New Hampshire Rep. George Lambert, R-Litchfield, has introduced “a bill that would make the touching or viewing of a person’s breasts or genitals by a government security agent a sexual assault,” according to the Union Leader. “At what point have we gone too far?” he asked. Fair question.

This would, of course, also make TSA officers just doing their jobs classified as sex offenders, which doesn’t quite seem right, either. Here’s a bit more from the article:

Bill sponsor Rep. Andrew Manuse, R-Derry, called the new security procedures a slippery slope. “What’s next? Will they do body-cavity searches?” he asked, and noted he was told of a woman who lives with one of his constituents being strip-searched at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

“Where do you draw the line? … You do that any other place and it would be sexual assault,” Manuse said.

As someone who flies out of Manchester, N.H., pretty regularly, I should keep an eye on this one. I don’t know if this is even possible on the state level, but even if it goes nowhere, it shows the level of unhappiness a lot of people have with the current TSA security system.

Update: Just after posting this I found a reference to another state bill looking to rein in TSA at its airports, Texas HB 1938. Are there more out there I haven’t found yet?

Yes, I feel compelled to post a link to this story about people suing a Las Vegas hotel for $750,000 over bed bug bites, if only to be able to say that it bugs me on so many levels (sorry!).

By now I’m sure you’ve heard about the new Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy study, which “estimates that 205 million people attended nearly 1.8 million meetings in the U.S. in 2009. Those meetings generated $263 billion in direct spending, supported 1.7 million jobs, and contributed $106 billion to the gross domestic product.” While it took two years to complete, the study, which was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the CIC and funded by 14 of its constituent associations, gives us some much-needed fuel to fight the “AIG syndrome” and other perceptual woes.

But let’s not forget our hotel partners in all this. As Ed Watkins so rightly points out in this post, we should be lauding the effect every new hotel opening has on the local economy as well. As he says, after attending the grand opening of the JW Marriott in Indianapolis, “In an era when job creation is at a premium, the JW Marriott and its four sisters is a jobs machine. The JW used 2,000 construction workers in total, with 150 onsite daily throughout the project. And, perhaps more importantly, the property generated 700 full-time jobs for the city.” That’s something to celebrate.

Ah, the golden question to which we all know the answer: good learning and good networking (with extra points for good location and yummy chow). But no one puts it quite as well as Fast Company’s self-professed conference junkie Nancy Lublin, who actually put together a quiz to take to decide whether or not a conference is worth the time, energy, and money. Plus it’s pretty funny.

(Thanks to Acronym for the pointer.)

I’m at Boston’s Logan airport, waiting for a flight to wisk me off to San Francisco for the Alliance for CME annual conference. When I was in the security line a little while ago I noticed two little girls playing a game that didn’t exist when I was their age: TSA security patdown. I kid you not!

After listening to a panel of generation next students and young professionals talk about how they learn, what they do and don’t get out of meetings, and what they want from their associations — and after meeting several students at the various receptions — I have now confirmed an impression I’ve had for quite a while now. The generations coming up now have it so much more together than mine did! Maybe the sample that comes to PCMA isn’t representative of the whole, but these young people are smart, driven, inquisitive, bold, and really seem to know what they want. Which is amazing considering that, according to session moderator and University of Las Vegas professor Curtis Love, the generation just now hitting the work force will have five different careers — not jobs, but entirely different careers — over the course of their work life.

Pictured left to right, PCMA’s Generation Next panelists: Curtis Love, Associate Professor, University of Nevada Las Vegas; Christina Brown, Exhibitor Services Executive, Global Experience Specialists; Kwangbok Lee, Student, University of Nevada Las Vegas; Bobbie Barnes, Director of Career Services, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Travis McDermott, Associate Veterinarian, Tropicana Animal Hospital; Brian Benitz Operations Manager, Quest Drape

And they were honest about how they saw themselves, acknowledging that they want instant rewards, and a firm sense of “what’s in it for them” when it comes to both attending meetings and joining professional associations. Associations need to reach out to them if they want to attract the next generation of members, the panelists said. One joined an association that offered free membership in return for bag-stuffing duties at the annual conference; another said his organization traveled to the veterinary schools to let students know what they had to offer. Bobbie Barnes, Director of Career Services with UNLV, said it helps if the association has a strong mentor program. This means a structured pairing that will allow the mentor to really can help the mentee develop instead of “just slapping two people together” and hoping they’ll hit it off. A young audience member also reminded us that the relationship can and should go both ways, with the mentee having fresh insights to offer the mentor (and perhaps some technical help with the latest gadgets).

And while they do love technology, once they come to a live event, they see the value of networking face to face, meeting with peers and mentors and subject matter experts, and just exposure to new places. As one of the young panelists said, “Some don’t see the value of joining this type of organization, or coming to this type of conference. That’s because they don’t know what they don’t know.” The challenge for planners will be somehow making them aware of just what they could be missing.

Here’s more on gen next at PCMA from the Las Vegas Sun. It sounds like it was a different panel from the one I attended, but the message was pretty similar.

Update: Here’s an interesting take on Millennials as a generation of dreamers, by Josip Petrusa, who I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet last week in Las Vegas (though not to attend his sessions, unfortunately). Fascinating stuff.

One of the most powerful talks ever given:

Thank you, Dr. King.

This is pretty cool wrap of yesterday. The opening reception last night was exactly what I thought Vegas would do — brat pack and Elvis impersonators, dancers, lots of glitz and flash and dancing and great food. I have to try walking around with one of those headdresses on those showgirls prance around with. They make it look easy, but I’m guessing it’s not! I tried to take some video with my iPhone, but it came out horrible. The video above has a few flashes of the reception.

On to the learning lounge…oh wait, I just realized it’s only 5 am. Drats, I must still be on East Coast time.

I finally made it to Vegas, baby, for the 2011 Professional Convention Management annual meeting, “Convening Leaders,” after a day that started at 4 am Eastern time with our dog looking at me like I’m completely insane for being up at that hour and, even worse, not feeding her breakfast at that indecent hour, took me all the way to LA and then back to Vegas (don’t ask!).

But I’m here now, all checked in at the press room and the hotel, bags unpacked, and course to the conference center charted (about a 15-minute walk from my room in the West Wing — I may end up logging more miles here than I did at MPI last year, though today’s starting off with a modest 14k or so. So far.)

Updated pedometer count: 18,062 for the day, about 7.4 miles. The worst part is that for the next few days, most of it will be in heels. Aiee!

It just keeps coming, and I can’t stop myself from reading/watching/being bemused by all the anti-TSA bits floating around. I started to put together some of my favorites, then ran across two people who have already done an infinitely more thorough job than I would ever want to:

TSA Backscatter X-ray Backlash: Bruce Schneier’s collection of links and commentary

TSA Myth or Fact: Leaked Images, Handcuffed Hosts, Religious Garb, and More! TSA’s Blogger Bob gives the official response to some of the TSA-related rumors flashing around the Internet.