• How state legislation affects meetings.
As always, the meetings industry remains in a constant state of flux dependent upon the laws and regulations of other industries. Recent, ongoing—and potential—changes to state legislation often seem to occur in the blink of an eye, carrying wide-reaching and sometimes unforeseen consequences that impact many groups' site-selection dictums.
Let's look at two recent, particularly buzzworthy topics of legislative interest, along with their associated concerns to meetings…
As always, the meetings industry remains in a constant state of flux dependent upon the laws and regulations of other industries. Recent, ongoing—and potential—changes to state legislation often seem to occur in the blink of an eye, carrying wide-reaching and sometimes unforeseen consequences that impact many groups' site-selection dictums.
Let's look at two recent, particularly buzzworthy topics of legislative interest, along with their associated concerns to meetings…
Statewide smoking bans.
If your group is composed mainly of non-smokers, then you're in luck, and so are the venues looking to make up the economic difference from the tobacco-puffing crowds of the past. Although anecdotal and statistical evidence alike suggests an enthusiastic appreciation for smoke-free public places, resultant negative business effects of smoking restrictions have received predictable pooh-poohing from anti-tobacco advocacy groups.
As of April, nearly 30 states have implemented bans against smoking in some or all public venues. Good riddance, you say? Not your problem, you think? Well, just wait until the first bunch of cranky smokers in your group comes storming up to you between sessions. Where will you be when they demand to know where they can step outside, angrily informing you they won't make it back to their seats before the next speaker takes the stage—since you chose a venue where they can't just duck into the hotel bar for a quick smoke?
Since trendsetting California introduced the toughest smoking ban to date back in 1994, many other states have jumped on the tobacco-free bandwagon, including many throughout the Midwest:
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Michigan
Minnesota
Nebraska
Ohio
South Dakota
Wisconsin
The ensuing ramifications of these statewide smoking bans, in terms of meetings business, extend much farther than the possibility of agitated nic-fitters in your breakout rooms, though. For example, your options from which to select those breakout rooms could be reduced if the venues that house them go out of business due to decreased revenue caused by smoking laws.
In South Dakota, for instance, where a November 2010 vote left many bar, restaurant, and casino owners scrambling to hide their ashtrays before the new law went into effect, American Cancer Society spokespeople still stress that smoking bans have no significant, negative economic impact. Many South Dakota bar, restaurant, and casino owners, however, tell a different story. In the city of Deadwood, a tourism-driven gambling hot spot on the prairie, officials reported a 13 percent drop in gaming hall revenue for January and February of this year, compared to those same months last year. In addition, across the state, reports have indicated a 20 percent decrease in state video lottery income, popularly attributed to decreased patronage resulting from the smoking ban.
What does gaming revenue have to do with your meetings? Well, state gaming losses mean less money in the state budget, which means less money to distribute across statewide causes, such as infrastructure and improvement projects, that happen to make destinations more appealing to many meeting groups. And in South Dakota, where the change has only been in effect for a matter of months now, the blows to state revenue have already hurt the locals enough to prompt talks of appeals and lawsuits directed at the smoking ban.
For some venues, though, it's already too late: following wave after wave of hospitality and tourism industry setbacks in recent years, some owners just haven't been able to afford to keep their doors open after yet another hit—real or perceived—to their businesses. Although few can argue the improvements to public health in the absence of public cigarette smoke, many Midwest venue owners struggle to weigh altruistic pros against real-world cons. In some areas of the Midwest, the reality is that the number of "closed for business" signs continues to rise in the wake of statewide smoking bans, and in some cases, the number of venue options for meeting planners could become more limited in exchange for cleaner public air.
Airport body scanners.
What will attendees go through to attend your meetings? Well, thanks to legislation introduced in 2010, many can now anticipate going through a security screening process that some believe to be too… revealing. With the implementation of advanced imaging technology (AIT) at many airports throughout the nation, not only do U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have the capability to see into your luggage—many can now see under your clothes, too.
Reminiscent of the old "X-ray glasses" concept, AIT presents virtual images of the human body in the name of public security, but many passengers protest that the technology doth invade too much in terms of personal comfort. Such machines, popularly referred to as “body scanners,” have provoked rigorous controversy centered on privacy factors, among other concerns. Per their primary purpose, body scanners create on-screen images of passengers that reveal objects hidden under clothing, such as concealed weapons or other restricted items. However, the images also come with graphic outlines of the human body, including genitalia and breasts. Some opponents to the technology criticize these virtual strip searches as "pornographic," but many airports stand behind the use of AIT to provide unprecedented visual access to threats that might lie beneath.
