Meetings, Events & Incentive Travel Industry Joins Together for Keep America Meeting Campaign

New York – February 11, 2009 – Two days after the U.S. Travel Association and industry leaders from key organizations issued guidelines for recipients of TARP funding, members of the meetings, events and incentive travel industries have banded together in a grassroots effort to draw attention to the important role meetings play in building successful businesses, as well as the vital role meetings, events and incentive travel play in the American economy.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, meetings and events are responsible for 15 percent of all travel-related spending, create nearly $40 billion in tax revenue at the federal, state and local level and generate more than one million jobs. Without the jobs generated by meetings, events and incentive travel, the current unemployment rate of 7.6 percent would rise to 8.2 percent and cost the average American household an additional $136 in taxes annually.

The campaign asks supporters to go to its www.keepamericameeting.org website and sign an online petition. The petition signatures will be delivered by Keep America Meeting to the U.S. Travel Association and industry leaders from key organizations to fuel industry-wide efforts with the White House and the U.S. Congress.

Keep America Meeting was created by TBA Global in partnership with the U.S. Travel Association with support from the Event Marketing Institute. It is endorsed by a nonpartisan group of associations, publishers and companies.

A preliminary list of endorsers includes Site (Society of Incentive Travel Executives), Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) and media endorsers Red 7 Media (publisher of Event Marketer, Event Design, Agenda, EXPO magazines), MeetingsNet (publisher of Corporate Meetings & Incentives, Medical Meetings, Financial & Insurance
Meetings, Association Meetings, Religious Conference Manager magazines), Special Events Magazine, Event Solutions Magazine, and Northstar Travel Media LLC (publisher of Meetings & Conventions and Travel Weekly magazines).

Other early supporters include the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, PGA National Resort & Spa, DGO and HotelBlox. Organizations interested in becoming a Keep America Meeting endorser agree to fully promote the cause and can sign up on the Keep America Meeting website.

U.S. Travel Association
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $740 billion travel industry. U.S. Travel’s mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. For more information, visit www.ustravel.org.

About TBA GLOBAL
Founded in 1994, TBA Global (www.tbaglobal.com) is a privately-held agency that creates nontraditional marketing and communications programs, events and meetings for high-profile businesses and associations worldwide. TBA Global is ranked in the top 100 U.S. marketing organizations and among the Top 50 Sales Promotion Agencies by
Advertising Age magazine (May 5, 2008). TBA Global has 18 offices in North America and the U.K.

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Contact:
Alison Jenks
VP Marketing, TBA Global
aljenks@tbaglobal.com
858-509-8700
Kristy Chandler
U.S. Travel Association
202-408-2172

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To get involved, visit the Keep America Meeting web site, and check out the Keep America Meeting Group on LinkedIn.

Posted under Event Management, Planner Tips, Suggested Links

Some of us haven’t quite figured out how to get the most out of Web 2.0 on the web, but now there’s a new challenge: How do you get the most out of Web 2.0 at your events?

Under the heading of “25 signs your event SUCKS!” (a provocative title, indeed), Julius Solaris at EventManagerBlog.com highlights several of the Web 2.0 “tools” that might be beneficial as you plan and execute upcoming events, including twitter, Upcoming, LinkedIn, flickr, and many more. (If you’d rather see the “25 signs” in pictures rather than text, click here.)

As Julius writes, you may encounter resistance if you talk to your colleagues about these new tools now — or you may be resistant yourself — but there is no question change is brewing. How far it goes, we will see.

Take a look around the rest of the EventManagerBlog after reading the “25 signs” post. I found Julius to have a good bit of interesting content on the subject of event management, but know going in that the “blog is about [his] opinion” and “[his] interests and those of valuable people in events” and it’s written in a style “that goes straight to the point…” In other words, you may not agree with everything he writes, but he offers some solid tips that, if nothing else, may push you outside your comfort zone — something that, in my opinion, is a good exercise for all of us.

Posted under Event Management, Planner Tips, Suggested Links

We’re very appreciative of Brad Trnavsky at Sales Management 2.0 featuring our recent review of Pete Luongo’s 10 Truths About Leadership book (see “Pete Luongo Presents 10 Simple Truths About Leadership“) in this week’s Carnival of Sales & Management Success.

Brad has assembled links to lots of interesting blog posts, such as:

• “Promoting Employee Engagement in the Workplace”
• “Avoiding Uncomfortable Discussions with Your Prospects and Clients”
• “When to Delegate”
• “Why Everyone Should Experience a Sales Job”

And many more – a total of 26 posts!

If you’re involved in sales or sales management, please visit and check out some of the insightful content.

Posted under Book Review, Organizational Excellence, Sales Management, Suggested Links