If you or someone you know is taking an incentive or other group to this year’s Olympic games in Athens, be sure to warn attendees that that they can be booted for eating, drinking, or wearing products from companies that aren’t sponsoring the games.

“Sweltering sports fans who seek refuge from the soaring temperatures with a soft drink other than one made by Coca-Cola will be told to leave the banned refreshment at the gates or be shut out. High on the list of blacklisted beverages is Pepsi, but even the wrong bottle of water could land spectators in trouble.”

And don’t be caught with the wrong logo on your shirt: “Stewards have been trained to detect people who may be wearing merchandise from the sponsors’ rivals in the hope of catching the eyes of television audiences. Those arousing suspicion will be required to wear their T-shirts inside out.”

Sounds like the sponsor police will be out in full force–one can only hope they’re putting as much effort into the safety and security of the attendees and athletes as they are for that of their sponsors’ products. Be careful out there.

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Yesterday, I asked a question: If you could reinvent trade shows, what would they look like?

Today, TSMI’s Rich Westerfield posted some great ideas about what could (and in some cases, is) being done to reinvent the expo. As he says, ” think you’ll find that for many of the ideas you come up with, there’s really no reason to wait.”

So why are so many shows (including pretty much all the ones I’ve been to in the past year) still waiting? In this era of experiential marketing, we all need to think of new ways to fix old problems if we want trade shows to keep their status as a top marketing tool.

And why are Rich and I the only ones talking about this? Let’s hear your thoughts–seen anything innovative or interesting being done lately?

Here are links to articles that have some more good ideas:
Inside TS2
Mission Critical: Delivering Exhibitor ROI
Listen to Your Exhibitors

To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.

Can you imagine being able to recreate the meetings industry? Just a blank slate and your ideas–no history, no balky stuck-in-the-1950s board members, no hotel attrition–and you had the authority to make it actually happen? Seth Godin invited just such a type of thinking on Seth’s Blog: Starting Over, when he talked about China’s unique position these days to completely reinvent the car. (Side note: today’s Boston Globe had a story on how pollution from Asia is being found on the East Coast of the U.S.–maybe they should reinvent the car, and the factory, and the agricultural business, to shame the rest of us into better environmental practices. End of sermon.)

If you could start over, what would your vision for this industry be? It hurts my brain to even try to untangle the big ball of yarn the meetings and hospitality business has become, but it is interesting to think about, isn’t it?

Can you imagine being able to recreate the meetings industry? Just a blank slate and your ideas–no history, no balky stuck-in-the-1950s board members, no hotel attrition–and you had the authority to make it actually happen? Seth Godin invited just such a type of thinking on Seth’s Blog: Starting Over, when he talked about China’s unique position these days to completely reinvent the car. (Side note: today’s Boston Globe had a story on how pollution from Asia is being found on the East Coast of the U.S.–maybe they should reinvent the car, and the factory, and the agricultural business, to shame the rest of us into better environmental practices. End of sermon.)

If you could start over, what would your vision for this industry be? It hurts my brain to even try to untangle the big ball of yarn the meetings and hospitality business has become, but it is interesting to think about, isn’t it?

I just heard from a friend about a nifty new Web site launched by TSA where you can look up your airport and departure time to get estimated wait times. Even though it has a disclaimer–“Please note that your personal experience may differ due to weather, airport flight schedules, staffing conditions, holidays or special events”–it still should give you a clue about whether it’ll be a breeze to get through security, or a line long enough to get people mooing (why do people do that when they’re in a long line?)

No, this isn’t about jobs (though we do have some job listings and a Career Toolkit on our site).

No, today I’m asking for help from any medical meeting planners who might be skimming the blog. Medical Meetings is working with several CME providers to develop a checklist for working with outside fundraisers for CME events. If you have any suggestions or ideas, or would like to be a part of the process, please e-mail me. We’re just getting started, and could use all the help and input we can get!