ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST issue meeting professionals face these days is attrition and its accompanying penalties, which can add up to thousands — even hundreds of thousands — of dollars, in some cases. Even meeting planners book outside the block —...

Virtually no other country regulates CME as heavily as the United States. While some countries have rules similar to those of the United States, others have little or no controls in place at all. And the attitude toward commercial supporters'...

The Accreditation Council for CME is not the only organization suggesting that regulations regarding CME presenters' financial ties to pharmaceutical companies should be strengthened. The American Society of Clinical Oncology has changed its rules...

NOTHING IS MORE DISAPPOINTING than working for months (or years!) to put together a fantastic meeting with top-notch speakers, breakthrough lectures, and record attendance, only to see it overshadowed with front page press coverage about how your...

M. Steven Grant didn't want to continue working as a sales manager for health maintenance organizations when he moved to Hawaii last year, but he did want to stay connected to healthcare. So he decided to start up Medical Destination Hawaii, a...

PITTSBURGH'S NEW David L. Lawrence Convention Center is not one of the centers opening across the country with little business booked. Although the grand opening gala took place September, the center had been hosting groups since March, even...

The Convention Industry Council's Project Attrition, a national, two-phase project launched by CIC this year, is researching the scope and size of the attrition problem, attendee behavior and motivators to book outside the block, and the role of...

Groups that market heavily via fax breathed a sigh of relief in mid-August when the Federal Communications Commission postponed until January 2005 its hastily implemented and restrictive regulations regarding unsolicited fax transmissions. They...

The Panelists ...

FREE-ASSOCIATING “Chattanooga” never got me past that song about the “choo-choo.” So a recent press trip was a real eye-opener...