A Hurricane of Betrayal

A Hurricane of Betrayal!

I enjoy my copy of Smart Meetings each month and look forward to its arrival, and while everyone is entitled to have an off day, still I felt a hurricane of betrayed by their 'Bad Press' section of the 'CVBs Work to Right their Ships After a Rough Year' in the August 2009 issue.

It's bad enough that a presidential candidate supplies mis- information to gain votes, but when a respected source in our industry regurgitates the same mis-information months later in an article, it furthers the stormy seas buffeting all of our 'ships'!

Smart Meetings wrote: 'Their seemingly "let them eat cake" attitude didn't sit well with the public, or later with President Obama, who admonished such behavior by saying, "You can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime."

Regarding the 'AIG effect'. It was not a 'let them eat cake' attitude. It was not a meeting of executives. It was a meeting for their independent sales reps. It was a reward that was promised for selling their services! It was a reward to one of their 'customer groups'. And firing another salvo into their bow, while they're taking on water is at a minimum poor journalism. Since it is such a public issue, such inaccurate representation creates mis-trust for the rest of the content in their publication.

If our industry is to continue on the road to recovery, it must deal with facts, real issues, and verified intentions. That one paragraph took the rudder out of their articles' intention as swiftly as any cannon ball.

Golf Games for Your Golf Tournament

This list is published because when I looked for a list of games and contests for Golf Meetings, I couldn't find one. I just found links to things I could buy that would give me this list. Maybe it was a bad search or maybe the search rankings for what I wanted were low. Anyway, enjoy:

Longest Drive Contest
- Straight long hole
- Place marker in the fairway to designate the distance
- Drive must be in the fairway
- Two prizes for men and women

Straight Drive
- Draw a chalk line down a long straight fairway
- Marker with golfers name
- Longest and closest to the line wins

Closest to the Pin
- Closest shot to the pin on a par 3 hole
- Marker with golfer’s name
- Measuring tape on the hole

Long Putt
- On any green
- Measuring tape and marker on hole to mark longest putt

Shortest Drive
- Gag prize, tough to monitor

Longest Putter Drive
- Longest drive with a putter
- Or longest/straightest drive with a putter

5-Iron Hole
- Play the hole with one club the entire hole
- 5-iron suggested
- Winner, lowest # strokes

One-club Challenge
- Have everyone play the whole tournament with one club

Hole-in-one
- Staged on a par 3
- Have two volunteers at hole: one at tee one at hole w/ flag
- Prize sponsor has witness there

Left-handed Hole
- All golfers play with club opposite of their strong side
- Have two full sets of clubs there – left and right handed

On Your Knees
- Play the hole off your knees

Skills Challenge
- Compete in categories: long drive, fairway shot, chip shot, trouble shot, sand shot, putting, etc.
- Winner scores the best in all of the combined areas

Putting Contest
- Straight putt
- Mini course with hazards, happy Gilmore style or otherwise

Skins Game
- Cash into pot
- Winner scores the lowest on a particular hole
- Winner scores the lowest on a series of holes, can give $ for winner of each hole and grand winner of all holes a prize also

Sandy Hole
- Prize for any par after being in the sand

Woody Hole
- Prize for any par after hitting a tree

Low Putts
- Prize for golfer with least amount of putts in the round

Nassau Style
- Divides 18 round hole into 3 competitions, front 9, back 9, and the total 18

Meeting Industry Still Taking Mulligan's with ROI

Despite solid evidence from the training industry that ROI is irrelevant at the ‘event’ level, the meeting industry still has individuals taking swing after swing to have ROI land as a value measure of meetings.

The July Golf supplement issue from Successful Meetings was informative and accurate. The only distraction was the ROI reference on the cover.

Edward Schmidt, Jr. did a great job with the main article golf meetings bring stimulus to business. He managed to cover a great deal, include specific examples, and not once did he mention ROI in his article.

Peter Bonnell hit a hole-in-one with his acknowledgement of meeting planners being the key to communicating the value of golf.

Jo Ann Hoffman shot eagle with her comment that the game is an educational process that brings out one's character during the game.

Michael Wilkins reference to the value lessons incorporated in the game were a victory for the link between golf and business meetings.

