2011 was a rough and tumble year, one with more than its share of excitement and innovation. It was also a year when everyone seemed far too busy, with not nearly enough time to ponder or apply new ideas for making meetings more effective.

So we end 2011 with two competing story lines: Was it a year that helped us work faster, smarter, and better, when pockets of the meetings industry finally began laying down the ideas and best practices that will help us prepare for adversities ahead? Or did the emphasis on speed make it harder to spot the opportunities in front of us?

It’s too early to say which one will be the dominant narrative for 2011, but here are some of the stories that flew by in the past 12 months, any or all of which could reshape the industry for years to come.

Mitchell Beer, CMM, is president of The Conference Publishers Inc., Ottawa, one of the world’s leading specialists in capturing and repurposing conference content, and founding chair of the GMIC Sustainable Meetings Foundation. Beer blogs at http://theconferencepublishers.com/blog and tweets as @mitchellbeer.