If you’re wondering who’s hiring in special events now, and why, check out this article, which just so happens to be titled Who’s Hiring in Special Events Now–And Why. Some good news is that Special Events found 17 percent of the companies surveyed were planning to hire new employees.

Just getting around to this now, then I read Scott Briscoe’s post and decided he already pulled out my favorite parts perfectly. So here’s Scott’s wrapup of Hamel’s presentation: This is my bird, dammit.

Hamel also had an example of a truly radical company that is worth sharing. I was talking with a couple of people about it tonight, and the idea of doing what it is doing scared them senseless: There’s a company, WL Gore (maker of Gore-tex, among other things), where there are no leaders, no hierarchy, no managers. Every employee has the right to say no to anything they want with no repercussions, the theory being then people only would be working on things they felt passionate about. At year’s end, 20 of your peers review your work for its value proposition, and your compensation is set accordingly.

What scared the association execs I was talking to was on one hand, that the scut work would go undone because no one feels all that passionate about it, but it needs to be done. On the other hand, they worried that this could cause the staff they have that already is putting in 60 hours a week, the really passionate and engaged ones, to go overboard and burn themselves out even faster (I can totally see myself falling into the latter camp). On the other other hand, assuming you have three, is that in a way being paid for value production might have the opposite effect on the highest producers, that by putting dollar values on the projects they now do for free, they might start viewing their “passion projects” as just more work product, rather than the labor of love it is now. Hmm.

It really got me thinking about how to get both the freedom to generate those new ideas we all desperately need, and the discipline to get the work done, how to balance creativity and efficiency. He didn’t give us the answers, but did reframe the question in a way that has me still thinking about it at 11 at night.

If you’re an association exec interested in how to use social media well and wisely, check out this event: Buzz 2009 Social Media for Associations , coming to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 9. Check out the lineup of presenters, which includes word-of-mouth marketing genius Andy Sernovitz and all-around genius Guy Kawasaki, who I may have mentioned once or twice on this blog.

I wish I could make it. If you go, let me know if it ends up being as good as it sounds.

Whether you’re hit with the layoff stick during this tough economy or just looking to strengthen your position with your organization, we’ve got a webinar coming this afternoon you might want to check out. Here’s some info:

What: “Demonstrating Leadership During Turbulent Times,” a lively discussion about how to advance one’s career during good times and bad.

Who: It’ll be led by meetings industry veterans Louisa Davis, CMP, CMM, MBA, senior project manager, Prime Strategies; Marlene Blas, MTA, associate director, meetings and events, California Western School of Law; Karen Kotowski, CMP, CAE, and COO, Convention Industry Council; and moderated by my colleague Barbara Scofidio, editor, Corporate Meetings & Incentives.

When: Today at 2 p.m. EDT

Cost: FREE!!!

Brought to you by: MeetingsNet and the Convention Industry Council, and sponsored by the German Convention Bureau.

Extra benefit: Earn one Certified Meeting Professional contact hour when attending for the full hour.

Register here.

If you can’t make the live webinar, it’ll be archived for later viewing, but it’s always better to check it out in real time. And did I mention that it’s free?

I just read Tom Peters’ post about how the Army continually trains and retrains its personnel, but the rest of us really don’t. Oh, we have the annual “name your industry” association annual meeting, which is of course good. But we don’t have sustained, credible, real-world training available for the most part, much less required.

Which is why I was intrigued when I got a press release this morning announcing Train2Meet, a collaborative of top meeting-planning-related experts just launched by gMeetings, Inc.

