WASHINGTON, D.C.
The U.S. Travel Association today unveiled a new campaign designed to shine some much needed spotlight on the importance of meetings.
On its website, www.ustravel.org, the association has posted a "Keep America Meeting" toolkit that gives industry professionals—including buyers, suppliers and destination promoting officials—a host of information and tips that can be used to promote the importance of meetings and the Return on Investment they provide. The association also will make the kits available through member organizations, including key meetings industry associations.
Among the tools in the kit are "Three Action Items," a document that gives examples of steps people can take to extol the industry's virtues; tips on setting up a meeting with a member of Congress; information on how a hotel, or a customer, can arrange a back-of-the-house tour for a lawmaker while a meeting is taking place at a particular property; and numerous research papers—and examples of letters that can be written—which discuss the industry's value.
U.S. Travel also plans to hold a “Keep America Meeting” webinar sometime later this Spring to discuss the tools contained in the kit and to give industry professionals a forum to ask questions about their grassroots efforts in the promotion of meetings.While the move comes in the wake of yet another goventment meeting scandal, at the General Services Administration, U.S. Travel officials said this is just a coincidence as they've been working on developing this new tool for some time.
—Rayna Katz