It was a shame that the cover, again went to the misleading term ROI. While the training industry has begun to acknowledge that ROI is an irrelevant measure for individual programs and events, and also suggests that attempts to promote ROI as a value measure look foolish to the financial executives of organizations, it seems the meeting industry is still trying to mis quantify the value of meetings with the application of the ROI terminology. It is especially unfortunately because pushing for ROI valuation for events by the meeting industry it is an example of the very ignorance regarding meeting value that the industry should be fighting.

Clear, forthright communication is the key to meeting valuation getting back in the fairway, and continually attempts to misalign financial terminology to fabricate a measurement of a meetings value is like cheating on your golf card.

Jeffrey Hanslerjhansler@oxfordco.com

The ROI of Flex-Time - 'NOT'

http://www.incentivemag.com/msg/content_display/incentive/news/e3i07c80a70350aca7252bf788d7822f517



I enjoyed reading the article on Flex-Time in Incentive Magazine. It is easy to concur with the likely positive outcomes of Flex-Time applications.



I am deeply bothered by the continued misapplication of the term ROI. This is a financial analysis term of specific form and application. It's use for this article is inaccurate at best, and discredits the arguments in the article to the nth degree.

ROI has become a term sloppy applied to justifications for incentives and meetings. I assume it is used to imply a thoughtful financial consideration of an expense. It has just the opposite effect in the finance office!

In fact, if ROI is applied correctly, the greatest ROI yield of a meeting or incentive is NOT to have them!

My recommendation is to stop using the term incorrectly, and focus on the strategic advantages of expending money and for meetings and incentives. Regarding Flex-Time as an incentive, the strategic advantages are very well outlined in this article!

Who are the leaders in the meeting and travel world?

Now is the time for Leadership! Leadership is a word thrown around easily. The fact is leadership is tough. Leadership is being the first to move into an unknown area, doing something never done before, and taking a chance because all the data shows it's the right thing to do. Leadership is taking a solid step forward in a sea of conflicting opinions.

Government is suppose to do the things private enterprise can't or shouldn't, and national government is suppose to do the things state government can't or shouldn't, and so on down the line.

Alexander Hamilton realized the best way to bond the states was by assuming state debts as part of the U.S. Congress. Abraham Lincoln realized that expenditures for growth, even during an expensive civil war, with Pacific Railway Act of 1862 to aid construction of the railroad, telegraph and postal routes from Missouri to the Pacific was the right thing to do. FDR understood the necessity for governments role, even after a misstep with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, with his New Deal during the depression, as does President Obama with his stimulus package.

In the meeting and travel world, CVB's (City Convention and Visitor Bureaus) should be proactive right now. They should be investing in their marketing, sales, and operations. They should be using their inventory to bring in new business at their expense!

So why aren't they? Because they are caught in a political squeeze between spending money to support their members during a time when their main source of funding (hotel revenues) is dramatically reduced. This means standing up in front of city council and demanding to run an aggressive costly campaign that could (or will) put them in the red. This means putting their very political job on the line because it's the right thing to do.

And why should they do this? Because for a city, this economy isn't just affecting 2009, it's affecting 2010 and 2011 even more. If they play it safe, they will lose millions of dollars for their cities, cost hundreds of jobs, and put private enterprise further behind.

Which CVB leaders are willing to make the right call and make the investments necessary for their cities? Who knows?

For most, it's why even try, because city council, who are interested in their positions as well, will just reject it.

The one good thing about this is - the leaders will identify themselves. In times of crisis, leaders ask for the unreasonable and find a way to get it.

Meetings and Technology

Meetings South Magazine May 2009: Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Rodman Marymor wrote the article. A quick read on technology and the meeting industry and the move from inhouse to online systems. He hits the nail on the head.

There will be more connected resources utilized as the technology advances and cloud computing will allow smaller organizations to compete with projects that have typically been reserved for the big guns.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Old School Business Trip goes Off-Track for Good

The flight arrived at 5 am at Pittsburgh Int'l. Hertz rental counter exchange resulted in getting directions to Nemacolin Country Club versus Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Who would think they could be about an hour apart?

Arrived at Country Club 7:30 am - still locked up. Looking for directions to the right place since this isn't it.

The grass is green. Why isn't anyone golfing? Maybe because it's 32F out right now. Well, we have a choice to find civilization - left or right on Hwy 40. Let's go right. Next stop Chuck Wagon restaurant in Centerville, PA. Great place with great people and good food for the regular crowd plus me.

