event news

It Is Time To Spend Money
I heard Ben Stein speak this weekend on the state of the meeting industry. He was appearing on the CBS Sunday Morning news show. I was hoping it would post to the web so that I might download it to FB and Twitter however, it has not. I think what he had to say is important to everyone in the events industry so I am going to “para-quote” him and get this out to all of you ; please share it with any of your clients and fellow industry friends.
If you remember; AIG received a huge bailout from the US government (85 billion dollars) and shortly after that treated high ranking CEOs and other top dogs within the company to a getaway totaling $440,000.00.
President Obama wasted no time condemning this action and stated that AIG should have to give back the money if this was the way they were going to behave. This kind of spending is not acceptable. Now President Obama needs to explain himself, and make another statement that could very possibly save the Convention, Hospitality, Airlines and Entertainment Industry from ruin. Because of the Presidents words industry leaders have gotten the idea that it is wrong to have any kind of meetings, that to gather sales forces together for the exchange of and exposure to new ideas would be against what the majority of the population should be doing at this time.
THIS IS WRONG!!!
Certainly the President did not intend for the airlines to lay off hundreds of pilots, flight attendants and service personnel. He could not have meant that hotels should lay off catering staffs, front of house employees and render hotel maids destitute. Did he really want to ruin Las Vegas by killing the entertainment and convention services industry there? I am sure he did not!
I am relatively certain that what the president wanted to do is send a message that when you are using GOVENRMENT MONEY you must behave responsibly.
99.9% of events do not involve the use of borrowed government funds and thus infuse the economy with jobs, spending and a rebuilding of the economy, THIS IS A GOOD THING! If you are in that 1/10 of one percent who are using government allocated funds, you might have a problem.
It is my hope that our President will come forward and make such statements that will encourage corporations to create conferences and conventions that will stimulate our economy and drive us back to a flourishing event industry.
J Patrick McCann is the president of J Patrick Designs, an Atlanta based event design and planning company.