Opened with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, which was amazing, awesome, all those other nice “a” words. New Orleans CVB chief Stephen Perry also welcomed us to town. My favorite quote from him that is oh so true: “When you come to New Orleans, your molecules rearrange a little bit.”

Another interesting note, this from PCMA head Deborah Sexton: More than 450 people volunteered to do three separate PCMA community service projects over the weekend. I know everyone who comes to town does community service anymore, but that’s a lot of volunteers!

I wasn’t expecting all that much from Stephen Lewis, the keynote speaker and co-director of AIDS-Free World, but I was the first to pop out of my seat to give him a standing ovation when he finished. I did not expect I’d be starting the day off bawling my eyes out. Seriously. He brought home the horrors, injustices, just plain wrong things in this world in such a visceral way that I felt absolutely obscene for not doing more about the AIDS crisis in Africa, the women being tortured, raped and murdered around the world, all the things he has seen and lived with in the course of his work. I wanted to quit my job and join an organization that can help do something, anything, to make this world a more equitable, safe, humane place. I still want to cry thinking about it.

I’ve heard that some people thought he was inappropriate because what he spoke about had nothing to do with meeting planning, but I disagree. It had everything to do with being human, and whatever our professions, that’s what we are at the heart of us. And as humans, there’s so much more we can be doing through our work, our lives.

I loved the opening reception at Mardi Gras World (I think, but am not sure, that this is the right URL for the place). The chow was really good, especially the seafood (though I hear the kobe sliders with bleu cheese were pretty awesome, too) and the desserts. The venue was wicked cool—first we walked through a warehouse full of Mardi Gras floats, high school bands, and various stilt-walkers and other greeters, which was pretty cool (actually, kind of cold, as the weather has gotten a touch New England-y today). Then we got inside the building, where there was a great band playing. I’m not remembering her name, but there was a little girl, couldn’t have been more than 10 years old, singing, who was amazing. I think I already mentioned the food was great. Needless to say, the company was beyond compare!

There was plenty of room for everyone, between the main room, the VooDoo Lounge upstairs (very cool decor), and the Grand Oaks “outside” room which I really thought was outdoors for a while, before we figured out the sky was a little too beautiful to be real. The whole thing was just really, really, well done. Congrats on being off to an excellent start, PCMA and New Orleans. Looking forward to the morning and getting down to the educational portion, but the kickoff was just great. Two big, very full thumbs up from this attendee!

So what are people Twittering about at PCMA this year? Here’s a look at the latest tweets:

I was a little worried about getting to New Orleans for the Professional Convention Management Association’s annual meeting. My flight was supposed to be tomorrow (Sunday), a day and time for which we also have a blizzard warning in effect to the tune of 10 inches or so of snow. Normally, not a big deal, but with a morning flight and a tight connection, I was pretty sure I was doomed to spend a lot of time in airports and likely not getting here until Monday. Not acceptable. (Aside: Do check out this conversation on the Meetings Collaborative discussion board about how and if force majeure could apply to a situation where a show faces attrition because people couldn’t get there due to the flooding in the Northwest or the interminable snow/sleet/ice in the Northeast. If I were writing those contracts, I’d try to get some language in about it.)

The new thing I learned today was that an airline can be smart. I know, I know, I tend to bash them endlessly, but US Air did a smart thing today when I called and asked if I could switch my flight to this afternoon and beat the storm. They got me on the flight and didn’t charge me the $200-plus cost differential, much less the ubiquitous $100 change fee, because it was weather-related. The flights were only half-full anyway, and as I see it, they were saving themselves from having to deal with at least one ticked off person tomorrow, but I really didn’t think they’d do it gratis. Thanks, US Air! But, because I just have to grumble, $2 for a bottle of water?

Another note: I was able to find a hotel as I scrambled to pack and get off to the airport a day early that is closer to the convention center, with a really nice room and free wireless Internet,for just about half of what I’m paying for my in-block room I booked for the rest of my stay. I didn’t even have to look hard to find it. And I know of several people who booked outside the block for the same reason. I wonder if PCMA is feeling the pinch of all those low-priced rooms just begging for PCMA-goers to book. I feel kind of stupid for paying so much to be in the block when I initially booked my room, but then again, I also feel like it’s the right thing to do. But I doubt many attendees who don’t know/understand/care about the room block/attrition dilemma will lose any sleep over it–sleep in their out-of-block rooms, that is. With the economy the way it is these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if people were actually directed to book outside the block if cheaper rooms were available. I’d be more surprised if they weren’t, frankly.

Anyway, I’m so happy to be here. I love New Orleans–she’s been very, very good to me, as I talked about in this editorial–and this is the first time I’ve been here since Katrina. It will be good to get to know her again.

See this and lots more reenactments of Far Side cartoons (I miss you, Gary Larson!) here. Thanks to BoingBoing for the pointer.

“When the economy is down, the first thing to go is trade shows,” says Richard Doherty, an independent analyst for the Envisioneering Group (Electronics trade shows change with the times, NYT).

I guess that’s an answer of sorts to my question of last week: What really is the future of trade shows? It sounds like a lot of people at CES anyway are cutting back on the number of people they send to the show, and/or holding hospitality suites instead of buying booths. And it’s not just electronics shows feeling the pinch, of course. This from an NYT article about the book business:

But the economic downturn is forcing publishers to scrutinize some of the industry’s hoariest traditions. One ripe target: the international book fairs in London and Frankfurt at which publishers and agents gather, ostensibly to make deals. But in reality they spend much of their time making the rounds of parties and dinners.

Many houses that previously have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on flights, hotel bills and cocktail hours are planning to prune the size of the contingents they send to the fairs this year. Similarly, companies are revising their budgets for BookExpo America, the annual spring jamboree at which publishers promote their fall lineups to booksellers.

A slightly more upbeat quote, this time from Saturday’s Boston Globe (also about what’s happening with CES): “But Boston-area technology executives are purchasing their plane tickets anyway. They say that recession or no recession, CES is the place to be.

“‘It’s still an important industry event,” said Colin Angle, chief executive of iRobot Corp. of Bedford, maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. ‘I think that the ones who feel they can afford to show up, be aggressive, and generate a buzz are the ones who are going to be selling product next year.’”

Someone sent me a link to this video from consultant/speaker Steve Miller. He makes some interesting points about what he thinks will continue to draw people to trade shows (hint: It’s not the opportunity for face-to-face interaction that most people point to. More like hand-to-gadget interaction, or the ability to play with stuff in person. Which I buy into, for some types of shows. For others, like our industry shows where the product often is a destination that can’t be experienced on the show floor, what will be the key driver to get attendees to sh ow up?).