Ordinarily, I’d consider it bad form to chuckle publicly at one of the raft of e-mailed news releases we get down here at the Eagleland Businessplex.
But this one bears sharing. Here’s a snippet:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SHORT-SIGHTED AUSTERITY MEASURES REGARDING PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES COULD SPAWN CORPORATE “INTELLECTUAL DEPRESSION”
Washington, D.C. (13 April 2009) – New austerity measures taken by U.S.-based corporations could plunge the country into an “intellectual depression,” according to Doug Weeks, president of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), by removing hundreds of thousands of industry experts from the nation’s conference attendance. Weeks claims that a decision by a growing number of U.S. corporations to restrict employees from attending professional conferences will halt the flow of new ideas, more effective strategies, perfected procedures, and the presentation of new products that are utterly essential to economic recovery.”
Now, pardon my skepticism, but I have to wonder if an “intellectual depression” worries Mr. Weeks as much as a possible decrease in travel agent business.