Call Sheet #395: Combatting the Army's Conference Ban, Small Business Holiday Spending, Tina Brown on Conferences

BIZBASH CALL SHEET — #395 — Wednesday, 11.21.12 

++ Sponsored by Event Leadership Institute ++ 

Compiled today by Chad Kaydo in New York 
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1. MILITARY MEMO REACTION: An excerpt from an email sent by Roger Dow, president and C.E.O. of the U.S. Travel Association, to members this week: "Last month, the Army issued an internal memo barring its employees from attending private-sector conferences for the remainder of 2012. While we appreciate the government's need to responsibly reduce spending, we are deeply concerned with several statements in the memo attacking the value of conferences. The memo wrongly characterizes conferences as 'expensive means of accomplishing [training, planning, collaboration, and disseminating information].' The memo goes on to advise that 'the physical collaboration associated with a conference activity is not required in most cases.'" 

"U.S. Travel will prepare a written response to the Army memo that includes data on the economic impact of government meetings and information from academic studies on the value of face-to-face meetings in the private sector...However, in the coming year, we must also strengthen our defense of government meetings by going beyond their economic value. To make the most effective case, we must prove that government meetings also contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal workforce and provide important services to the taxpayer and private sector." 

Here's the Army memo: http://bit.ly/Q8WwZd

2. HOLIDAY BUSINESS STATS: Here's data from the American Express Open Small Business Holiday Monitor—a survey of 501 small business owners/managers of companies with fewer than 100 employees: "A greater number of small business owners will be giving their staff end-of-year bonuses this holiday season (35 percent, up from 29 percent last year); of these more than one-in-four say they will be giving larger bonuses this holiday season compared to last year...On average employees can expect to receive a 9 percent bonus this year...40 percent of small business owners will be throwing a holiday party, up from 35 percent last year; on average they will spend $959 on their celebration, down slightly from $1,029 a year ago." 

3. TINA'S TAKE: From New York magazine's Q&A with Tina Brown, the editor in chief of the Daily Beast: 
Q: Are conferences now a key or essential ingredient in the magazine business? 
A: Well, they are for us. Our Women in the World has become very important to us as a part of our whole kind of company. 
Q: Don’t you sometimes feel that people are spending their lives going to events and conferences? 
A: There’s a lot of them. But you know what it also tells me? That people are hungry to hear really interesting conversations. 
http://bit.ly/QRRku5

4. MUSICAL MEETING: Events and conferences aren't just good for the economy, they're important for musicians too. The collaboration between MC Hammer and Korean rapper Psy apparently came about when Hammer was hanging out with Psy's manager, Scooter Braun, at Google Zeitgeist, the tech company's annual conference for business partners. Business Insider: http://read.bi/100GrYe