ICEF Miami 2013 welcomes over 1 000 participants for the first time ever

MIAMI - Dec. 19, 2013 - PRLog -- The 2013 ICEF North America - Miami Workshop welcomed over 1000 participants, representing an impressive 24% growth over 2012. Held from December 9 to 11 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, the 1 002 event attendees included 439 US and Canadian educators, 114 international exhibitors, 402 top-quality student recruitment agents from 70 countries around the world and 47 VIP guests and conference programme speakers.

Over 3 days, participants conducted 10 777 pre-scheduled meetings, 27% more than last year, meaning that the event was not only the largest ever, but also extremely productive. Further appointments were also scheduled during the workshop through the use of MARCOM OnSite, of which over 300 event participants logged on to use. MARCOM OnSite is a recently launched tool developed to enable workshop participants to schedule extra meetings, take notes, view the workshop programme and even send messages to other participants while the event is in progress. "MARCOM OnSite is brilliant. ICEF was already on top, but this really puts them even further ahead of the rest" added Tony Burke of Omni College, Canada.

ICEF's record of outstanding agent quality was further strengthened in Miami. Brooklynn Adams, of the University of California - Berkeley Extension, USA, commented: "This was my first ICEF event and it was a great experience overall. Most of the agents were of a very high quality and were well informed about my school".

In terms of agent numbers, an impressive 35% of the agents were attending their first Miami workshop and 14% of all agents were coming to their first ever ICEF Workshop. As with all ICEF events, all of the new agents in Miami passed rigorous screening and reference checking before being invited to participate.

Agents have historically found it challenging to establish partnerships with US and Canadian institutions - therefore participating in ICEF Miami and being able to meet with such a large number of quality educators at the workshop is very beneficial. Pardhasaradhi Kanamarlapudi of Abroad Campus, India, confirmed this: “It is hard for us as agents to go all over the United States and Canada, but at ICEF we are able to meet many universities under one roof.”

Institutions at the event were well spread across three main education sectors (university/vocational 44%, language schools 20%, secondary/boarding/high schools 31%).

Evening receptions, social gatherings and break times gave participants additional opportunities to connect with each other and strengthen the connections made at the meeting tables during the day. Always popular in Miami, these events included dinners, a live band, a DJ and dancing, and were thoroughly enjoyed by all participants. This point was emphasised by Kayla Davenport of Riverside Military Academy, USA, who remarked "ICEF is mind blowing. The receptions, and the conference, have no match in the industry".

Destination-focussed events such as ICEF Miami give education institutions and associations the opportunity to showcase their campuses, cities and regions through agent FAM tours. These tours enable agents to bring back first-hand knowledge to potential students and better promote their partners. 12 FAM tours were offered this year and included trips to campuses throughout Florida.

The next ICEF event is the ICEF Dubai Workshop (http://www.icef.com/workshops/dubai.html), to be held on February 03 - 05, 2014, at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers. This workshop gives international educators the opportunity to meet quality, screened agents from the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and South Asia.

For more information on ICEF events go to www.icef.com or contact Korinne Algie or Stan Bobrov at communications@icef.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRzrWTxLbz0