Peter Hutchins posts an interesting result from ASAE and The Center’s Technlogy Conference today:

When asked in today’s Technology Conference Town Hall Meeting how many people had been to any form of technology training in the last year, a startling percentage of the room indicated that time had prevented them from taking advantage of any technology learning opportunity.

Do you buy that? I don’t, for reasons I outline in a comment on his post. If you are jazzed about the technology (or aardvark farming, or whatever the topic is), nothing will stop you from learning more about it, on your own time and in your own way if need be. The information’s out there on the Web to learn about pretty much anything, for free in most cases, so why not dive in? But, if you’re not interested, your employer can shove all kinds of training down your throat and you still won’t swallow. The excuse may be that you don’t have time, but the reality is that you don’t have the interest.

I would argue, hard, that these days, if you have the will, you’ll find the way (including time) to learn. If you don’t, any excuse will do, and time is a good one since everyone is so starved for it these days. Funny thing is that time spent learning usually ends up providing you with ways to make each of those precious minutes count a bit more. As Alanis Morissette would say, isn’t it ironic?

Or at least your brain thinks that’s the case, according to a research study Tom Asacker talks about on A Clear Eye (looks like a story about it was published in Science magazine). So, according to the study, if someone gives you a glass of $10 wine and tells you it’s from a $90 bottle, you actually will think it tastes better. From Tom’s blog:

Neuroscientist Antonio Rangel sums it up for Science this way: “Subjects believe that more expensive wines are likely to taste better. These expectations end up influencing their actual experience.”

I wonder if they also studied the flip side, say if the TED Conference only cost $100 to get in, would people enjoy it less? That’d be interesting to know (I doubt it, not with those presentations!).

But it is a good argument for not underpricing your event. While you’d think a freebie would draw a big crowd, it’s amazing how often people devalue something when it doesn’t cost them anything, even if its actual value is high. Which may be why so many industry suppliers who provide fams, dinners, and other things of pretty high value for free or very low cost to planners find themselves getting stiffed by no-shows who RSVP’d that they’d be there.

This research also bolsters the meeting planning basic of doing everything you can to put on a champagne meeting at beer prices. If it looks like a million bucks, their experience will likely match that perception, not the more measly reality.

Humans really are interesting critters, aren’t we?

No, not the Oscar winners–the hotels and restaurants who received a four- or five-star designation from Mobil Travel Guide. And the stars go to…nah, I’m not going to list them all here. Why should I, when Hotel Online does it for me?

Here’s to a star-studded year!

It’s bad enough that just picking up a can of Coke in mini bar will trigger a charge, even if you put it back, in many hotels nowadays. But now, some hotels are putting trays of snacks on top of the mini bar, and charging if anything gets moved (they can tell because of a sensor attached to a scale in the tray). Even if there’s a note explaining the fees nearby, I know I’d either knock the tray over, or pick something up, or do something to trigger a charge that I’d have to argue away later. For a fun discussion on this, visit this post on Gizmodo. My favorite comment was this one:

I think it would be poetic justice to get a $2000 a night room and prepay it with nothing but restocking items for the minibar. You could get 334 cans of $6 soda and stack them in a pyramid in the center of the room. Better yet, pile them on top of the pressure sensitive tray and call down to tell them that your bill has been settled. Before doing so make sure to call the credit card company and tell them to cancel your card because it was stolen…

Thanks to the MiForum listserv for the pointer.

If you use Web conferencing technology, or even just are thinking about it, Ken Molay of the Webinar Blog has set up a great site for you. Here’s a little of what he has to say about it:

The site is a bulletin board and open forum for anyone with an opinion, story, question, or passion for web conferencing. It is not associated with any vendor and you can talk openly and honestly about your experiences. Thinking of trying a new web conferencing technology? See what other people think of it. Wondering if somebody has hit a problem you are having? Post a question.

I love the idea, and hope it takes off in a big way. So, go check out the Web Conferencing Community Forum for yourself.

Yesterday, though I can’t find any news stories about it, I heard on the MeCo listserv that the front desk systems at some Las Vegas hotels went down for several hours, causing some pandemonium among those looking to check in and check out. Then today we heard that the Monte Carlo hotel and casino on the strip caught on fire and had to be evacuated. If anyone has a first-hand experience with either of these events, I’d love to hear the details.

In the meantime, be safe, Las Vegans (not sure what you call them, but I like the sound of Las Vegans!). Seems like your corner of the world is under attack by gremlins.

Ann Oliveri now has posted twice about creating a distinctive soundtrack for your meeting as a way to engage people in a multisensory way. I like the idea of creating your own song and using it as people filter into general sessions, etc., rather than a playlist of popular songs (that you’d have to pay royalties on, as one Acronym commenter noted). Something distinctive that would brand your conference as much as the logo, maybe.

Then again, conferences often are kind of aural overload already, at least for me. Between the background noise of hundreds or thousands of people chatting, to (usually way too loud) musical acts and keynote speakers, to the general city noise–hey, I’m a country girl and all those sirens and horns beeping make me edgy–I don’t know if adding more tunes would give me a positive vibe or not.

Then again (again), I loved the musical spoofs ASAE did last year, and Jason Alexander’s opening number at PCMA could become an anthem for meeting planners everywhere. So, I guess mark me down as ambivalent. I know the one time I brought in tunes to set the mood for our regular editorial meeting, it went over like a lead balloon, but maybe they just didn’t groove to Krosfyah the way I do.

Dale Irwin never fails to crack me up with his column in Financial And Insurance meetings, but his latest–his predictions for meeting planning in 2008–is a corker. My favorite bit:

New software will allow you to set up your database so that people you don’t like will be given all of the center seats on the airplanes and the rooms next to the elevators at the hotel. It can be downloaded for free at www.makemyday.punk. It puts revenge back in your hands — where it belongs.

Heh heh. I’d buy it.

As I go through my notes from the PCMA conference in Seattle, I found another green tidbit I thought was really interesting: at a press conference, the Washington State Convention and Trade Center vice president of operations mentioned that the center partners with a company that recycles old trade show banners and turns them into bags. I tried a quick Google and didn’t come up with any obvious hits of companies that do this, but I thought it was a pretty cool concept.

OK, back to my notes.

Remember when I told you about getting pulled up on stage at PCMA as one of the three people who’d read both of Gilmore and Pine’s books? PCMA caught the moment for posterity. While it’s not the most flattering of shots, I just have to share it here: