TIM LESMEISTER - Trade Show Executive
TIM LESMEISTER - Trade Show Executive
TIM LESMEISTER - Trade Show Executive
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
News<br />
President Obama’s Remark About Las Vegas Brings Event<br />
Travel to Forefront<br />
By Hil Anderson, senior editor<br />
Washington, DC – The issue of curbing<br />
travel to meetings and trade shows was<br />
in the media spotlight after President<br />
Obama implied that trips for executives of<br />
financial companies receiving emergency<br />
taxpayer assistance were an unnecessary<br />
excess.<br />
The February 9 remark that CEOs<br />
who accepted bailout funds “can’t go<br />
take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to<br />
the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime”<br />
could not have come at a worse time for<br />
Las Vegas and the meetings industry in<br />
general. With corporate belt-tightening<br />
rampant, anything else that might spook<br />
companies into cancelling a trip because<br />
of the potential public opinion fallout was<br />
unwelcome news.<br />
The flare up came as major travel<br />
companies and the meetings and<br />
exhibitions industry were taking the<br />
offensive to prevent the public perception<br />
that all business gatherings are leisure<br />
junkets rather than the critical economic<br />
activities that they are.<br />
Mayor Oscar Goodman sent a letter<br />
the next day to the White House asking for<br />
an apology and pointing out that “events<br />
in Las Vegas attract more delegates,<br />
attract corporate decision-makers, and<br />
keep convention delegates focused on<br />
getting business done compared to other<br />
destinations.”<br />
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said<br />
on the Senate floor that Obama’s chief<br />
of staff, Rahm Emanuel, told him that<br />
the president’s criticism was aimed at<br />
unnecessary travel and not a swipe at Las<br />
Vegas. “Mr. Emanuel made it clear to me<br />
that President Obama’s criticism was aimed<br />
at the potential use of taxpayer funds,”<br />
Reid said. “We gave these banks a lot of<br />
money and they shouldn’t be taking junkets<br />
with any of the money, whether they are<br />
going to Las Vegas or Los Angeles, New<br />
York or Salt Lake City.”<br />
At the same time, Wells Fargo ran<br />
a full-page ad in The New York Times on<br />
Sunday, February 9, defending incentive<br />
travel for its employees. The ad, in the<br />
form of a letter signed by John Stumpf,<br />
president and CEO, accused the media of<br />
being “deliberately misleading” and said<br />
the misperceptions had forced it to cancel<br />
its annual recognition events for its hardworking<br />
employees.<br />
“Who loses besides our team<br />
members? The workers who depend on<br />
our business,” wrote Stumpf, who added<br />
that recognition events are not paid for by<br />
government aid.<br />
Industry Tackles Image Issue<br />
Associations representing the meetings<br />
industry have also been ramping up their<br />
efforts to publicize the benefits of events.<br />
The MeetDifferent conference held<br />
by Meeting Professionals International<br />
(MPI) in mid-February focused on the<br />
so-called AIG effect, which is blamed for<br />
the cancellation of a number of corporate<br />
events. Sessions included a workshop on<br />
restrictions placed on companies receiving<br />
Federal assistance. Christine Duffy,<br />
president and CEO of Maritz Travel and<br />
a former chairwoman of MPI, told the<br />
audience that President Obama’s $150<br />
million inauguration was hardly an exercise<br />
in restraint.<br />
The Convention Industry Council on<br />
February 17 became the latest association<br />
to endorse a set of guidelines for<br />
meetings planned by companies receiving<br />
government help. The guidelines, which<br />
cover issues such as cost and attendee<br />
profiles, were developed by a large<br />
coalition of industry associations with the<br />
U.S. Travel Association in the lead. Other<br />
member groups included the International<br />
Association of Exhibitions and Events,<br />
the Professional Convention Management<br />
Association and the Financial and<br />
Insurance Conference Planners.<br />
Reach Rossi Ralenkotter, president and<br />
CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and<br />
Visitors Authority, at (702) 892-2800 or<br />
rralenkotter@lvcva.com; Bruce MacMillan,<br />
MPI president and CEO, at (972) 702-<br />
3001 or bmacmillan@mpiweb.org; CIC<br />
<strong>Executive</strong> Director Eric Allen at (571) 527-<br />
3116 or eallen@kellencompany.com<br />
Meeting Travel Guidelines Gain Steam<br />
By Hil Anderson, senior editor<br />
Washington, DC – The Convention<br />
Industry Council (CIC) formally endorsed<br />
guidelines on meetings and incentive travel<br />
for companies receiving Federal financial<br />
assistance.<br />
The guidelines are for executives who<br />
find themselves under fire for traveling to<br />
business meetings, conferences and other<br />
events that for years were considered<br />
prudent and routine but are now being<br />
labeled by the press, public and politicians<br />
as unnecessary and overly extravagant<br />
junkets.<br />
“We support the recently-developed<br />
Guidelines for Meetings, Events and Incentive<br />
Travel for entities receiving government<br />
assistance and urge America’s elected<br />
leaders to ensure that their actions do not<br />
impede the legitimate critical meetings<br />
and events necessary to support U.S.<br />
corporations’ and associations’ business<br />
missions,” the CIC said in a statement.<br />
The criticism of executive travel<br />
expenses and salary packages has<br />
been focused on companies receiving<br />
emergency financial assistance from<br />
Washington. There is also concern that<br />
public perceptions will put a damper<br />
on travel by other companies at a time<br />
when the economic downturn is already<br />
forcing them to cancel their own business<br />
meetings and cut back on travel to trade<br />
shows and conferences.<br />
The guidelines project was spearheaded<br />
by the U.S. Travel Association in<br />
partnership with a coalition of industry<br />
organizations including the International<br />
Association of Exhibitions and Events<br />
(IAEE) and the Professional Convention<br />
Management Association (PCMA).<br />
The CIC’s 34 member associations<br />
represent more than 103,500 individuals<br />
and 19,500 organizations involved in the<br />
meetings, conventions and exhibitions<br />
industry including IAEE; PCMA; the<br />
Center for Exhibition Industry Research<br />
(CEIR); the Exhibition Services and<br />
Contractors Association (ESCA); the<br />
International Association of Assembly<br />
Managers (IAAM); and the American<br />
8 March 2009 <strong>Trade</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> www.<strong>Trade</strong><strong>Show</strong><strong>Executive</strong>.com