 To all those who were nominated as “inspirational people” in our latest edition of mice.net magazine (see page 42) well done! Those featured were nominated for a variety of different reasons. We hope their stories bring a little bit of inspiration to your lives like many did to ours.
 PCOs want a fair go from hoteliers when it comes to room rates and long-term bookings. As Ros McLeod points out in her column this issue (page 32) hoteliers in Australia are experiencing a boom right now, with high occupancy levels and little new hotel development on the horizon. It is our hope that they continue to support meeting planners because as is always the case, the tables will turn some time in the future.
And a thumb’s up to Cisco which appears to be setting the pace on environmentally sustainable events (see story page 6). No doubt this is going to be the way of the future for the business events industry in the years to come with event planners now called upon to not only create events that hit the mark but ones which are environmentally sustainable. Another skill the event planner will have to add to their ever-growing skill set.
An up or down… we’ll let you be the judge of this one about The Prince of Wales who decided to forego a trip to attend the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi and instead addressed the 2500 delegates on stage as a hologram. The Prince decided not to attend the summit in person because it was estimated that flights for him and his entourage would have generated an estimated 20 tons of carbon waste (and because he had been criticised in the past for attending an international event for similar reasons). While this may be good for the environment is it a good thing for the international meetings industry? Perhaps if he’d flown on one of Australia’s carriers he could have offset his trip with carbon credits... or left his entourage at home.
Finally, a big thumbs’ up to Amlink Technologies for its creation and implementation of the Rising Star Awards, which awarded a $5000 scholarship to a young up-and-comer recently (see page 30). This is a great initiative and one that the industry needs more of.
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