There are advantages to doing things old school and getting a little off-track! I hear the place has a line around the building on the weekend, and that makes sense to me: in this world of cookie cutter restaurants this is a unique and great discovery.

Travel Leaders Meet with Obama

Source Meetings Focus: Travel Leaders Discuss Value of Meetings with Obama (3/16/2009)

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Travel leaders met March 11 with President Obama to discuss the important role that meetings and events play in strengthening the American economy.
Participants discussed the need to maximize the benefits of business meetings and events, which generate more than $100 billion in spending and create more than 1 million jobs.

Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, and Bill Marriott, chairman and CEO of Marriott International, were among the industry leaders present.
The group also discussed the urgent need to pass the Travel Promotion Act, which would establish the first-ever U.S. promotion and communications campaign to attract millions of additional international visitors to the U.S.

http://www.meetingsfocus.com/news.asp?&utm_source=MagnetMail&utm_medium=eNewsletters&utm_term=jhansler@oxfordco.com&utm_content=Meetings%20South%203-18-09&utm_campaign=Travel%20Leaders%20Meet%20with%20Obama

Time, Time, Time is on my side, Yes it is...

So you’re a speaker and you are personally experiencing the single most critical change to our industry since it’s inception – an ELE!

That’s Extinction Level Event! Actually, there are two ELE’s. First, the meeting industry has been hit by the economy and the ‘political’ perception of meetings. Second, technology has just put into question, the need to be ‘present’ for meetings, with all the social networking (SN) technology gaining acceptance.

(For those of you with political ties, what did you think would happen when the president elect said, regarding AIG meeting executives, ‘They should be prosecuted for holding that meeting after taking TARP money.’ Battle congress if you wish, in the meantime, what will you do with your ‘free’ time.)

The answer is to Re-Tool yourself by jumping into the new technologies and social networking (SN)!

SN has hit our industry head-on, and SN is a different beast all together, that is impacting how speakers get business and how they conduct programs.

To ask your attendees to shut off their cell phones in your presentation is to be disconnected from reality. They are Twittering (http://www.twitter.com) while you are speaking. And if you’ve seen some blogs, tweets, and wiki’s, you’ll know that at ASAE, twittering was a death knell for some of the speakers because facts and information presented were incorrect and / or out of date and that fact was being ‘tweeted’ to other attendees in the presentation. ‘The speaker was informed of this while in their presentation, and to say they looked like a deer caught in the headlights was an understatement.’

Twitter is the first truly ‘many-to-many’ communication tool and it is an app (application) happy environment. Twitter is where geek meets Gatsby (popular cultural icon, i.e. communicator, speaker). Twitter will take you 60 – 100 dedicated hours to develop an understanding. Once you have an understanding, then you can determine how (or if) you can utilize it in your programs.

All kinds of communication is growing (new apps are developed daily) on Twitter. There are groups just for the meeting industry. Groups are identified in tweets by hashmarks (#). One group that meets Monday at 9pm EST is #eventprofs.

Facebook has just gone through an overhaul, which may or may not improve the experience. Established first as a SN place for teenagers, with an equal amount of bad press as good, it transitioned to powerful tool for professionals and industry, where you could build relationships in ways not possible by phone and email.

Linkedin, Wiki’s, Wiffiti’s, Blogs are all technology SN tools that have a groundswell. There are dozens more. You have to jump in. You’ll find Linkedin the easiest match to linear thinking and full of speakers to get started and find someone to help you get started with Twitter.
If your speaking schedule is ‘light’, then use the time to pick up your tech skills to address the communication revolution. Like the Rolling Stones song, time is on your side… if you put it to good use.

The Face(book) of Meetings

The Face(book) of Meetings
A new Civil War for the United States of America (and the world)

The business of meeting has forever changed and it will affect each and every one of us from this day forward.

There are some that say that President Obama’s lambasting the AIG executives for their meeting without understanding the purpose or design of the meeting marked a new civil war.

In comparison, there are some historians that blame the Civil War on Abraham Lincoln’s amassing of troops. Other historians say his response was the only response possible to the events of the moment. All the speculation in the world will not change the events that occurred.

Action for all its planning and purpose is about an unknown future, and historical analysis is an exercise of ‘what if’.