Check out the lineup:
- Joan Eisenstodt of Eisenstodt Associates for Content Delivery and Ethics
- Brad A. Goldberg of Trigold Consulting for Risk Management
- Eli Gorin, CMP of gMeetings, Inc – Founder and Trainer
- Tyra Hilliard, PhD, JD, CMP of Hilliard Associates for Legal/Contracting
- James Hogg of the Rosen School of Hospitality Management for Meetings Technology
- Carol Krugman, CMP, CMM, of Krugman Maller LLC for International Meetings
- Gloria Nelson, CSEP of Gloria Nelson Event Design for Special Events
- Bonnie Wallsh, CMP, CMM of Bonnie Wallsh Associates for Intro to Meetings/Events
- Michele Wierzgac, MS, CMM of Michele & Company for Strategic Meetings Management

I’ve been to enough industry meetings to have heard and/or met all these folks, and they are IMHO the people in each of their respective areas of expertise I would want training me (if I were a meeting planning pro, that is).

More from the press release: “Individual training programs are tailored to client’s needs and focus on best practices within the specific trainer’s segment. Future programs will also include face-to-face and virtual seminars hosted by Train2Meet featuring a variety of topics which affect the way business is being done in the industry.”

What a great idea.

(Note to self: What’s with all this posting about press releases? I never do that! Except, I guess, today.)

Are you or someone you know bringing something new to your meeting planning? And getting results? Well don’t be shy about it—nominate yourself or your innovative colleague to be one of Association Meetings magazine’s First Annual AM Innovators, which will recognize association meeting professionals who are taking on the challenge of these tough times as an opportunity to find new ways to make their meetings more relevant, more learner-friendly, more profitable, and more productive than ever.

All you have to do is fill out this quick and easy form, or drop me an e-mail with your nominee’s contact info and why this person should be recognized as one of today’s meeting planning innovators.

Thanks to all the planners who aren’t afraid to think in new ways about their work—and bring new ideas to fruition!

I’m proud to announce Association Meetings magazine’s First Annual AM Innovators, which will recognize association meeting professionals who are taking on the challenge of these tough times as an opportunity to find new ways to make their meetings more relevant, more learner-friendly, more profitable, and more productive than ever.

The goal is to profile these innovators in our August 2009 edition, providing both ideas and inspiration to others to think differently about how they design their events.

Here’s the form for nominating an AM Innovator. All submissions will be reviewed by a special advisory board of industry leaders to determine the finalists.

I hope you all are as excited about this as I am! I can’t wait to see some of the interesting new ways people are moving this industry forward.

Check it out: The Meetings Industry Crisis Center, brought to you by MPI. The MeetingsNet Career Corner also has some good resources for those interested in professional development.

I just found out about the Eventprofs Twitter group from the Meetings Podcast Guys this morning, so I missed the premier networking event, but I’m now duly signed up and ready to check it out. (Mike’s post explains more about it, and how to participate, if you’re interested in joining up, too. Here’s a search of the posts from people at the first event, in case you want to check out what people were talking about.)

Mitchell Beer posts an interesting dilemma about an unconference session he participated in at MPI’s MeetDifferent conference. A planner was looking for some help in getting that infamous seat at the table, and all was fine until he noticed that she worked for a tobacco company. He decided not to join in with his advice because he couldn’t in good conscience help someone do a better job helping a tobacco company do a better job of spreading the “severe illness, wrenching misery, and premature death [that comes with the product] when used as directed.” He says:

My moment of clarity brought home a point that we often miss when we extol the value and the power of meetings. Apart from the occasional ethical screen—our firm declared 25 years ago that we would never work for a tobacco company—meeting professionals take it for granted that we do good works by doing good work. That Monday morning conversation reminded me that it ain’t necessarily so.

I’m torn on this one, feeling that planners should help each other out (as should any professionals at a meeting when sharing with peers). But I also understand where he’s coming from. A lot of planners wouldn’t take a job or do business with an organization with values they can’t abide, and the idea of helping someone be more productive in a job promoting those values/products, well, who couldn’t relate? It’s just not something I’ve ever heard anyone talk about before. I try to imagine what I would do in his shoes, and frankly, I’m just not sure.

But it’s an important thing to think about. As Mitchell says, “We may each come to different conclusions at different times, but there is tremendous power and importance in the deciding.” With that I can wholeheartedly agree.