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Image - Smart Meetings Business Meeting Professionals Magazine Cover January 2009

January 2009

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

Last fall’s financial market meltdown sent the U.S. economy spinning toward recession and caused considerable angst in the meetings, conventions and trade show industries as planners and organizers wondered what the future might hold.

Business Response Card

Destinations

Portland

Treading Softly, But with High-Impact Results

Until recently, Portland, Ore. seemed at home under the radar, sitting quietly between Seattle’s Space Needle and the San Francisco Bay Area’s Silicon Valley. Today, Oregon’s largest city is a top-rated destination for both business and leisure travel. 

Wyoming

Give your groups a True West experience

A state with more cattle than people, Wyoming (population 522,830) deserves a spot on your radar when planning a meeting with a true Western backdrop. Its sheer geography—towering mountains, broad plains, rushing rivers—has kept it physically untamed for centuries.

Utah Valley

The secret’s out

When you look out your window in Utah Valley it’s hard not to notice the abundance of natural beauty that surrounds you.

California

In Tune with the Golden State

A long time ago, a man with a killer guitar traveled California singing about its redwood forests and ribbons of highways, diamond deserts and golden valleys. He achieved fame in California on his way to becoming an American icon, but even though Woody Guthrie lived in different times, the state has worked hard to retain its pristine wonders while adding to its man-made charms.

Features

Condo-tels: Here to Stay

The Ups, Downs and Opportunities of Condo-tels

Season of Change

16 ways to get more for your money—NOW!

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

Last fall’s financial market meltdown sent the U.S. economy spinning toward recession and caused considerable angst in the meetings, conventions and trade show industries as planners and organizers wondered what the future might hold.

Columns

HEALTHY MEETINGS: Stress Busters

SMART MONEY: Easy As Pie Charts

Budgets are a lot like New Year’s resolutions. We roll them out in January with steely resolve to follow them to a tee, but despite our best intentions they tend to fade in priority as the year wears on. Not that we want to neglect our budgets, it’s just that numbers are something for accounting to worry about.

VIEW FROM VEGAS: Still Happenin’

Always a fine time for reflection, the dawn of the new year has special significance for Las Vegas in 2009. After all, the economic downturn has swirled through the southern Nevada desert like a Mojave dust storm: several major projects have ground to a halt, bookings are down and even the mightiest players have had to adjust their game plans.

Chef's Table

Convention-al Trends

As we enter 2009, many trends are shaping the meetings industry, from cultural shifts to reduced budgets to decreased attendance. Some are “next steps” for current trends, and some are inspiring solutions to new challenges. Convention centers are no less immune to trends than hotels and restaurants, and we’ve asked Aramark, a leader in professional services for convention centers, for some details on the top three trends their general managers and chefs have identified—and how they’re addressing them.

Did You Know

Recalibrate Your Future

Give Me 5

Interview with Valerie Sumner, Principal VRS Meetings & Events, Inc.

Interview with Valerie Sumner, Principal VRS Meetings & Events, Inc., Falls Church, VA

Smart Planner

BLACK & WHITE—OR GRAY?

Today’s planners represent a $120-plus billion meeting planning industry, according to hospitality expert David M. Brudney. And, as they have so much power in the decision-making process for hotels, there are many opportunities for ethical dilemmas on both sides of the fence.

Techno Files

Future rooma

Company layoffs, meeting cancellations, government bailouts, corporate bankruptcies, credit crunches, consumer gloom, more company layoffs, more meeting cancellations, rinse and repeat. As bleak as the news seems to be these days, step back from the ledge and remember what a very wise man once said: This too shall pass.

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A publication tailored for you, the meeting planner professional. We focus exclusively on locations in the western United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), Mexico and Canada.