According to Kingston Whig-Standard, the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is testing out giving RFID (radio-frequency identification) cards to non-Canadian visitors crossing into the U.S. from three points in Canada. This program, part of the US-VISIT initiative, starts August 4. A snip:

Travellers required to use the technology include landed immigrants living in Canada, Canadian citizens who are either engaged to a U.S. citizen or who have applied for a special business visa.

They’ll have to carry the wireless devices as a way for border guards to access the electronic information stored inside a document about the size of a large index card.

Visitors to the U.S. will get the card the first time they cross the border and will be required the carry the document on subsequent crossings to and from the States.

Border guards will be able to access the information electronically from 12 metres away to enable those carrying the devices to be processed more quickly.

While it’s only supposed to track visitors within the immediate border area, this seems to be to be opening the door to tracking people wherever they go, should it prove to be successul in reducing the admittance of terrorists to the U.S. But how on earth will we know whether or not they’re terrorists? And with the breaching of security in all kinds of corporate environments that has led to an increased possibility of identity theft, does this not raise the risk more for visitors to the U.S.? If I were someone who fell within the program’s parameters, I’d think twice about crossing the border to come to a meeting, that’s for sure. While I think RFID has a lot of interesting, positive applications, this ain’t one of them. Here’s hoping the pilot turns into a total failure and isn’t implemented more widely.

The Association of the United States Army really ticked some planners off when it announced that its Annual Forum would be held October 3 to 5 this fall—smack dab on top of the start of both Rosh Hashanah and Ramadan. While I have no idea what the Army’s demographics are, one has to assume that there are observant Jews and Muslims in the ranks who won’t be thrilled to have the meeting fall on their major holy days.

I understand that the event outgrew its former hotel and had to move to the convention center, and probably were at its mercy when it comes to dates. Here’s hoping the organizers at least acknowledge the problem, and try to provide some way for attendees of those faiths to observe their worship needs.

I just found out that some face2face readers are experiencing pop-up ads when they come to the site. We aren’t running any, so I have no idea what that’s about. We have been having some technical difficulties this week, which is all I can think of that would account for it. If it’s not already fixed, hang on. We’re working on it. Big apologies all around—believe me, I can’t stand the little stinkers either!

Update: I figured out where the pop-ups are coming from&38212;they’re associated with the poll. It’s the price we pay for getting something for free! Oh well, I’ll be taking that down soon anyway, but in the meantime, be forewarned that you will get a pop-up if you click on the poll.

Sounds like European meetings and incentives are looking up these days. According to this item on the latest IMEX Quarterly Barometer of Business Tourism Confidence,

Findings this quarter (to June) indicate that nearly 76% of buyers and agencies expect that their demand will grow during the next year. Over 18% forecast that this will be ‘significantly up’, with that of the balance, ‘slightly up’. This combined total contrasts with equivalent recent proportions of 69% (July 2004), 63% (November 2004), and 60% (February 2005). The underlying pattern holds also for budget forecasts with the combined figure for anticipated growth currently running at 55%, also a new high.

I like this quote: “Doomthinking is a thing of the past.” I wonder if the London bombings will have any impact on the second half of the year, but I kind of doubt it. From everything I’ve read, they didn’t make much of a dent in meetings, other than making some attendees want alternate transportation options.

This could be an amazing incentive for the right group: Relief Riders International/ Voluntourism on horseback bring relief supplies to communities in need (Jeeps and camel carts are provided for non-riders who want to participate).

Winner of Outside Magazine’s 2005 Best Trips Award, RRI combines horse-back riding through the magical landscapes of northwestern India with a life-changing humanitarian mission. Its February 2005 Rajasthan ride was, according to rider Edward Goldberg, “the perfect opportunity to step outside of our daily lives to help others.”

I don’t know if they even cater to incentive groups, but I bet they’d be willing to do it if asked. If anyone reading this wants to do it, invite me along to report on the experience, please! I don’t know why this idea blows me away so completely, but it really does. Wow.

This is so not good: Subcontractor’s Story Details Post-9/11 Chaos (Washington Post). From this story, it appears that Sunnye L. Sims, an event planner for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts before starting up her own meeting planning company, Eclipse Events, in 2000, cashed in big time on a meeting planning subcontract for the U.S. government to “help set up and run screener-assessment centers in a hurry at more than 150 hotels and other facilities.” The project ended up being a $24 million windfall for Eclipse. And now the auditors are sniffing around:

The cost of the overall contract rose in less than a year to $741 million from $104 million, and federal auditors concluded that $303 million of that spending was unsubstantiated.

Spurred by that audit, federal agents are examining the entire contract and focusing on Eclipse, according to government officials and Pearson. Investigators at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General are trying to determine how and why Eclipse obtained the work and whether the company overcharged the government or submitted false claims.

It sounds like Sims, her partner, and her lawyer aren’t talking other than to say it was all on the up and up, but this smells pretty fishy to me. I know planners are always upset that no one knows, understands, or respects what they do, but I don’t think this is the kind of press the industry needs. If anyone knows more about this one, please get in touch. If the allegations are true, this is truly unbelievable!

Many thanks to Rita for the pointer.

Update: I had forgotten about this article, which details how HelmsBriscoe got and fulfilled the contract. Funny, it doesn’t mention subbing out work to Eclipse. And check out this quote: ““We are protecting the taxpayer’s dollars, so we are diligent about monitoring expenses,” says the TSA’s Rosenker. ‘We needed documentation for everything.’” Well, I guess not exactly “everything.”

If you don’t care about blogging, skip this one. If you do, check out what Hugh Macleod’s been up to: He’s created The HughPage, a sort of Craigslist for bloggers. If this gets traction, it’ll be amazing. We’ll see if Rich beats me to creating a Meetings/Tradeshow blogger genre…

Fast Company is posing an interesting poll question: Who would you rather work with? Someone less-skilled but likeable, or more-skilled and a jerk?

I voted for less-skilled and likeable, my reasoning being that people can learn skills, but we’re kind of stuck with our personalities. Having worked with a few jerks in my lifetime, I don’t care how good they are at their jobs if they make life miserable for everyone around them. That interferes with everyone’s productivity and brings the whole group down. But that’s just what I think. Love to hear your views (and do go vote at the FastCo poll).

I just saw this on Tom Asacker’s site and cracked up, given my whole “rename this blog” kick lately: $400,000 spent to rename Marina Bay… Marina Bay. Ha!

With the poll now starting to show a distinct lean toward keeping face2face as face2face, we may well join Marina Bay in the much-ado-about-nothing department, though I have gotten some great alternate suggestions. But the idea of spending $400k in the process just boggles my mind!

P.S. Maybe we’d like face2face better if we Google-fied it!

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire . . . William Butler Yeats

If you are interested in association management (or know of someone who is) and want to light your own fire, there’s an upcoming course, TCA 487, Association Management, that focuses on the management of trade associations and their relationship to hospitality management. (Disclosure: I am pretty friendly with the instructor, MaryAnne P. Bobrow, CAE, CMP, of Bobrow & Associates, and she’s really excited about this course.)

According to MaryAnne:

This class is taught entirely online through UNLV’s Distance Education program. Each week of this 15-week class is structured to parallel the new CAE domains and promises to be an excellent class both for those preparing for the CAE exam and for those who simply wish to learn more about the field. Students who have taken this class have remarked that it really opened their eyes to the world of Trade Associations and just how much was involved in managing them.

Click here to view this course online; click here to register online.

Please feel free to pass this along to others who might be interested, and check out the other UNLV online offerings for meetings/hospitality. I hear the whole program is great—from those who have gone through it, too, not just the instructors!