“The brain can process something like 12 million pieces of information at a time, but is only conscious of about 40 of them. The rest is subconscious. You can only capture that subconscious transfer of information when you are up close and face to face.”
— David Brooks, political and cultural commentator

“You can't lobby with anecdotes. You have to lobby with data.”
— Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association, on the need for industry associations to research the meetings and travel industry's economic impact

“Sales managers were cleaning our rooms and serving wine at our receptions.”
— Laura Metcalf Jelinek, CAE, Easter Seals, on how they coped when the union workers walked out during her meeting

“If you want her to answer that e-mail, you better put ‘naked man’ in the subject line.”
— attendee on cellphone between sessions

“Getting the middle seat is like losing the lottery. I'd kill to be able to pay another $5 or $10 for an aisle or a window seat.”
— Montie Brewer, Air Canada

“We're choking on efficiency. We're dying for human contact.”
— James Carville, political consultant/author

“If you're always looking down instead of out, you miss what's coming up ahead.”
— Kati Quigley, CMP, Microsoft

“It's a crapshoot — over the next six months, the market will either go up or down … but I have a message of hope based on history: This year is going to surprise us on the upside.”
— Jeremy Siegel, PhD, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“Nobody knows what we do until something doesn't work.”
— Laurie Fitzgerald, CMP, Allstate Financial