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The Reward, Recognition & Incentives trade association. IMA Europe has just completed a really success offsite planning session for 2015. P92 IT Solutions a near shore development company based in Budapest has recently become our first IMA Europe member in Eastern Europe. The Chairman of P92 Dr Joszef kindly offered us exclusive use of their meetings and conference space at Pronay Castle for our IMA Europe board 2015 planning retreat. Some parts of the castle date back to the 1500s, and the complex has been lovingly restored using traditional materials and decorative styles.

The objective of the offsite was to have some quality time together to review how we can attract more members, how to deliver value to existing members and how to create more business for our existing members. The conference started with an introduction to Eastern Europe, the Hungary Market & a little overview of our hosts P92 by Laszlo Bodo followed by a welcome and offsite agenda and association update by Brian Dunne. Sean Wilkinson gave an update of the IMA Summit in Philadelphia & plans for next year. Declan Byrne took on the role to coordinate board responsibilities and product development of the IMA member proposition. We had great overview 2 upcoming major events, firstly the Gift Card & Couponing Summit in Wiesbaden by Mark Gregg and the Motivation & Incentive Live conference by Wendy Carter. Jonathan Grey gave an overview of our education plans for 2015. Andrew Wilmot gave an update on the IMA Europe website and social media presence and plans to collaborate with the USA IMA. We reviewed by country the proposed association member recruitment process, suggested list of prospective members, partner organisations, and key events to participate in.

D-A-CH Countries were covered by Mark Gregg, Nordic Countries by Henrik Ravn and Benelux Countries by Gunther Everaert and Ireland by Declan Byrne. The concluding discussion was a lead by Andrew Wilmot about leveraging social media for member recruitment. The parties agreed in principle to provide sponsorship for association expansion. We came away with an outline plan for 2015 to expand the association numbers, to stretch the geographic coverage and enrich the knowledge base, resources and support that we provide to members. We would really like to thank our hosts: Gusztáv Turschl – P92, UK Country Manager, László Bodó – P92, Group Managing Director, Dr József Molnár – P92, Chairman and Szilvia Tömösvári – Pronay Castle, General Manager. The castle greatly surpassed the expectation of the delegates who really and enjoyed the retreat venue. Everyone liked the food, the rooms, and the castle environment. They were really impressed by all the work that has been undertaken to restore the castle so nicely. See photos from our visit at www.pinterest.com/imaorg

First published on IMAeurope.com.