It may not be a glamour job, but what would you do without the guys who haul out the trash after a long day of meetings? These and other jobs performed mainly by small companies get some attention in this article in the Sun-Sentinel. It’s a nice tribute to those behind-the-scenes folks who usually don’t get much attention, especially not in the general press.

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I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about these before, so forgive me if this is familiar. Two very handy sites for air travelers:

Airport status reports

Security checkpoint wait times

Now they’re rejecting visas and passports if the person’s photo shows them smiling. I kid you not–click here for the story.

According to a press release, at least one virtual expo is expecting to do really well: “Ziff Davis Media’s eSeminars Group, which is part of Ziff Davis Internet, announced today that its first-ever Security Virtual Trade Show has seen explosive growth in registrants; nearly 3,500 senior-level technology executives registered for the event.”

Remembering Expo Tech Expo, a virtual tradeshow for this industry that could only pull about 350 back when we reported on it in 2001, I wonder if this will ever make it out of the realm of tech shows. Especially into this industry, where people see them as a threat or menace to live shows.

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Rich of TSMR blogging fame has posted some incredible stuff while I was out stuffing myself on T-day turkey:

Michael Hough’s ideas on how to increase the recognition and lobbying power of the tradeshow industry. Idea #1: ” Combine IAEM, SISO, PCMA, CEIR and CIC plus the convention council of ASAE into one really powerhouse association called the International Association of Event Organizers (IAEO) and locate its headquarters in Washington, DC. I would recommend that Gary Shapiro be the volunteer Chairman of IAEO and that Jim Bracken be its full time President.”

The item that got Hough’s dander up was Rich’s discussion of how up to half of the Chinese delegation is pulling out of the Computer Electronics Show due to visa issues. As Rich says, “This is bad. Real bad.”

For more, go to MeetingsNet’s home page and type “visa” into the search box. Here are a few to get you started:

New Visa Regs Hit International Attendees (May 2004)

Visa Hassles Hurt Meetings (June 2004)

To comment on this post, click on “comments” below. To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.

Rich of TSMR blogging fame has posted some incredible stuff while I was out stuffing myself on T-day turkey:

Michael Hough’s ideas on how to increase the recognition and lobbying power of the tradeshow industry. Idea #1: ” Combine IAEM, SISO, PCMA, CEIR and CIC plus the convention council of ASAE into one really powerhouse association called the International Association of Event Organizers (IAEO) and locate its headquarters in Washington, DC. I would recommend that Gary Shapiro be the volunteer Chairman of IAEO and that Jim Bracken be its full time President.”

The item that got Hough’s dander up was Rich’s discussion of how up to half of the Chinese delegation is pulling out of the Computer Electronics Show due to visa issues. As Rich says, “This is bad. Real bad.”

For more, go to MeetingsNet’s home page and type “visa” into the search box. Here are a few to get you started:

New Visa Regs Hit International Attendees (May 2004)

Visa Hassles Hurt Meetings (June 2004)

To comment on this post, click on “comments” below. To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.

This is a little strange, but what the heck: What your computer does when you’re not looking. I never thought icons had such a bad case of rivalry!

OK, back to work. (Thanks, Bruce, for the link!)

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If so, then cleancomedians.com might be a good place to start. While all the promotional stuff at the beginning and end of the video clips are a little annoying (don’t tell me how good she is, let me hear her!), Jan McInnis, the featured comedian when I visited the site, was really funny.

I particularly liked the bit about heliskiing–when her friend said not to worry, they have dogs specially trained to find people after avalanches, she said something like, “So, I’ll be the one wearing a t-bone strapped to my head. Sorry, but I want them to find me first!” Good, clean fun. I like it.

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To all my U.S. friends, happy Thanksgiving!

If you’re trying to promote your meeting to a certain demographic, be sure you do it right, according to this article in Promo. For example, don’t go overboard trying to be hip in your brochure if you want to attract 20-somethings: “if you ask today’s youth what marketers are doing wrong, it’s that they are trying to hit what is currently hip and new. If it’s already on MTV, it’s already been played out,” [Ola Mobolade, director, Greenfield Consulting Group] said. “I call it the Tom Brokaw rule—once he says something on the nightly news, it’s not edgy anymore.”

And if you’re marketing to seniors, avoid glossy paper:

“The worst thing you can do is target seniors with a flier that is on a glossy piece of paper,” said Kurt Medina, president, Medina Associates, Rose Valley, PA. “Seniors have a higher sensitivity to glare.”

Medina added that the yellowing of the human lens also makes it harder for seniors to see blue, green and purple, and that less light gets to the eye as well.

“And never put copy over an illustration,” she said. “That message is not going to be seen.”

Well, I’ve learned my new thing for today.

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If your attendees have been there, done that, check out Unusual Hotels of the World, a site dedicated to bringing you info on hotels made of ice, tree houses, water towers, prisons (!), and just about every other strange configuration you can think of.

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