken in 17 countries and over 3,000 students since its launch in 2003.

The Convention Industry Council (CIC) has announced additional Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) exam dates and locations in 2010 outside North America. They will also take place as part of a Global CMP Exam Day on Saturday, February 20, 2010. As a result, new exam locations will include Cancun, Mexico (in conjunction with MPI’s Meet Different), South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, and Italy.