In a recent article by Connie Bochieri of ProMedia.Travel, Think Globally For Strategic Meetings Management: But Implement Locally to Achieve Service, Savings, sends a much needed affirmation and message to all professionals that stop spending the bank on conferences/events and start playing it smart. It's too bad a national crisis took everyone to realize this.

"The lessons learned from corporate travel globalization include implementing the process components that created the most efficiency and yielded savings and service enhancements, similar to the evolution of global corporate card data capture, TMC consolidated reporting and online booking strategies."

There's always both good and bad that fall out of these revolations. In this situation, the good is the more innovation we will see come from technology/service companies scrambling to keep their firms going and find any loose dollars being spent from the recovery. Of course, the bad is less spending and weaker economies in key markets.

http://www.procurement.travel/news.php?cid=strategic-meetings-management-savings.Mar-09.3