Not only do meetings support the growth of a company or industry, they have become the underpinning of our economy. IMHO the impact of fewer meetings in the last 12 months has been felt in every corner of our financial structure.

While pundits have said we need to pull back on meetings and “save” the shareholders money… the unintended consequence of that has been the opposite. Best estimates are that 1.6 million people are DIRECTLY involved in the meetings industry. My best guesstimate is that there are closer to 30 Million indirectly impacted: not only the 256 convention centers and their employees, or the thousands of hotels and their employees, or even the speakers and speakers bureaus… but a silent group.

Think of this: mom & pops across from convention centers and hotels. Transportation: Taxi drivers, Limo companies, Bus companies, airlines, rental car companies. Food service and restaurants. Add the people who depend on those companies for a living: gas stations, fast food places, repair shops, airports, airport shops, maintenance companies for airlines and all the other transportation companies. What of the laundry services, the AV companies, the carpet cleaning companies, security agencies? Don’t forget the attractions that spring up around the tourism and meetings industry. And of course, cities and states reap great rewards from all the taxes associated with the above.

It’s a house of cards. When our administration and people with wide reach like Seth say we shouldn’t have meetings, they don’t just knock over the house of cards, they set it on fire.

States like Hawaii and Nevada have taken a huge hit. Hawaii had $184 MILLION drop in tax revenue in the first quarter of 2009 after anti-meetings and anti-resort comments were made. The Daily Show recently did a spoof about how awful it was that the RNC held their meeting in Hawaii — as if they had gone to the moon, or Tahiti. That did damage to that economy.

IMHO Seth Godin wrote that to get buzz. He wanted to stir the pot, hoping his devout followers would forgive the hypocrisy. Yes, we are all talking about his blog and him. My hope is that all the hue and cry against what he said will help people think more clearly not only about the direct benefit of meetings, but also about the far-reaching effects of this industry to our financial well-being.
Beth Terry, CSP

Thanks for your comment. I did tune in the following day…and thought, frankly, he missed the mark there, as well. I posted about it here the same day explaining why I felt that — in spite of my tremendous admiration for Seth — he’s really off on this particular point.

If you haven’t seen it yet, just go back to the McKainViewpoint.com main page, and you’ll see the post under “It’s not about BIG meetings…”

Thanks so much…

Scott

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/02/the-best-reason-for-a-big-event.html

Thought people here might appreciate this as well.

The problem is not BIG meetings…it’s BAD meetings. The more we facilitate the “face-to-face” aspect you describe, the greater opportunity for connectivity we create.

Great comment…THANKS.

You are SO right! It’s akin to saying since some music is really poor, then we should stop listening to ALL of it. You’re on target — there are meetings guilty of all of the sins you list. But, that doesn’t mean they’re all useless. You and I know better.

BTW, just received a note that the new issue of “Speaker” magazine (the publication of the National Speakers Association, for those who aren’t familiar with it) has already gone to press…and the cover story for next month is…ready for this?…Seth Godin talking about his speaking.

I guess he’s against big meetings…unless they pay him a lot of money to come speak to them. Hope it’s not overstating the point to suggest both you and I are in favor of well-designed conferences — and, although we hope we’re selected for the agenda, we are enthusiastic about the connections they create, no matter whom is addressing the attendees.

As for me, I’ll continue to work with my clients to make sure we have meetings that create the connections and conversations to carry us into the year. We’ll create time for intimate gathering so people can actually exchange ideas and insights.

BTW: wonder how much money Seth will be paid to tweet or you-tube since he obviously has no time or interest in presenting to useless big meetings.