It’s time to champion the industry

MELBOURNE – Moves by the new Obama administration in the United States to curb the meetings and incentives activities of companies that have received federal financial aid are a threat to the global events industry, says Paul Kennedy, Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) group exhibition director.

Under the Dodd amendment to the US economic Stimulus Bill those companies that have gone to the government for funds to stay afloat will be closely ( and retrospectively) scrutinised on how they spend their money on corporate events and entertainment.

Kennedy, speaking at the AIME media conference, said, “The reality is that occurrences like that have a ripple effect, especially across the English speaking world, so we must champion our sector to remove any perception that meetings and conferences are not part of corporate success.”

Kennedy expected there would be a lot of sensitivity around how companies spent their money on meetings and incentives and whether they were perceived only as “junkets and jollies”.

He expected incentives from some corporate sectors, such as finance, to sharply decline and other sectors would be under pressure to include more business content in their programmes.

Geoff Buckley, managing director of Tourism Australia, said 2009 was shaping up as a tough year “but experience has taught us that this industry rebounds very quickly from crisis.

“We’ve got to be ready to respond when the rebound comes,” he said.

In a subsequent discussion, Kennedy supported Buckley’s view of an industry capable of rapid rebound.

Kennedy stressed the need for greater effort in demonstrating the major economic benefit of the meetings and events sector and the critical importance of meetings in corporate and organizational effectiveness.

By Ian Jarrett reporting for the AIME Daily