Airport security complications for your annual meeting

Not only do you have to worry about getting your attendees to your annual meeting or trade show conveniently and on time, now one of my speaker bureau contacts informs me that more big-name speakers are requiring a chartered flight, so they don't have to deal with the TSA hassle.

We typically book one name-recognition speaker at our annual meeting, usually someone from the media, and one or two others. I'm informed that because of the increased airport security measures and the inevitable delays at major airports, a number of the upper-tier ($50K+) speakers are making a charter a requirement, and some are turning down gigs that require a long flight altogether. That's going to make things more challenging for us, since our annual meeting will be in Palm Springs in January, and some of the media types I'd had in mind might not want to make the trip.

Tagged: Associations, Meetings, Speakers.