ISES Industry Advocacy – Your Voice Matters!
Dear ISES USA Member,
As you are no doubt aware, our industry has recently been splashed all over the mainstream media. From the government's proposed regulations for the disposition of the second half of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), to corporate America's cutbacks on meetings, travel, conference participation and special events for both customers and employees, our industry has been unfairly maligned as extraneous, frivolous, and unnecessary as a core business strategy during recessionary times. ISES leaders have been working behind the scenes with our fellow industry associations to thoughtfully respond to each of these assertions. Now, we need your help to reinforce these responses in your local communities and to your elected officials. Here is what you can do to help carry our industry's message forward:
1) View the latest information at www.ises.com. We have built a dedicated web page on the ISES International web site to collect all information relating to this issue. It is very much a work in progress, and we're adding content daily. Check here often for the latest information and actions to keep our positive messages regarding the industry in front of mainstream America. And please forward any news items from your local media that we can add to the repository for follow up by our association's members and leadership.
2) Contact your elected officials in your state capitol and in Washington, and let them know that these issues matter to you. Links to all of the U.S. Congressional leaders are available on the ISES Advocacy web page. In addition, we have created a “shell” letter for distribution to your elected representatives. Download the draft letter from the ISES Advocacy web page, customize it as you wish, and send it to all of your elected officials both locally and nationally. True grassroots efforts on issues such as this do make a difference!
3) Sign the Keep America Meeting petition. This is a national petition which is being circulated by all industry associations in an effort to gather as much support for the meetings/incentives/conventions and events industry as possible, and will be delivered to Congress and the Obama Administration in a few weeks. Add your name to the list of folks who are on record as supporting our profession, and let our elected officials know that our industry is not expendable in recessionary times!
4) View the Convention Industry Council's (CIC) news release. This is the first of several coordinated industry responses to the Federal TARP funding restriction issue. ISES is an active member of the CIC, and we are supporting all coordinated industry responses to the threats facing our profession. The CIC is moving ahead on several fronts, and ISES is participating in all of these efforts.
5) Carry our industry's message to mainstream America. ISES recognizes the urgent need to get positive messages regarding our industry out to the general public. ISES International President David DeLoach has drafted both an Op-Ed piece and a brief Letter to the Editor suitable for distribution to local media outlets. ISES headquarters is coordinating the distribution of these written documents to key media contacts in major U.S. cities. Both documents will shortly be available on the ISES Advocacy Page. Once they are posted there, please feel free to download them and forward to your local newspapers and broadcast media outlets. The wider the distribution of these pieces to mainstream media, the better.
6) Reinforce the value of special events to your current and potential clients. Now more than ever, it is critically important to quantify the value of your special events to all of your clients. If you have never done so before, there are a host of resources available through ISES to help you. Reach out to your ISES colleagues, attend ISES Chapter meetings and events, and use your professional ISES network to learn how others are measuring and reiterating the value of special events to their clients. Then use those ideas in your own business.
7) Let us know if you have ideas. Let us know what you think. Send an email with your ideas on these issues to the ISES leadership.
These are important times for our profession and the entire special events industry. Thank you for all that you are doing to keep special events relevant, effective and beneficial for all.