but will meeting technology kill meeting industry associations? That’s the question tech guru Corbin Ball raises in an article from his latest TechTalk e-newsletter. His conclusion, after a fascinating discussion, is that "Technology automation will likely lead to fewer staff needed to run meetings, fewer staff to run hotels, tighter margins on all sides, lower commissions for meeting block sales, and fewer suppliers in general. We will be able to do more with less – fewer staff and lower costs They will need to reinvent themselves in order to continue to be able to provide the vital networking and educational services that they now provide."
Or, just perhaps, we’ll see more mergers/partnerships/consolidation in our industry associations—we already have GWSAE and ASAE consolidating. I have long thought that this industry has more industry associations—and, alas, industry publications—than it can reasonably support. Maybe technology actually will kill, or at least mutate, some of our associations. But, I ask you, is that really such a bad thing?
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