Posts Tagged ‘face-to-face meetings’

In an interview of industry leaders not long ago, Steven Hacker, President of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, made an interesting point.  Hacker was quoted in Incentive, as saying “Travel has been obliterated.  There is no elegance left, no sophistication left in getting on an airplane. I can’t tell you how many people at the airport and on the plane commented to me about how nice it is to see somebody wearing a suit.” 

That statement got me thinking, are we also de-glamorizing meetings by our business casual and casual dress codes?  Are we making it like another day in the office?  Should we be making the meeting something “special?”  Something that you dress in your Sunday best for? 

And from a meeting value point of view, if you make dressing up a little bit more important, does it make the content at the meeting seem more important and valuable as well? Does being in a suit make you feel like one of “The Suits?” And, if so, is that really such a bad thing?  Do we treat people with a more business like attitude if they are in a suit?  Sure that’s a lot of questions to throw at you but your comments are well appreciated.

We noticed that Las Vegas sponsored the Media Planet section in today’s ( Friday, May 29, 2009) Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal.  Thank you Las Vegas for stepping up with twelve hard-hitting pages that start with “Meet Something You Didn’t Think You Would in Vegas – the Bottom Line” and end with “Going To Las Vegas Just Became a Responsible Decision.”  Rossi Ralenkotter, the President/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, reminds readers that “face-to-face  meetings provide the greatest return-on-investment of any marketing tool.” Take a look at their site:  www.vegasmeansbusiness.com.  This site does a great job of separating fact from myth  and makes sure that everyone know that Las Vegas means business.