This is brilliant, and something every conference organizer needs to put at the very heart of their program: Stop Doing Things to People. David Gurteen is so right when he points out that so many of our interactions (especially at conferences!) are designed to “make” someone do something differently. Can you imagine how different a conference would be if instead of having thought leaders dropping nuggets of wisdom about how we can do things their way, it was designed to facilitate everyone finding better ways to work with each other? I can’t even really picture how that would be, but boy is it interesting to contemplate. (Thanks to Johnnie Moore for the pointer.)

HotelChatter has come out with its picks for the top hotels for geeks, and I must be one, because I got awfully excited about things like the switch in The Eccelston Square Hotel bathrooms that turns the glass from see-through to opaque, and the Eden Hotel’s batcave.

But what’s really sweet for small meetings are the soon-to-debut Time Square Yotel’s Studiyo meeting/yoga spaces, and its Club Cabins, which according to HotelCHatter (I couldn’t find it on Yotel’s Web site, which is, while cool to look at, really hard to navigate) “are available to rent by the hour or the day (rates are still TBD) and feature white leather banquette seating, a coffee table that can flip out to a full-sized table, a flat-screen TV and a video game console. It’s also wired to work for both business presentations and get this, karaoke.”

I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this article, which excoriates a medical society for making money at its show by selling sponsorships and booth space.

I get that it’s of public interest because of the connection to public funds through Medicare and Medicaid, but this article seems to imply that any financial relationship between an association and its industry suppliers–including selling booths and banners–will bias the organization toward its sponsors and exhibitors (and advertisers, etc., etc.). But this isn’t unique to medical societies by any means: Exhibits and sponsorships are major sources of revenue for many associations.

So, is the traditional trade show/sponsorship model causing all our associations to provide biased education?

If so:
• Do we only care if it’s healthcare-related (which seems to be the case. I’ve never been to a large association convention that didn’t have a trade show floor and sponsors for everything from bags to banners to room keys and phone-charging stations, but I’ve never seen any public criticism of those shows for the practice)?

• How do we keep those financial relationships from tainting what the association does?

• Or do we need a new revenue model that eliminates the (possible, perceptual) problem by severing all financial ties between an association and its industry suppliers? Hard to imagine what that would look like, but I’m guessing reg fees would have to climb pretty astronomically, and attendees would miss out on learning about new products, which of course is a big part of the reason many attend.

If not, how do we combat this perception?

While it’s easy to bash Big Pharma for pretty much anything, it seems to me that if it’s wrong for one group to do, it’s wrong for all. My question is, is it wrong?

InFocus has a winner for its “What not to present” contest, and boy is it a doozy!

As Gizmodo says, “Do those boxes even say anything, or is this just some sort of psychological experiment?”

But this one, ah, this one I find strangely compelling, if totally nonsensical:

May your weird assets be on an upward trend! (More blindingly awful ppts here.)

I was talking with a friend this morning about her son, who will be graduating from high school this year. It seems like the tradition at this school is that the seniors pull some kind of prank at graduation. One year, the audience walked into what looked like a rave, complete with disco ball. Another year, she said, it was Star Wars-themed. This year, the seniors decided to have a TSA-themed prank: They’ll dress like TSA agents and screen everyone who’s entering the auditorium. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to laugh or cry, but I think it’s one more sign, along with kids playing pat-down, that airport screening has now officially entered our cultural consciousness.

Update: Further proof: After renovations, Disney’s Star Tours Star Wars simulator ride now includes a parody of TSA security checkpoints.

According to Special Events, caterers are saying the hot trends in food and beverage these days can be summed up as, “make it small and take it outside.” So, I guess the now-ubiquitous sliders will be with us for a while longer, as will picnics. One thing I’d like to see on more menus?

Trick pancakes! And not just pancakes decorated to look like something or other, but pancakes that are so far out there that you wouldn’t even know they’re pancakes. Like this one.

Or, more simply, like this one:

Just think of the logos or theme ideas you could put on people’s plates just be pre-pouring a little batter. Plus, I just like pancakes.

An anonymous Twitterer from a New York City hotel is cracking me up this morning tweeting some of the stupid things being said by hotel guests. And the tweeter, who goes by the handle @guestsfromhell, seems to overhear a lot of them. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Thanks to HotelChatter for the pointer.

The New York Times has caught onto the latest must-have meeting tool: the mobile app. This must mean that they’ve hit the mainstream now.

If you haven’t yet developed a mobile app for your meeting, or just want to learn more about creating a mobile app strategy, I’d like to invite you to check out a free webinar we’re hosting on May 26 at 2 p.m. Eastern on just that topic.

You’ll get to learn what the mobile app trends are from Jessica Levin, CMP, MBA, President and Chief Connector, Seven Degrees Communications. Midori Connolly, who in addition to being Senior Technology Advisor, Seven Degrees Communications, is CEO and Chief AVGirl at Pulse Staging and Events, will fill us in on the technological details, such as the difference between a native app and a mobile site, and what features you need (versus those you want). Elizabeth Summy, MSc, CAE, Vice President, Division of Personal Membership Groups, American Hospital Association, will then tell us how her organization’s 10 personal membership groups, comprising more than 34,000 healthcare professionals, are using mobile apps to enhance their 2011 meetings.

I hope you can join us! You can register here. (did I mention that it’s free?)

I’ve been a big fan of blogging for pretty much everything to do with a conference, but I’d never heard of an organization using a blog to perk up and streamline its booth space selection process before. Nice!

I just read this post from TSA’s blogger Bob about the quick actions TSA agents took as the tornadoes ripped through the St. Louis airport. I tend to be a touch critical of TSA, but in this case, there are a few people who must be awfully glad they were at the airport in their time of need.