Professional meeting planners still reeling from the fallout of negativity related to extravagant gatherings held by federal bailout recipients kicked off a three-day convention in Salt Lake Sunday.
A crowd of about 2,300 attending the Meeting Professionals International event heard opening keynotes at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center Sunday from a celebrity, a political insider and a corporate heavyweight — all of whom touched on the damage done by highly publicized spending by American International Group, Bank of America and others who held corporate gatherings at posh getaways after receiving federal bailout funds.
Actor, lawyer, economist and Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein stumped for the cause of the professional meeting planner Sunday and, in a March New York Times Op-Ed piece, defended the utility of corporate gatherings, regardless of their locales.
“The truth is that business meetings are usually not a waste of time, even if they are held in Las Vegas or at a resort with a golf course near a Southern California beach,” Stein said. “They are not decadent, with rare exception.”
A man who runs a corporate empire based in a city whose name is often associated with decadence reiterated Stein’s contention in his address Sunday.
Gary Loveman, CEO of Las Vegas casino empire Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., and a former Harvard University business professor, said the new paradigm for meeting planners needs to be focused on highlighting the value of a face-to-face business gathering.
“The economic rationale of a meeting has gotten far more demanding,” Loveman said. “The need to justify something that is seen by many as discretionary … has gotten higher.”
Loveman stressed the importance of connections that can only be made at an in-person gathering and told attendees their new tasks would be to place emphasis on value and “frugality as a virtue.”
MPI spokeswoman Lauren Manford said Sunday that “knowledge sessions” held throughout the three-day gathering would aid meeting professionals in crafting new strategies to highlight the inherent importance of in-person gatherings — an aspect already recognized by companies worldwide.
“A survey of Fortune 500 companies shows face-to-face meetings have the highest return on investment of any marketing tool available to them,” Manford said.
The MPI convention runs through Tuesday.
