Rich “the Scoop” Westerfield reports on TSMI about EXPO magazine’s Best New Show awards, and why they’re going to change the rules. From TSMI:

After the announcements of winners were made public a few weeks ago, EXPO had some explaining to do.

It turns out one of the shows that won may not be all it was cracked up to be. And competitors of the show in question were not happy about them receiving an award.

After handling the complaints and admitting there was little they could do because the rules did not require third party audits, the powers that be at EXPO decided they could not revoke the award…But there is a silver lining. We’ve learned that EXPO will change the criteria for entry for its 2005 Best New Show Awards. All nominees will have to provide third-party audits that substantiate their claims.

A good lesson for all of us who run award programs of some kind or another–self-reporting isn’t good enough. Always, always verify before announcing the winners.

According to CNN, United may soon be offering in-flight wireless Internet access. And I’m sure it’ll cost just as much as those phones on the back of the seats do. But that’s OK, I’d love to blog at 30,000 feet. The article says it could be coming as soon as next year.

This must be my day for weird things–though this isn’t as weird as a chicken clothing line: An inflatable form that will magically de-wrinkle any dress shirt. I could use one of these–ironing is not my strong suit:

12 programmable options for ironing shirts made of silk, rayon, cotton,
linen and all other non-stretch fabrics
1 cool programme for airing and freshening outerwear garments like
sports coats and jackets
2 warm air programmes for drying damp jackets and ironing them if
required

(Via BoingBoing.)

I don’t know if this is for real or not, but I just had to share: A range of fashion clothing for chickens has been launched by a group of designers working in Austria and Japan. From the site:

Austrian Edgar Honetschlaeger said he decided to work with the Japanese on the project because he hoped to make the chicken label clothing essential. He said “It’s something that you don’t really need but everyone wants to have anyway”.

The idea has already taken off after the designers staged a fashion show that is now touring the world.

Several farmers have already had chicken suits with the name of their farm ordered and many advertisers have enquired about the possibility of having sponsored suits promoting everything from KFC to chicken soup.

Well, I guess if you work for a poultry association, this could be another sponsorship opportunity! (Via BoingBoing.)

This may be painful news for the more control-freaky among us, but according to this article in Wired, those who disobeyed the authorities on 9/11 were "better informed and far more knowledgeable than emergency operators far from the scene."

In a connected world, ordinary people often have access to better information than officials do.

Not too surprising in today’s Blackberry/cell phone world, but still, it doesn’t seem right. At any rate, this doesn’t mean planners can put their heads in the sand when it comes to risk management and contingency planning. If you haven’t yet set up a system and protocols to handle the different types of emergencies that may come up during a meeting, don’t wait. (To read more about what you can do, check out the articles on this site.)