A Quiet Sense of Duty
Late 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 [...]
Keeping Readers Off the Unsubscribe Button
At The Conference Publishers, we receive a surprisingly small number of unsubscribe requests for our company newsletter. We know a lot of people read our newsletter, but it’s hard to get good comparative data—we don’t know how well we’re doing compared to all the other companies vying for people’s attention online. (If anyone knows where [...]
Comings, Goings, and a Long Overdue Introduction
We have a couple of staff changes to report at The Conference Publishers, as well as a long overdue introduction for someone who’s an unsung but integral part of our team. At the end of this month, Project Manager Kate McAteer begins her maternity leave. She’s expecting her first child at the end of June. [...]
The Green Meetings Portal Goes Live
The Green Meetings Portal went live earlier this week. Earlier this year, we announced that The Conference Publishers was joining with the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) to launch the world’s first conference content portal. I’m tremendously pleased and proud to announce that the promise is now, finally, a reality. The Portal begins life with [...]
What Are You Waiting For?
In 1968, while most of his classmates were playing ball or watching Gilligan’s Island or sleeping, one 13-year-old boy was programming his heart out on a powerful (for its day) mainframe computer. It was a unique and improbable opportunity and he took full advantage of it. Reflecting on the experience today, Bill Gates says, “I [...]
A Couple of Million Jobs at Stake
BREAKING NEWS: On March 10, The Huffington Post published my blog item on the meetings industry crisis and the Kerry bill now before the U.S. Congress. The central argument, drawing on data from MPI Foundation Canada’s study of the economic impact of meetings and events, was that the attack on meetings in the U.S. could [...]
Linking on the links in Atlanta
On a lighter note, I managed to play a round of golf when I was in Atlanta last week. I went down a day early to try to arrange some meetings with prospective clients for the firm. That didn’t work out, so I had time to play golf. (Okay, so maybe I didn’t try all [...]
Fond farewell
The Conference Publishers is the best place I’ve ever worked. That’s exactly why I’m moving on. This office has stiff competition when it comes to treating its employees well. As a former employee of a company that won the Globe & Mail “Best Small & Medium Sized Employer in Canada” award, I’m fortunate to know [...]
Changing The World
Last summer, Hugh Lee, President of Fusion Productions of Rochester, New York told a seminar at MPI’s World Education Congress, “a conference can get you excited about change, but it won’t make change happen.” If a conference won’t make change happen, what will? How do we initiate change? And how do we make sure that [...]
Leveraging Information
Much to the dismay of my significant other, I spent two hours on the phone yesterday with another woman—and the conversation was really good. Okay, okay, it wasn’t like that. I had a really interesting discussion with a market analyst from the Detroit area who had some pleasantly pointed things to say about knowledge transfer, [...]
