Tag Archives: Government

Gutting travel, conference budgets invites problems

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Originally posted on Federal Times

Federal travel and conference spending is predictably tanking under the combined pressures of severe budget cuts and the repercussions of a string of high-profile conference scandals that started in April 2012.

The scandals -- embarrassingly lavish conference events held by the General Services Administration, the Veterans Affairs Department and the IRS that were brought to light by inspectors general investigations -- provoked a quick and harsh response from Congess and the White House. Travel and conference activity across government slowed to a trickle within weeks.

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Government’s Going Virtual: The Transition From In-person to Online Events and Training

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Originally published by Steve Ressler on The Huffington Post

Everything is happening virtually these days. Courses, career fairs, conferences and even concerts are increasingly conducted online, educating and entertaining global audiences. While television has to some degree played this role for the past several decades, what makes this trend noteworthy is that it's happening on the web.

For the public sector, in particular, virtual events are gaining traction due to a "perfect storm" of overlapping factors -- namely, extensive travel restrictions, greater public scrutiny on in-person conferences and advancement of interactive communications technology.

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Government Saves on Federal Travel

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Originally posted by Kellie Lunney on Government Executive

Average air fares for federal travelers will be cheaper in fiscal 2014, the government announced.

The General Services Administration said on Friday that it negotiated and awarded new contracts for the fiscal 2014 City Pair Program to 10 U.S. air carriers, saving the government an estimated $2.2 billion. Average one-way plane tickets for feds flying domestic on government business will fall 4 percent in fiscal 2014 from current rates, while international fares are dropping 7 percent. Also, the program is increasing available routes by 25 percent to more than 6,300 destinations, and government travelers will benefit from 20 percent more non-stop flights to 1,887 routes, according to GSA.

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OMB: No More Lavish Government Conferences

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Originally posted by Elizabeth Flock on U.S. News

New guidelines from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget say it's time to cut back on conference spending in light of the sequester. In a document, the agency said it had "taken aggressive steps to curtail conference spending," such as ensuring conferences that cost more than $100,000 were approved by the head of an agency, hotel costs were within per diem rates, and that a cyber conference was considered before any in-person event was planned.

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10 Tips to Make Your Government Events More Successful

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Originally posted by Allan Rubin on immixGroup

Several weeks ago I participated as a panelist at two events for government marketing professionals. At both theMid-Atlantic Marketing Summit, and the GovMark Council's panel on Life After Tradeshows Part II, much of the conversation focused on how marketers were dealing with decreased attendance from government attendees at live events.

Those in attendance shared common questions and angst. How long will the events drought last? What impact will Sequestration have? How do I get government speakers to commit and government employees to attend? How can I use money that was earmarked for cancelled trade shows to support my sales pipeline? Will virtual conferences replace in-person events? What should I tell my sales team?

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