Meeting and Conferences Professionals vs. The Idiots

After the well publicized extravagances of AIG meetings, ENRON parties, and a worldwide recession one would think that people arranging and participating in conferences and meeting would tone it down.

You would think.

Unless you are the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. They recently met in San Francisco. The New York Times was kind enough to report (http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/c-d-o-days-sm-nights-at-derivatives-conference/) that they held their conference at a high end, San Francisco based hotel...And for entertainment spent the evening being pampered and entertained at an S&M club.

Now I don’t want to be snarky…. but it may be that the International Swaps and Derivatives Association figured a night of expensive kinky partying could only improve its image. Idiots.

This behavior doesn’t help any of us in the world of conferences and meetings.

As we all try to climb out of the recession there are many indicators that by and large meeting planners and venues are paying attention.

Event planners today consider the public relations impact of where meetings are held. There’s been an increase in conferences taking place at Universities for cost and PR reasons. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2010-04-13-conventions13_CV_N.htm?csp=travel

Convention and meeting site managers now increasingly focus on meeting value and ROI rather than comfort and amenities alone. As competition for meeting dollars heats up, the ability to deliver improved meeting experiences – that can be evaluated and measured – is essential.

Face to face meetings have tremendous value. As an industry we need to develop the capability and the data to show that value. If we don’t do that we’re …well… idiots.

Don Basler
Sr. Marketing Manager