Airlines
Top 10 Reasons to Attend the Sustainable Meetings Conference
Friday, January 8th, 2010With the 2010 Sustainable Meetings Conference coming up in Denver February 9-11, the Green Meeting Industry Council is circulating the top 10 reasons that this is a must-attend event.
This might just be the best, most in-depth green meetings conference the industry has ever seen. But the 10 reasons point to a bigger, wider value proposition [...]
After Copenhagen: How Meetings Can Kick the Carbon Habit
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009By the end of this week, the 192 countries represented at the Copenhagen Summit may or may not reach a global deal to control climate change and reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.
But whether or not humanity rises to the challenge, the science doesn’t lie. With or without an agreement, this is the moment for industrialized nations [...]
A Quiet Sense of Duty
Saturday, July 18th, 2009Late last month, I received a surprising email that will shape the lion’s share of the volunteer time I devote to our industry over the next two years.
I wouldn’t normally be quite this excited about an opportunity to pack dozens of extra hours into a schedule that is already overloaded. But this isn’t just any [...]
Does Demand from Meetings Drive Airlines’ Greenwashing?
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009Whether or not it’s deliberate, a major travel industry association seems to be applying a touch of greenwash to its members’ steadily growing carbon footprint.
And it seems likely that continuing demand from meetings and events might be one of the underlying causes.
Sometimes it isn’t clear whether an organization has set out to mislead, or whether [...]
‘It Sounds Like Fun’: I Beg to Differ
Saturday, March 21st, 2009The reaction from friends and colleagues when I mentioned an upcoming trip to a conference in California speaks volumes about the gap between meeting professionals’ experience onsite and the way it’s perceived back home.
It isn’t too big a leap from this particular tale to the perception of meetings as elaborate parties that has helped to [...]
A Time to Renew
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008SAN DIEGO COUNTY—I spent much of the weekend in awe-inspiring company, attending the semi-annual meeting of the Concepts Worldwide Advisory Board (CAB).
And, as it happened, not a moment too soon.
Concepts is a company that formed 20 years ago, and has positioned itself as a world leader in the corner of our industry offering strategic [...]
Learning to Fly Right
Friday, September 12th, 2008Imagine an industry that shows a cumulative net loss after decades of operation. Its main business model is a poster child for showing MBA students the strategies they should avoid at all costs.
Imagine that this industry generates a large share of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Factor in that industry’s acute vulnerability to rising [...]
‘People Will Still Have to Meet…’
Monday, September 1st, 2008The fact that he came over to chat had very little to do with me.
I was sitting on the patio at Bridgehead Trading, the funky, fair trade coffee shop that serves as an informal meeting room and home-away-from-home for our office two blocks away. One of the counter staff came over to visit with Maydeleh, [...]
Content Keeps Meetings Afloat
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008Higher air fares, fewer flights, and rising supply costs are the new reality for conferences around the world.
Live meetings will survive the crunch because there is still no more effective way for people to share ideas, knowledge, and solutions. But the future could hold
Fewer live meetings
Regional and local meetings filling the gaps between less frequent [...]