And now another for those on the gross-out patrol: FDA report reveals airline food could pose health threat. Cockroaches, mice … want a little extra protein with that sandwich? On this one, though, I do believe the airlines when they say they have quality measures in place when it comes to the caterers they use. Or maybe I just want to believe them?

(Thanks to Jaunted for the pointer.)

Check out Hotel Chatter’s list of the 10 grossest things they’ve found in a hotel room. A big eww to all 10.

I think the worst I ever had was a big blood spatter on the wall and part of the ceiling, partially hidden by the curtain. I mean really big, like someone gutted a moose in there (or so I told myself while running for the front desk). I also found what looked suspiciously like a hairball coughed up by a cat in the tub once.

Semi-related: About That Item You Left in Your Room…

OK, your turn.

Someone asked one of the industry listservs recently if trade shows were on their way out. Some may well be, depending on what industry they serve, and how many shows are already working in that space, and how many alternatives their prospective exhibitors and attendees have to learn about new products and services. Some will lumber on due to legacy momentum; others will nimbly hop to new platforms to keep up with what their attendees and exhibitors need and want and do just fine. Others will find it just business as usual. Yet others will likely grow as they find new audiences and product areas related enough to make it make sense to expand in their directions. That’s what I think, anyway.

Here’s another view, from Dan O’Shea at the Big Fat Marketing Blog.

Check out these three Twitter tools that can make life easier for those who like to tweet at live events (like me). Actually, if you look down in the comments, there are a few more that look interesting, too.

Update: And now Jeff Hurt posts about five meetings-related technology tools that also sound pretty cool. (Aside: I don’t know why, but I’m dying to play SCVNGR, which is one of the tools Jeff talks about.)

I hope the airlines aren’t reading Rafi Mohammed’s Pricing for Profit blog! He recently proposed that airlines charge for an empty middle seat (see the post for details on how it could mean $200 million/year in new profits for an airline). Shh!

Check this out: A conference room with tables that reset themselves:

I agree with Josh over at Automaton that this likely will never be cheap and easy enough to become something you regularly could expect to see in future conference rooms, but it could save some staffers some backaches, and it would be pretty cool if you could link the robots to the Internet reservation system so the room could rearrange itself to be ready when you need it.

(Thanks to Alison for the pointer!)

Here’s a headscratcher: If you pay American Airlines’ new $9-$19 Boarding and Flexibility Package fee, you don’t have to pay a fee for priority boarding, or getting on a standby flight, and you could get $75 off the change-fee if you need to switch to another flight.

As Chris Elliott says, “I’m not making this up, folks. American is allowing you to pay a fee to avoid paying a fee.”

What will they think of next?

Here’s another oldie but goodie I found stashed in my RSS treasure box: Think and Drink, from Event Marketing 2.0. Basically, these originated pretty simply: Scientists get together at a pub to talk about something, and the organizer (”an international scientific publisher who is using these small gathering to brand themselves among the thought-leaders,” says poster Margaret Core), just buys the first round.

I know people do this informally at pretty much every meeting, but I’m not sure I like the liability aspect of doing it as an organization. Still, it could work for the right group.

I just ran across this old post (don’t ask!) on Jessica Levin’s Driving Your Business, Relationships and Life Through Experiential Marketing and Delicious Cuisine blog, and it cracked me up. So of course, I had to share.

The true event-planning timeline: It begins like so…

Weeks 52 to 8 before conference = Do nothing, because no one mentioned it to the events planning team.

Weeks 8 to 6 before= attempt frantically to get some guideline from your client as to number of attendees, acceptable locations, budget, flow, agenda, gifts, speakers, print collateral, invitations, registration….
* source 10 locations in the Northeast, then 10 on the West coast, then five in Chicago as your client changes their mind.
* bug the chain of command to sign off on the meeting so that you can actually book one of the 92 locations who now have your specs.
* Develop your ability to say key phrases like “Of course I can check New York for this December - you’re ok with a $550 room rate, right?” without flinching.

Weeks 6 to 4 before = repeat above
* give up on your client making decisions about the speakers because they’re focused on the design of the invitation and the $3 giveaway.
* automatically hit “delete” on the 324 emails that come to you from potential attendees asking when they can register, because you have nowhere near enough information to setup your online registration.

Here’s the rest. Or you can make up your own–what would you say happens during weeks 4-2, 2-1, and less than a week out?

Update: I just ran across this (thanks Julia!), “the real six phases of event management (adapted from project management),” by William O’Toole, Events Development Specialist with Event Project Management System:

1. Despair: No work, empty horizon
2. Enthusiasm: Awarded a contract
3. Disillusionment: Realised the full amount of work involved
4. Confusion: Desperately seeking suppliers, venues…
5. Panic: Ran out of time, money, friends, and hoping the event is working
6. Evaluate: Sacrifice of the innocent and promotion of the non-participant

This has to be the weirdest thing I’ve run across in a while: Rent a White Guy, from The Atlantic. It’s about an American expat in China who was hired to act as an executive from a non-existent U.S. company, including at a ribbon-cutting event. Is it theater? Is it fraud? Is it just one of those respect-the-differences things? I’ll leave it to you to judge.