Warren Buffet is quoted as saying: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.  If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

This week, I presented, twice, "Black, White and Shades of Gray: Ethics in Meeting Planning" at Destination Showcase.  In each session, filled with meeting planners predominately from government agencies and associations, and representatives from destination marketing organizations (DMOs aka CVBs), the discussions were deep and concerning because, unlike what Warren Buffet suggests, many either don't think or don't care about what they do that may ruin their reputation in an industry that is small and talks.

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Item: I have only stayed at a W hotel once before and I hated the experience.

Item: I am staying at the W San Francisco and would return in a heartbeat!

W Hotels are cool and funky and I am not! When I first entered the one in which I originally stayed in another CA city, I was put off by the flip-flop-wearing staff, the (too) low (for anyone older and/or with knee problems) lobby/bar furniture, and incredibly dark guestroom hallways, and the room with innovative albeit odd-for-me furnishings.

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When I read this today, it made sense.  We - the US and the rest of the world - are reactive, again.  In another forum, there was discussion about how travel is handled in places like Israel where terrorism is a daily part of life and how smart it seems they are. 

 One of the comments was about the extensive security in many countries for many years and in particular in Israel where terrorism is a fact of life.  One of the comments in this discussion was about someone's mother who had never felt "violated" when traveling in and out of Israel. Her mother, Caucasian and Jewish, probably didn't have any problem tho' I would contend that anyone is a potential terrorist. (Remember Timothy McVeigh?)

Then I thought about a note I received from a friend about her travel in Israel.  Her experience was quite different from my colleague's mother.  My friend, a US citizen, and her mother (a US citizen originally from Palestine) have been profiled and searched while on travel in or through Israel.  Is it the mother's country of birth? that they wear headscarves? their names? skin color?

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We don't know enough about how people who attend meetings, conferences, conventions and other gatherings learn.  More, we seem to plan these events without care to different learning styles and learning motivators.

Today, at the MSAE (Michigan Society of Association Executives) CMP Summit, "Beyond the Designation", we are delving into issues that are .. well, beyond the designation and moving the group to some higher ground. In so doing, we continued into a conversation about why meetings are the same -- as they've always been. (Oh . . . I've mentioned this before? Uh huh -- and I will again and again until we can make meetings smarter.)

 VARK is one of the inventories we used today to discover the more about the CMPs gathered.  Like the percentages of the general population, the majority of those participating are kinesthetic learners.  As I do always in training and facilitation, I brought creative stuff for people to use to engage them as they learned.

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I'm angry.

I'm not surprised. Tough economic times mean that some react and forget their morals and ethics.

 Just as many jobs have been outsourced, some to companies outside the US, Hyatt Hotels has decided to eliminate the jobs of trained, loyal, long time housekeepers in their Boston-area hotels and outsource these jobs to a company in the US that will pay their workers less than half of what the Hyatt housekeepers were making.

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Let's say that there is a disaster in a city in which you are holding a meeting -- or even elsewhere -  necessitating quarantine of all your guests in the facility.  Some of the guests (some  or all of whom are attending your meeting) have medical needs and only limited help is allowed to bring medications and other necessities to the facility. (Assume the facility is a hotel or a convention center.) NO ONE is allowed to leave and it is unclear when anyone will be allowed to leave.   

Say that the facility itself does have some things in place, that all that is in place is in writing, and that they believe there are sufficient supplies for at least 2-3 days, what they believe is enough.  

 There is of course anxiety among those who are there but they are willing to believe that things will turn around.   On day 2, power is lost - and the back up generators only power some of the facility.  Later on day 2, those too go out and there is now no power.   People are getting sick -- from heat or cold (this doesn't yet specify what time of year) -- their medications have run out -- there is no ability to cook food and there is waste backing up inside bec. pumps are not working among other problems. 

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Recently I was asked, by the Wall Street Journal,  about the growth of corporate events in Second Life, the 3D virtual world.

Specifically, the wrote to me: "You have probably seen that companies such as IBM, Cisco, Northrop Grumman, CIGNA, etc. are all moving to virtual events as a way to save costs and foster collaboration among far-flung employees."

He further asked: "But one imagines there might be intangible costs associated with virtual meetings, trade shows and other events, such as the loss of eye contact, facial nuances, hand gestures, or group dynamics that are important, if immeasurable, elements of human interaction. I am interested in hearing you thought on virtual events. Do you think they add value? Are they here to stay, if for no other reason than economics so dictate?"

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Today, again, the Metro rail system in DC has delays -- some as a result of track maintenance; others because of continuing slow downs from the horrific crash earlier this summer.

What if ... you had a meeting in DC today, at the Convention Center, and some of your speakers were either locals or were staying at hotels near which they'd take the Metro to the Convention Center?

They might not arrive on time to speak, eh? And that would be a disaster or a papercut?

Our industry, and dare I say, most people, don't want to face much reality when it comes to contingency planning.  In more than 40 years in this industry, I've seen too many incidents that could have or did spell disaster at meetings. On the listserv formerly called the MIMList, around since '99, we've had discussion after discussion about issues such as 9.11.01 and Katrina and Rita, true disasters where people were stuck in cities.  We've discussed papercuts such as materials not arriving.

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I write -- here and elsewhere including for print. I used to write a regular column for Meeting News magazine.  Some days getting my writing done is difficult and often, if I am pushed by a deadline, I do better.  

Over the years, the editors of MN would noodge me to get the column done. Even today, I have a number of writing projects that I swear I'll get to by Sunday at 4.  Deadlines are great motivators!

Many people in the meetings & hospitality industry need "writing credits" to qualify to sit for the CMP. Others want to write and say "I can't write" -- which we all know isn't the case 'cause it's difficult to go through this profession and be unable to write.  

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Yesterday, 1 day after his 49th birthday, Ricky Sandoval died of pancreatic cancer.

I never met Ricky - I was close to doing so last Dec. and it didn't work out.  I am friends with his wife, Gael, a wonderful human being, who, in the short number of years she and Ricky had together, spent 3 of them helping Ricky live and then die.

In the last few years, it seems the number of deaths of people in our industry or the spouses, like Ricky, of industry friends, has been far too many.  There was dear Beth Calveard in Tennessee and Marc Brett in NJ, and Ray Shepard in Georgia.  All were younger than I and all were far too young to die.

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