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.