Has your company or organization made the decision in recent months to reduce travel and cancel meetings or training events to save money? That certain was the trend in 2009 . . . after companies which took bailout money continued to meet at exclusive golf resorts and the media declared the 'political incorrectness' of holding corporate get-togethers at upscale hotels and destinations like Las Vegas, numerous events were relocated or down-sized, if not canceled outright.

After all the early outcries and brouhaha, many have now started to realize that there was another side to that coin. Slowly individuals have seen that the knee-jerk reaction to stop travel, networking, meeting, and training was not well thought out. We could discuss the financial loss to the hospitality industry-thousands are employed by the properties that house the 4.4 hotel rooms in the U.S., not to mention all those who are involved in the many auxiliary services which support travel and meetings. But that is not the focus of this post. We're discussing the impact that companies and organizations face because of policies that reduce or eliminate travel and meetings.

Just this past week, Fred Cook, CEO of GolinHarris, an international public relations firm shared his thoughts on the subject. His colleagues were understanding and accepting of the decision to cancel an annual management meeting and training programs. But eventually in late 2009, his company reinstated an important meeting with managers from around the world and the result was eye-opening to Fred.

He recently wrote, "Of course, our meeting was filled with important presentations and provocative breakout sessions, but the real value was people spending one-on-one time with each other, sharing stories about the challenges and opportunities of working with individual clients in specific markets. Like in physics, the interaction between different entities creates energy. Based on the response of the attendees, I am confident this meeting will pay for itself 10 times over in the business opportunities it generates, and not to mention, the improved morale of our team members . . . Training faced a similar fate. When raises are scarce and bonuses in doubt, it is hard to justify the expense of convening staff in one location for the simple purpose of learning. So like many others, we postponed [a] training session . . . which I now believe was short-sighted. In a culture where people are the highest priority, it's not a good idea to postpone investing in their future. There may be some people on staff who would prefer the cash over the training, but most people under the age of 30 are more interested in building their careers than in a few extra dollars in their paychecks. Will we lose any future stars because we canceled their training? Probably not. But we did lose out on an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of our commitment to them even during tough times."

I believe in vicariously learning (the University of Hard Knocks takes a real toll on most of us), so I'm sharing Fred's observations. Hopefully 2010 will be a better year on numerous fronts and for a wide variety of reasons-not the least of which is that American businesses will focus on needed training and continuous improvement, and the meetings industry becomes more profitably.