Letter from the President
By Jerry G. McGee, International SITE Foundation President
“Keep your head down, we will tell you where your ball goes.” -- Anonymous golf tip

This bit of advice recently heard at the inaugural ISITE Classic held in Monterey, CA signifies the importance of focus during a golf swing. Many golfers have a tendency to want to shift their eyes away from the ball toward the intended target. Although it is always important to know where you are trying to hit it, maintaining clear focus through the effort is most important in order to produce the desired results.

So too is it important to know what we at the International SITE Foundation are trying to accomplish: enhancing the awareness and effectiveness of incentive travel and motivational events thereby increasing usage globally.

We will accomplish this by staying focused on improved learning resources for SITE members and other incentive practitioners throughout the world. These programs require enabling dollars, Euros, and Yuan --- and fundraising is an important part of keeping “our eye on the ball”.

Our initial fundraising effort held in December 2007 was the ISITE Classic, a golf and lifestyle event which brought over 200 incentive professionals to the world-class destination of Monterey, California. We could not be more pleased with the enormous support we received from the dozens of sponsors who helped make this event happen. And, the desired result was achieved many times over.

Our host hotel was the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa. Golfers played the Pebble Beach Resorts Courses --- The Links at Spanish Bay and Del Monte Golf Course --- while non-golfers had the options of An Adventure in Art and Taste at The Carmel Artists & Culinary Art Institute of Monterey or High Adventure Action at Laguna Seca Raceway and a coastal land and water experience in Land Rovers and kayaks.

Based on this success, we are pleased to announce that our 2008 ISITE Classic will be held on 11-14 September in Ft. Lauderdale, FL with the Fort Lauderdale Grande Hotel & Yacht Club and Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six Resort & Spa as host hotels. Golf will be at the Bonaventure Resort & Country Club with other lifestyle activities throughout the area. We again expect to have the largest group of incentive companies in attendance at this great event.

In addition, we are launching a second fundraising event for 2008. On September 22^nd, we will be hosting “ISITE Nite”, a kickoff affair the Monday preceding The Motivation Show in Chicago. Interested supporters can contact us at isitefoundation@ec.rr.com.

Thank you for your support that helps us protect and grow our industry’s future.