THE MILLER COMPANY Ideas that Inspire ™

I’ve just returned from Chicago where I attended the Recognition Professionals International (www.recognition.org) one day conference in conjunction with The Motivation Show held by the Incentive Marketing Association (www.incentivemarketing.org).  It was an absolute “wall-to-wall” week with meetings, seminars, training and the trade show floor.  Time well spent and I’d recommend it for anyone in the rewards and recognition space.

My learning in no certain order:

• “Recognition System” language is here to stay and is becoming the norm in most organizations.  The move toward systems and away from “program” thinking has been building over the last few years and, I believe, has hit the tipping point where it is now predominate.
• “Intellectual Capital” is the new playing field and the biggest target continues to be the search for solid information around employee engagement and the measurement of return on investment for recognition and reward systems. 
• “Products” are passé – everybody has access to the same stuff.  Still room for creativity in the application of the “stuff”, but not much new under the sun here…
• It’s a great time to be a professional in our space – there is growing awareness of the power inherent in employee engagement and of the strong and direct link between recognition and reward strategy and engagement.
• Opportunities...get on board with the research and best practices information.  Get your Certified Recognition Professional designation – it’s offered through RPI and takes four days to get through the course work.  Attend conferences and network or start a “recognition roundtable” in your area.

Have you started planning for ’08 yet?  It’s here before you know it!

Regards,

Tom