A troubled economy, H1N1, strategic meetings management—even murder: Here's a last look at our top stories of 2009, as determined by the number of page views each of them logged on our MeetingNet Web site:

1. The CMI 25. Our 2009 list of the industry's largest and most influential North American meeting and incentive companies

2. 20 Changemakers.The 2009 roster of outstanding individuals who are driving strategic meetings management in their companies and taking the meetings industry to the next level.

3. Attrition Fees? Not This Year. Last spring's proliferation of no-risk meeting offers clicked with readers.

4. Florida Meeting Executive's Murder. The case of the July 2009 homicide in a Rye Brook, N.Y., hotel remains unsolved.

5. Pharma Dinner Meetings Banned in the Bay State. In April, Massachusetts changed the rules on pharmaceutical company–hosted dinner meetings.

6. H1N1: Ignore at Your Own Risk. This late-summer column grabbed planners' attention as they planned for possible flu-related cancellations.

7. Straight Talk. Here's what exhibitors really want, and how you can give it to them.

8. Buyer's Guide: Strategic Meetings Management Software. Profiles of six leading SMMP technology providers

9. Hidden Camera Feeds Attack on Government Meeting. In July, the media witch hunt to find wasteful meetings spending reached a new low.

10. AmEx and Maritz Create MaXvantage. Heads turned when these major industry players teamed up to create a strategic meetings management tool.