To date, according to the TSA, many major airports currently implement body scanners, including several located in the following Midwest states:
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Ohio
Wisconsin
What does this mean to you? Amid increasing, suffocating airline security measures that show no signs of loosening any time in the near future, frequent flyers face far more travel hassles than ever before. If your attendees don't live within driving distance of your meeting destination, you might find visions of your program content competing with nightmares of airport exhibitionism. At a time when many travelers have been pushed to the limits of aviation frustration, popular prejudices against "invasive" screening practices might be just enough to convince some attendees to cry uncle and stay home. As a meeting planner, you might be wise to equip yourself with the information tools to dismantle your prospective attendees' preconceived notions about the state of airport security.
After all, public outcry about full-body scans has not gone ignored. In an effort to protect travelers’ privacy, the TSA explains, passengers' faces are "blurred out" to provide a measure of individual anonymity. In addition, remote TSA officers operate the machines from offsite locations, so individuals need not fear the potential embarrassment of a security screener putting a real face to a realistic body image. The machines contain no storage capacity, and the transportation of body scanner images to any other device might soon be classified as a felony under federal law. According to the Associated Press, an “amendment by Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. … would prohibit anyone with access to the scanned body images, whether security personnel or members of the public, from photographing or disseminating those images. Besides a prison term, violators could be fined up to $100,000 per violation.” And let's not forget the oft-overlooked obvious: AIT scans are optional, offered as an alternative to lengthier security procedures such as physical pat-downs.
That said, aside from persistent privacy concerns, body scanners also raise recurring matters of passenger safety into question, due to a prevalent reliance upon radiation to produce X-rayesque representations of the human form. In response, the TSA has issued statements to reassure the public that the amount of individual radiation exposure experienced during a scan is less than that received after flying for two minutes at 30,000 feet. However, according to USA Today, despite such confident claims, the TSA caught fire from a House oversight committee in February due to its "inexcusable" delay in releasing reports regarding specifics about the safety of the technology. In March, USA Today also reported the TSA's intentions to retest machines following "math mistakes" that indicated radiation levels up to ten times higher than expected.
Even as public debate continues to simmer over ongoing issues and concerns surrounding AIT, a newer, better version of the body scanner concept is under way—at least in terms of the comfort factor. Early this year, the TSA announced plans to test re-envisioned AIT machines in select airports, explaining that the new technology "enhances privacy by eliminating passenger-specific images and instead auto-detects potential threat items and indicates their location on a generic outline of a person."
Such regulatory rewrites continue to alter the events landscape, as meeting planners continue to regulate their site-selection criteria based upon the needs, comforts, and preferences of their attendees. Ever-changing state laws influence many factors that aid in determining where groups want to meet, where they can meet, and how easy it will be to get there. Although meeting planners and attendees alike might often long for the simplicities of yesteryear, planners must always keep an eye on the future to greet the burgeoning challenges of today.
If your group is composed mainly of non-smokers, then you're in luck, and so are the venues looking to make up the economic difference from the tobacco-puffing crowds of the past. Although anecdotal and statistical evidence alike suggests an enthusiastic appreciation for smoke-free public places, resultant negative business effects of smoking restrictions have received predictable pooh-poohing from anti-tobacco advocacy groups.
As of April, nearly 30 states have implemented bans against smoking in some or all public venues. Good riddance, you say? Not your problem, you think? Well, just wait until the first bunch of cranky smokers in your group comes storming up to you between sessions. Where will you be when they demand to know where they can step outside, angrily informing you they won't make it back to their seats before the next speaker takes the stage—since you chose a venue where they can't just duck into the hotel bar for a quick smoke?
Since trendsetting California introduced the toughest smoking ban to date back in 1994, many other states have jumped on the tobacco-free bandwagon, including many throughout the Midwest:
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Michigan
Minnesota
Nebraska
Ohio
South Dakota
Wisconsin
The ensuing ramifications of these statewide smoking bans, in terms of meetings business, extend much farther than the possibility of agitated nic-fitters in your breakout rooms, though. For example, your options from which to select those breakout rooms could be reduced if the venues that house them go out of business due to decreased revenue caused by smoking laws.
In South Dakota, for instance, where a November 2010 vote left many bar, restaurant, and casino owners scrambling to hide their ashtrays before the new law went into effect, American Cancer Society spokespeople still stress that smoking bans have no significant, negative economic impact. Many South Dakota bar, restaurant, and casino owners, however, tell a different story. In the city of Deadwood, a tourism-driven gambling hot spot on the prairie, officials reported a 13 percent drop in gaming hall revenue for January and February of this year, compared to those same months last year. In addition, across the state, reports have indicated a 20 percent decrease in state video lottery income, popularly attributed to decreased patronage resulting from the smoking ban.
