Does St Andrews, the Home of Golf need any introduction? We were delighted when the team at St Andrews agreed to provide a fabulous two-night stay as a competition prize.

We are very excited to annouce that our ability to service the global events, employee engagement and incentive market is strengthened with the addition of BI WORLDWIDE Latin America to our network of regional headquarters.

Don’t we just love a conundrum? Even though the world of work is a place where rational thinking, solutions and objectivity rules, it is also a place of riddles, paradoxes and immense subjectivity.

Do we consider the delegate as much as we should?

Having enjoyed the roller coaster of emotions the Olympic opening ceremony served up, I recalled a pitch delivery some years ago when, for the first time, I was presented with the ‘emotional journey’ of a conference. How the three day conference, culminating in a product launch, would unfurl, and the many emotions attendees would experience along the way.

How often are engagement and incentive programmes run that primarily address the top and mid performers?

How many times is the basis of a corporate engagement strategy “one size fits all”?

A lot of time and money spent improving sales and customer service is focused on employees who are deemed “engaged”. Those sitting outside this definition will no doubt attract the label of ‘poor performers’, ‘laggards’, ‘disinterested’ and be viewed as a “cost”.

With confidence returning to the incentive events market, it’s pleasing to see airlines increasing their capacity on long-haul options.

So often, lack, or complexity, of accessibility make long-haul options a logistical challenge with indirect, infrequent flights resulting in more time spent travelling than enjoying the destination itself. So when we heard that BA was increasing, nay doubling, its weekly flights to Rio de Janeiro, we sat up and took notice.  There will now be six flights from Heathrow instead of the original three...

Despite the winter weather taking hold a little early this year in the UK, I've been looking abroad to my favourite winter destinations for incentives that work whatever the weather!

Whether you're looking for a short-haul option or something further afield, there are some great destinations that will suit any budget and any group. And just because you're visiting the snowy alps, it doesn't mean you have to ski. There's plenty of activity that won't even involve the ski lift – great for partner programmes where not everyone wants to hit the slopes.

A word of warning though, you'll need to book early to avoid disappointment. Cliché it may be, but ski resorts quickly reach capacity and rates will soar. Larger groups will find it increasingly difficult as the season progresses and you may find you have to split guests across a number of hotels making logistics a lot more complex.

Here are my top three...

Within any incentive programme communication and motivation work intrinsically together and therefore communications are fundamental to positively influencing the behaviour of the audience. However, the nature of those communications and the media by which they are delivered is key to ensuring the message get put across effectively and understood.

How motivation programmes are critical to the business strategy for automotives.

The current climate has brought a difficult trading environment for car manufacturers and with it an even greater focus on sales activity. The ability to motivate a sales force to hit sales goals becomes extremely important. In these demanding circumstances, a proven incentive mechanic that is entirely measurable and delivers exceptional results becomes essential. Nothing achieves this more effectively than BI WORLDWIDE’s GoalQuest, a performance improvement solution designed specifically to improve the performance of sales people.

The recession has knocked incentive travel off its rails in the last couple of years. Many companies have either not run motivation programmes (a mistake in our opinion), or looked for alternatives, for example, offering merchandise or still travelling but only within the UK.

Of course, budgetary constraints and negative PR were rightly considered, but now, as the economy picks up, the industry is looking increasingly back on track – and understandably so.