According to the Miami Today News:

One national convention and two pharmaceutical firms’ meetings forced from New Orleans by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina have found meeting space in Coral Gables as other displaced conventions scramble to find homes here.

While, of course, the pharmaceutical company names are being kept close to the vest, the third meeting mentioned is the National Hispanic Science Network’s 150-person event.

From a press release:

The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau has been working closely with the George R. Brown Convention Center to continue to accommodate conventions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. While the GRBCC in downtown Houston is currently hosting 1,100 Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the facility continues to be fully-functional, as are all area hotels. GRBCC representatives anticipate resuming all normal business operations on September 17 in preparation for the Texas Association of School Administrators/Texas Association of School Board (TASA/TASB) Annual Conference scheduled to begin that week.

Two exhibit halls, measuring 127,000 and 130,000 square-feet, once lined wall-to-wall with donations and one of several residence areas, have already been cleared out and will host the TASA/TASB Annual Conference.

When Mayor Bill White announced on Friday, Aug. 30 the GRBCC would house evacuees, the GHCVB worked quickly to secure a new venue for La Cumbre, a major Latin American travel conference booked at the GRBCC, at Minute Maid Park. The conference began three days later. The nontraditional venue provided an exciting tradeshow environment, and the show was deemed a success by all parties involved, including the 1,200 delegates from around the world.

“The world has witnessed Houston’s entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude these past few weeks,” said Gerard J. “Jordy” Tollett, president and CEO of the GHCVB. “The Astrodome and the GRBCC were both converted into shelters in less than 24 hours. We relocated and replanned a convention from the ground up in three days. We’re also doing what we can to take care of conventions originally scheduled to take place in New Orleans.”

Most Houston conventions have not been affected by Hurricane Katrina, although a few taking place in September have been rescheduled or postponed. The Turbomachinery Symposium, with 4,400 delegates and an economic impact of more than $4 million, has been rescheduled for Dec. 12-15 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The U.S. Arab Economic Forum, scheduled for Sept. 14-16, has been postponed.

Hurricane evacuees are ready to move on as workers from the city, state, convention center and volunteers have helped more than 24,000 of GRBCC registered evacuees find resources. During the next 10 days GRBCC will begin to condense hurricane relief operations.

Since evacuees moved into the facility on Aug. 30, management and staff have been running operations much like it would for any other client. GRBCC organizes daily food and beverage distribution, writes and issues a daily newsletter updating clients, makes hourly announcements on the public address system, coordinates with third party resources like HISD or the Red Cross and runs constant updates on the LCD screens throughout the GRBCC.

GRBCC workers will ensure that each currently registered evacuee is properly placed and receives physical and financial support prior to September 17.

Not that too many people use them anyway, but after deleting at least 500 spam comments today, I just can’t take it anymore and am turning off the comments until we can get it under control. If you want to comment on something on face2face, please e-mail me and I’ll post it for you. Stinks, I know, but I have better things to do than delete hundreds of online strip poker offers every couple of hours. If I missed any, my apologies.

I know that everyone likes to meet in Mexico (especially places like Cancun, though I went to a spectacular meeting in Mexico City years ago, and have been longing to return ever since), I was surprised to read that meetings and conventions are a USD 1.5 billion industry in Mexico.

Yup, once again, the news is full of stories about the possibility that Delta and Northwest might go belly up today. Not too surprising, given that U.S. airlines are expected to lose $7.4 billion this year, mainly thanks to high fuel prices. Which is why airline organizations are lobbying for a one-year moratorium from the federal tax on jet fuel, which they say will save $600 million (well, save airlines $600 mil. Which, presumably, has to be made up somewhere).

After 9/11, we saw a shift toward more regional meetings as people stopped wanting to fly. Will all this airline distress have a similar effect, or are we all so used to bankrupt airlines that keep on flying that it won’t much affect potential attendees? I’m guessing the latter—at least, unless and until the cutbacks begin to erode what little service is left to the point that passengers are worried for their safety. But with the current high price of gas, is driving in really a good alternative? Maybe the big winner in the whole situation will be e-conferencing? Who knows. But it looks like we’re in for another interesting era in meeting planning.