What does gaming revenue have to do with your meetings? Well, state gaming losses mean less money in the state budget, which means less money to distribute across statewide causes, such as infrastructure and improvement projects, that happen to make destinations more appealing to many meeting groups. And in South Dakota, where the change has only been in effect for a matter of months now, the blows to state revenue have already hurt the locals enough to prompt talks of appeals and lawsuits directed at the smoking ban.
For some venues, though, it's already too late: following wave after wave of hospitality and tourism industry setbacks in recent years, some owners just haven't been able to afford to keep their doors open after yet another hit—real or perceived—to their businesses. Although few can argue the improvements to public health in the absence of public cigarette smoke, many Midwest venue owners struggle to weigh altruistic pros against real-world cons. In some areas of the Midwest, the reality is that the number of "closed for business" signs continues to rise in the wake of statewide smoking bans, and in some cases, the number of venue options for meeting planners could become more limited in exchange for cleaner public air.
Airport body scanners.
What will attendees go through to attend your meetings? Well, thanks to legislation introduced in 2010, many can now anticipate going through a security screening process that some believe to be too… revealing. With the implementation of advanced imaging technology (AIT) at many airports throughout the nation, not only do U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have the capability to see into your luggage—many can now see under your clothes, too.
Reminiscent of the old "X-ray glasses" concept, AIT presents virtual images of the human body in the name of public security, but many passengers protest that the technology doth invade too much in terms of personal comfort. Such machines, popularly referred to as “body scanners,” have provoked rigorous controversy centered on privacy factors, among other concerns. Per their primary purpose, body scanners create on-screen images of passengers that reveal objects hidden under clothing, such as concealed weapons or other restricted items. However, the images also come with graphic outlines of the human body, including genitalia and breasts. Some opponents to the technology criticize these virtual strip searches as "pornographic," but many airports stand behind the use of AIT to provide unprecedented visual access to threats that might lie beneath.
To date, according to the TSA, many major airports currently implement body scanners, including several located in the following Midwest states:
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Ohio
Wisconsin
What does this mean to you? Amid increasing, suffocating airline security measures that show no signs of loosening any time in the near future, frequent flyers face far more travel hassles than ever before. If your attendees don't live within driving distance of your meeting destination, you might find visions of your program content competing with nightmares of airport exhibitionism. At a time when many travelers have been pushed to the limits of aviation frustration, popular prejudices against "invasive" screening practices might be just enough to convince some attendees to cry uncle and stay home. As a meeting planner, you might be wise to equip yourself with the information tools to dismantle your prospective attendees' preconceived notions about the state of airport security.
After all, public outcry about full-body scans has not gone ignored. In an effort to protect travelers’ privacy, the TSA explains, passengers' faces are "blurred out" to provide a measure of individual anonymity. In addition, remote TSA officers operate the machines from offsite locations, so individuals need not fear the potential embarrassment of a security screener putting a real face to a realistic body image. The machines contain no storage capacity, and the transportation of body scanner images to any other device might soon be classified as a felony under federal law. According to the Associated Press, an “amendment by Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. … would prohibit anyone with access to the scanned body images, whether security personnel or members of the public, from photographing or disseminating those images. Besides a prison term, violators could be fined up to $100,000 per violation.” And let's not forget the oft-overlooked obvious: AIT scans are optional, offered as an alternative to lengthier security procedures such as physical pat-downs.
That said, aside from persistent privacy concerns, body scanners also raise recurring matters of passenger safety into question, due to a prevalent reliance upon radiation to produce X-rayesque representations of the human form. In response, the TSA has issued statements to reassure the public that the amount of individual radiation exposure experienced during a scan is less than that received after flying for two minutes at 30,000 feet. However, according to USA Today, despite such confident claims, the TSA caught fire from a House oversight committee in February due to its "inexcusable" delay in releasing reports regarding specifics about the safety of the technology. In March, USA Today also reported the TSA's intentions to retest machines following "math mistakes" that indicated radiation levels up to ten times higher than expected.
Even as public debate continues to simmer over ongoing issues and concerns surrounding AIT, a newer, better version of the body scanner concept is under way—at least in terms of the comfort factor. Early this year, the TSA announced plans to test re-envisioned AIT machines in select airports, explaining that the new technology "enhances privacy by eliminating passenger-specific images and instead auto-detects potential threat items and indicates their location on a generic outline of a person."
Such regulatory rewrites continue to alter the events landscape, as meeting planners continue to regulate their site-selection criteria based upon the needs, comforts, and preferences of their attendees. Ever-changing state laws influence many factors that aid in determining where groups want to meet, where they can meet, and how easy it will be to get there. Although meeting planners and attendees alike might often long for the simplicities of yesteryear, planners must always keep an eye on the future to greet the burgeoning challenges of today.
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