Tag Archives: federal meetings

Federal Travel Restrictions: Adapting to the New Normal

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Three years since the travel restrictions went into effect, federal workers are settling into a new normal around how they meet professional development, training, and networking goals. A recent study by Market Connections looked at the types of content most in demand by government IT buyers and decision makers as well as what is being produced by the vendor community and found some interesting gaps between the two.

What immediately caught our eye was the response to the question, "With the recent budget and travel restrictions in place and the cancelation of events, what are you or others doing to get the information and/or training you previously acquired from events (i.e., trade shows, conferences, seminars)?"  The top two responses from the government officials surveyed were: Continue reading →

Are Government Attendees an Endangered Species?

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Originally posted on Meetings & Conventions by Cheryl-Anne Sturken

How the meeting industry is pushing back against general travel restrictions

It has been a rough two years for government meeting planners. Following several high-profile cases of lavish conference spending, and with economic recovery from the Great Recession remaining in fragile mode, Congress has turned up its scrutiny of federal travel and conference spend and pushed for legislation that would restrict and regulate meetings outlay. Determined to avoid potential accusations of excess, federal agencies responded last year by taking an ax to meeting budgets, canceling multiple conferences and shunning resort destinations such as Hawaii, Las Vegas and Orlando, concerned that even the location alone could raise eyebrows.

The slash-and-burn reaction resulted in a 30 percent drop in government meetings in most of the top-tier markets in 2013. It also set off a heated debate on the importance of face-to-face meetings and spawned a flurry of white papers and studies from various groups anxious to reaffirm the power of in-person gatherings.

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Federal Demand for Virtual Meetings on the Rise

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Originally posted by Jena Tesse Fox on International Meetings Review

The recent promotion of "virtual meetings" as an alternative to spending federal tax dollars on government travel seems to be having a positive effect on businesses specializing in video and teleconferencing.

According to the Washington Post, providers of virtual-meeting technology have noticed an increase in federal demand for their services, and expect it to increase as budgets continue to tighten.

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Feds Plan on Attending Fewer, More Focused Events and Trade Shows Next Year

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Originally posted by Monica Mayk Parham on Fed Connects

For many years, government contractors relied on events and trade shows to connect with their federal customers.  These events provided highly valuable face-to-face time for enhancing existing relationships, as well as for help in procuring new contracts.

This is all about to change in 2013.  According a recent Market Connections poll, 38% of government employees plan to attend fewer educational and trade events in 2013 than last year.

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