Successful Meetings - May 2009 - (Page 10)

NEWS UPDATE 16 Industry Events Calendar 17 Green Travel Summit Tackles Big Issues 18 Mexico Urges Tourists, Meetings to Visit Las Vegas Heavyweights Discuss State of the Industry Congressional Leader: Incentive Travel Okay T he Congressman spearheading legislative moves to limit executive compensation within bailed-out companies stated his support for incentive and meeting travel on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 1. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, had a formal conversation with Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) read into the record regarding a bill on executive compensation for Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) fund recipients. A video clip is available on the U.S. Travel Association’s website (TIA.org) under, “Major Win: Washington Changing Tone Toward Business Travel.” AN EXCERPT Rep. Berkley: “I would like to clarify with the Chairman that nothing in this bill or the amendments to be offered today would discourage or limit the use of meetings, events, or incentive travel organized by a company that serve legitimate business purposes.” Members of the Las Vegas hospitality community joined SM to discuss meetings in the city n March 25, leaders from the Las Vegas hotel community gathered at Caesars Palace to discuss the meetings and conventions market in Las Vegas and how the city is faring in the wake of intense scrutiny from the mainstream media, a negative comment from President Obama, and perception problems in the eyes of the general public. Coordinated by Successful Meetings O and MeetingNews and moderated by SM editor-in-chief, Vincent Alonzo, the Las Vegas Leadership Roundtable afforded attendees an opportunity to speak openly with fellow members of the community. Darren Green, vice president of hotel sales and marketing for Planet Hollywood, said that a “big positive sign of a turnaround” will be when companies once again feel comfort- Rep. Frank: “Yes, this bill deals only with compensation, not with travel. Any incentive that is performance based would be fully allowed. In general, if you sold a certain number of things, you’d win a trip, that would be allowed. Specifically, it does not deal with travel for the business, and it would allow performance-based [Frank's emphasis] incentives for this or any other purpose.” —Leo Jakobson 10 I SM I May 2009 I SuccessfulMeetings.com http://www.TIA.org http://www.SuccessfulMeetings.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - May 2009

Successful Meetings - May 2009
Contents
Editor's Letter
News Update
Education
Management Matters
Meetings Law
Mouth For Sale
Visionaries
Gurus
Forging Ahead
The Road to Ruin
The Case for Spas
Foreign Affairs
Paper Purge
Carnival Spirit
Defending Meetings
Places + Spaces
Upstate NY
Anaheim
Minneapolis
San Diego
French Riviera
Park City

Successful Meetings - May 2009