This meeting civil war is obviously not about north vs. south or freedom versus slavery. It’s not even about the cost of meetings. This civil war is about our understanding of the purpose of meetings versus structure of meetings.

A host of meeting associations are fighting to demonstrate the value of meetings and have their voice heard in congress.

Congress cannot dictate the validity of meetings and even if they could it would be in conflict with our founding belief – the right to meet and speak in freedom. Congress cannot focus on cost without being hypocritical: Congress meets at a cost well over a million dollars each and everyday (combined salaries alone for the 435 voting members of congress approach $1 Million a day).

So what are the associations fighting for? If you asked them what is their next meeting like, would they know?

What is a meeting? I can’t tell you because I am just discovering the reality of twitter, wiffiti, facebook, blogs, wikipedia and the 20 other social networking and related technologies that are in the audience during meetings I’m speaking at and attending. It has changed the personality of the audience as a group and the individuals within that group. While some argue it offers distraction and others power, both would agree it is not the same meeting of yesterday.

Something as simple as the announcement to ‘turn your cell phone off or vibrate’ has become obsolete and quite funny in terms of its impotence. This is like asking them to shut off their minds and shackle their thumbs.

I offer only this. I know that the value of freedom, a value that is universal in importance – and a value I am proud is something America strives to understand and provide anew each day – and cherished by the citizens of the world, means that meetings will incorporate the freedoms of new technologies whether they are comfortable or not during this time of great transition.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made Paul Revere famous – The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Paul Revere rode 19 miles to warn of the British. Israel Bissell rode 345 miles to warn of the British. In today’s world, Israel Bissell is finally getting some of the recognition he deserved.
Think about it though, with Twitter, both of them could have stayed home… I doubt they would have.

Wind, Sun, Water and paint

Source Gizmag March 2, 2009: Magenn MARS helium-filled airship that spins in the wind to generate power at 200% the level of tower turbins at a fraction of the cost.

Sunseeker II is the only manned solar airplane flying in the world and logging hours upon hours.

New research from the Pacific Institute estimates that bottled water is up to 2000 times more energy-intensive than tap water.

In the 70's if you wore fur, you risked getting paint thrown on you.

In 2009, should you worry that drinking bottled water will get tap water thrown on you?

Golf Life

Source: Travel & Leisure Golf March / April 2009

• smell the roses, lighten up, focus on positive
• Commensense principles of golf (play the course, play the ball where it lies, play fair)
• know when ... obstruction is moveable, hazard is lateral, take / give relief

UCI - In the news

Source: Winter '09 Alumni Magazine -

• Kent Hymel, UCI doctoral candidate in economics finds data link between gridlock and slow job growth
• UCI wins top state environmental Environmental & Economic Leadership Award
• Top 10 university with free online courses
• Time spent online for teens is good for future life skills - Mizuko Ito, UC researcher
• UCI technology exclusive license to Hiperwall Inc and Samsung to distribute video wall technology
• Most science and engineering researchers researchers (20) named as Fellows of the American Asociation for the Advancement of Science
• Jane Chin is currently top-ranked female collegiate golfer in the country with 69.92 scoring average

Clinical Trials - Humans - Begin

Clinical trials are beginning from a therapy developed at UCI from embryonic stem cells. US Food and Drug has approved the therapy (research team Hans Keirstead and Dr. Gabriel Nistor). Trials will be done by Geron Corp of Menlo Park. California. This will be the world's first embryonic stem cell treatment tested in humans. Wish your friends in need well. http://www.bunkwurth.org

How did we get in this economic mess?

As a speaker, I often bring books for audience members to purchase. I usually put together a special package of material.

I just did a program for credit unions. The planner of the program asked me to leave several sets because she thought she might get requests for them. She sent me four cards of the ones that picked up sets and said to bill them. The bill was $40.00 for a package of books.

Two weeks later I received one of the packages of books back with a note from the attendee of the program, who was the credit unions assistant controller, stating "I did not think there was a cost to these." The books were priority mailed back. The cost for postage $24.50.

Meetings Today - Good, Bad, and Ugly

Source New York Times Feb 16, 2009: These quotes are from an article written by Martha C. White

The Bad: “I would say the majority of companies we’ve dealt with in the past have either lowered their budgets or canceled their meetings,” said Barry Maher, a motivational speaker who says his business has been affected.

