The Economic Significance of Meetings to the US Economy

During economic downturns, such as the United States is facing right now, corporations, non-profits, and just about every business sector begin looking at cost savings measures. Travel budgets tighten and activities outside of the work place such as conferences and meetings are assessed for their importance. However, when it comes to meetings and conferences, are they truly assessed for their value to society as a whole or simply the cost of attending?

To show the contrary to the belief that conferences impact business and the overall economy of the United States negatively, the Professional Convention Management Association released a study showing statistics proving the economic importance of conferences in the economy. Listed below are just some of the more striking statistics.

Direct Contributions to the US Economy:

• $263B in spending
• 1.7M US jobs
• $106B contribution to GDP

Employment and Labor Income Breakdown:

• $60B in US labor income is generated by the meeting industry
• Combined direct and indirect effects of the meeting industries support 6.3M jobs and $271B in US labor income.

Tax Revenue:

• $14.3B in federal tax revenues is created by the meeting industry
• $11.3B in state and local taxes is also generated by the meetings industry.

While this is a brief summary of the positive impact meetings have on society and the economy of the United States, the facts speak for themselves. Please visit http://www.pcma.org for more information on this study by typing “The Economic Significance of Meetings to the US Economy” in the search field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Community Development Academy

Community Development Academy, sponsored by the Community Development Program within University of Missouri Extension, is a week long, intensive program held twice a year for those interested in learning more about community development, seeking out existing resources and creating new plans for one’s community.  This is a great course for those who are working professionals looking to gain professional development or those working on an undergraduate or graduate degree program.  By attending the class and completing additional course work, three hours can be earned toward your degree program.

Participants consist of people from all around Missouri and all around the United States.  There are also several international participants who attend from around the world.  Come prepared to learn and add to your professional body of knowledge as well as make great connections. 

The week long Academy is held twice a year, in March and September, once in the St. Louis area and once in the Kansas City area.  The academy consists of 3 courses, one course can be completed in 1 week academy.  The courses do not need to be completed in numerical order, however, course 1 is a pre requisite for courses 2 and 3. 

Participants have the option to lodge at the conference center for the week or to commute in each day. 

 Registration for the fall 2011 Academy to be held in St. Louis is now open.  The Academy will be held the week of September 19-23, 2011 at the Mercy Center, a retreat and conference center in suburban St. Louis. 

 Visit the conference website at http://muconf.missouri.edu/commdevelopmentacademy for more conference content details, to register online or to print off a paper registration form.

Contract Negotiation

I was watching a webinar on contract negotiation and the speaker summed up negotiating like this…If you ask for concessions before a contract is signed, then that is negotiating – after the contract has been signed it is considered begging.  So I don’t end up having to “beg” later, I try to think of any possible needs the group may have and ask in advance.  Although they have no desire for a small boardroom or hospitality room  in the beginning, invariably, one month before the conference, the committee will ask for one so I’ve automatically started asking for a complimentary boardroom in the beginning before the contract has been signed.  If they don’t need it, then it can always be returned to the hotel.

Sending an Effective Eblast

Recently, I watched a webinar from Pinpointe who produce a blog about Email marketing.  This one was focusing on making your email blasts (e-blasts) more successful.  Visit the link provided if you want to watch it yourself.  They also do other interesting discussions about email usefulness.

They did some interesting studies on what people open and actually take action on. 

Here are some of the highlights:

1)    The shorter the subject line the better.  40-50 characters (incl. spaces) is the ideal.

2)    Personalization (actually putting recipients name in email) of email helps get notice, but not overwhelmingly.

3)    Personalization in the FROM line is better – Better from a person rather than a company – so sending from “Corporate/Organization Name” may not be as good as from your personal email.  <Smithj@missouri.edu;  John W. Smith, University of Missouri>.

4)    Writing “Dear” with name in body of email, will probably get the email dropped into a Spam file.  Personalization is good but don’t use DEAR – spam filters search for it.

5)    Best time to send emails – Usually best if  they arrive early in the morning in someone’s in box.  This puts it at the top of the list for the day.  Email is most opened between 5-7 AM.

6)     It is a tossup about best day to send emails. Business to Business it is best to send T/W/TH.  Sometimes to personal accounts it is good to send on a weekend.  This may be when people finally get around to looking at their email.

Probably all good things to consider if you have the time when sending an e-blast.

The 2011 Autism Intervention Conference

The University of Missouri Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders is proud to announce the 6th annual Autism Intervention Conference. This year’s conference held at the Holiday Inn Executive Center April 14-16, 2011 will feature John N. Constantino, MD, Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri and Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D.  a consultant with the Ziggurat Group, the recipient of the 2004 Autism Society of America’s Outstanding Professional Award and the 2006 Princeton Fellowship Award.

This conference aims to educate and provide support for parents and professionals who work with individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Over April 15th and 16th participants will choose from 30 breakout sessions that will provide tactical information on subjeacts such as: Educational Interventions, Strategies, ASD Service Deliveries and Advanced ABA Methods.

The conference is only $185 for Professionals and $50 for Family Members and Students to attend both Friday and Saturday or $120 for Professionals and $25 for Family Members and Students to attend one day either for the Pre-Conference Workshop on Thursday or a full day of sessions on Friday or Saturday.

Don’t miss the chance to attend the Pre-Conference Workshop on Thursday Bridges to Adulthood: Targeting Skills for a Positive Quality of Life: Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D. for FREE!

Click here for the full schedule of events!

The Write To Learn Conference

Come to the 2011 Write to Learn Conference, March 3-5, 2011 at Tan Tar A Resort in Osage Beach, MO and learn the secrets of Master Teachers in the Field!

The theme of this year’s Write to Learn Conference is “Passionate Pedagogy,” and we have gathered together a group of speakers who exemplify passionate teaching.  Not only are these speakers passionate about teaching and learning, they are highly successful practitioners, as well.  If you’ve ever wanted to take that “next step” from the good teacher you already are to the “master teacher” level, this is your chance!  Come and listen to this year’s unbelievable line-up of presenters and steal all of their secrets – then take them right back to your classroom and start seeing results right away!

Attendees vs. Participants

This January I had the opportunity to attend PCMA’s (The Professional Convention Management Association’s) annual meeting. While there I had the opportunity to interact with (not just attend the session lead by) Dave Lutz, of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. He feels conferences need to “shift from ‘serving attendees’ to ‘involving participants’”. All conferences should foster a learning process and the best way to accomplish that is to encourage participation and collaboration.

“The learning process takes time. The more we have to listen, the less we learn. We need to stop listening and start thinking.” Lutz continues with this tip: “The speaker should stop talking every 10-20 minutes and allow the learners to talk to each other about what has been said. Or ask the learners to write down how they would apply what they heard.”

So at your next continuing education conference, help your attendees learn! Remember they are participants with lots to offer not just attendees along for the ride!