Business Interaction At Its Best. The Desert Has Nothing To Do With It. The Oligarchs.
- Along with travel and hospitality, the corporate events industry was devastated by Covid-19 and the subsequent variants. Hundreds of thousands of workers who provided services to support the creation, planning, implementation, and execution of product introductions, consumer product experiences, trade and consumer shows, and private events were left on the sideline as clients and show associations’ event schedules came to a dead stop in March of 2020. Businesses shuttered and their employees, who in my opinion have the best work ethic of any service sector, all of a sudden downshifted from fifth gear to 1st gear as worldwide healthcare organizations tried, with no avail, to quickly halt what became a serious pandemic.
Fast forward two years, and last week’s personal experience thankfully showed me a complete pivot with the events world. I attended and participated at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, usually held every year in Las Vegas. Pre-pandemic, this conference was one of the best attended, drawing over 100,000 attendees, exhibitors, partners, and suppliers to this mega-conference which involves any and all who work within or sell to the worldwide broadcast sector. After NAB cancelling the 2020 and 2021 events, they crossed their fingers and moved forward with last week’s conference, hoping that most attendees would make their way to ‘sin city’ and participate with the educational sessions and exhibition floor. Their bet paid off as the conference attracted 60,000, well off pre-pandemic numbers, but a strong number mostly made up of decision-makers, after two years of nominal face-to-face interaction.
Using technology, Zoom calls and email prevailed for the last two years, but there is no better business interaction than face-to-face meetings. Last week’s NAB conference clearly showed the world the importance of corporate events and the role they play with business interaction. My four days attending sessions and interacting at the expo yielded great contacts and business opportunities, and more importantly will provide a path for a high level of return on investment.
Let us all hope that we have ‘learned to live with’ future Covid-19 variants and that the world of face-to-face business interaction continues to regain its momentum. Well done NAB.
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period.
I have contributed to the Red Cross. I really do not understand, with the world’s resources, how after steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise, affecting 9.9 percent of people globally. From 2019 to 2020, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 161 million, a crisis driven largely by conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Children are devastated by hunger. In fact, “an estimated 14 million children under the age of five worldwide suffer from severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, yet only 25 percent of acutely malnourished children have access to lifesaving treatment.” This is so sad as the United Nations and other food organizations report that there is enough food produced worldwide to feed everyone on the planet.
I am writing about the serious subject of hunger due to a YouTube video sent by a friend of mine – a funny piece done by the vile Sam Kinison, who tries to make his point with why people are hungry. Though funny, this 1985 take, in present day, could not be further from the truth. Warning: this video contains vulgar language.
Things I Think For the First Sunday Of May:
- You wonder when the Russian oligarchs, who have billions of dollars frozen by worldwide sanctions, will take a stand against Vladimir Putin. Sooner than later would be my answer.
- Another Grammy-winning singer has left us. RIP Naomi Judd.
- The Food & Drug Administration is banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Why not ban all types of cigarettes? Ah, yes, I forgot about the politics.
- I just read some information regarding Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. I have no words for these two. Just plain nasty people.
- The premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested in Miami, charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and launder money. You just can’t fix stupid.
- Residential rental markets in the Sunbelt are skyrocketing. My hometown of Miami is now the least affordable city in the United States. While rent prices have risen 24% nationwide, Miami’s average rent has increased by a staggering 61%. When does this craziness stop?
- Roman Abramovich has been forced to sell his Chelsea Football Club due to sanctions imposed on the Russian by the British government. An unfortunate circumstance for Abramovich until you realize that he paid $233 million for the club back in 2003. Friday’s bid for Chelsea F.C., by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, is $5.3 billion. A nice ROI for the Russian.
- Chris Stapleton’s rise to the top of the music world is amazing. Incredibly talented with his voice and guitar, this song best represents what this fantastic performer is all about.