The Ugly: “I think the attendees kind of felt like it was second-rate because it was so small,” Thom Singer, professional speaker said. “You definitely felt disappointment. The vibe was not as strong.”

The Good: Attendees are more likely to be decision makers and there is time to speak with educators and experts.

Tech Efficiency

Source - GizMag February 24, 2009: DubMeNow allows contact information to be instantly exchanged from mobile phone to mobile phone without having to give out mobile numbers or email addresses. It remembers the location and address where you made the swap and swaps with multiple people simultaneously is possible. Also, updates are transfered whenever your information changes.

Geek Toys

Very cool Fly Stick Van De Graff Levitation Wand from ThinkGeek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3xHKsjXLsA

Green Tags and Carbon Footprint

Source TerraPass (TerraPass): According to the Carbon Footprint Calculator at TerraPass.com, the cost to offset your carbon footprint from your flight to Africa from California is about $43 in green tag purchases. They'll spend the money to offset the higher cost of wind and solar electricity. Ahh, eco travel guilt free...

Beat the House

Source: Mobile Technology Magazine: February 2009

Just when you thought owning a gambling casino might be the winning side, application developers for the iPhone and iPod Touch have build blackjack card-counting programs A Blackjack Card Counter and Card Counter, which can operate in ‘stealth mode’. Good thing, since if you get caught at the table, it’s a felony. With or without, it’s a gamble. The programs can be downloaded from the iTunes Store.

Dropped Exchange Listings

Source: CRO Magazine February 2009 (www.cfo.com) In 2008, 85 companies were dropped from the Nasdaq and 54 from the New York Stock Exchange for failing to meet listing requirements (or going bankrupt).

Strategic Meeting Management versus ROI

What is the value of meetings? How do you prove the expenditure for the meeting was justified and provided a necessary result?

One of the terms being used to demonstrate the value of meetings is ROI (return-on-investment). It's a term from finance and it has a specific meaning: ROI = [(Payback - Investment)/Investment] x 100. Since most meetings have a financial cost to them and don't have a financial revenue stream, I've always contented that this valuation of meetings is meaningless. Here's a link to an article written some time ago:

http://64.82.36.220/articles/art-roi-On%20the%20QT%20ROI%20RFP%20%20LOL%20-%20meeting.shtml

The industry grabbed onto ROI because it's an easy term to throw around. The problem is, as a valuation model, it falls flat in the boardroom. The ROI line of thinking is why the reaction AIG's incentive meetings was so negative after receiving funding from the public. In ROI terms, it was a big fat expense (PARTY!) on taxpayer money.

Strategic Meetings Management on the other hand focuses on building meetings around specific objectives, and I agree completely with Kevin Maguire's (CCCTE, GLP, President & CEO, National Busienss Travel Association ( http://www.nbta.org ) statement in Corporate & Incentive Travel January 2009 "Strategic meetings management is really redefining what meetings are all about."

The expression has military roots and is all about setting up meeting plans to achieve a specified result. It is about discovery of the desires for the meeting from the stakeholders and defines the resources required to achieve the specified targets (objectives).

Vince Alonzo, Editor-in-Chief for Successful Meetings ( http://www.successfulmeetings.com ) pointed out that Edward Lidy, the chairman and CEO of AIG outlined AIG's Strategic Meetings Management Plan and the role of the incentive meetings to AIG's objectives. Vince pointed out that "As an industry we've done a terrible job explaining to the public at large exactly what role meetings and incentives play in the success of an organization."

I agree with him and Kevin that a focus on SMMP (Strategic Meetings Management Programs) will shed the proper light on the value of meetings.

Credit Card Reform

USA Today - Money 1B: Capital One, Citibank, and HSBC are raising interest rates and minimum payments as unemployment rises and more consumers truggle to pay their bills. "Consumers are trapped in a business model that is designed to induce mistakes and jack up fees," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY. "This type of tripwire pricing is predatory and must end."

Future Choice

Source CFO.com February 2009 - Accounting career seen as ultra-flexible states students at College of William & Mary.

"With accounting, I can go into auditing or tax, or go to law school, or work for a corporation of the SEC or the FBI - I can go anywhere I want," says Joseph Leuchter.

"No matter what kind of company - biotech or health care or filmmaking - you can get in without actually being a scientist or filmmaker," says Sarah Krug.