Oprah trip "Down Under" surprises Australians - with a bill "Oprah is a household name and her star power has the potential to lift Australia's profile as a premier tourist destination," Ferguson said in a statement Tuesday. Former federal tourism minister John Brown asked the media not to be "cynical about the cost" at a time when the number of Australian leaving for overseas holidays outstrips the number of tourists coming to Australia for vacations. "We spent hundreds of millions of dollars over 30 years without much effect, I must say that

Call for Partnership: Keystone Accountability - an international charity helping organizations develop new ways of planning, measuring and reporting social change, and Charity Navigator - the premier independent charity evaluator in the United States, have joined forces to involve university students in informing US-American giving. This call for partnership is aimed at graduate and select undergraduate courses that cover the management of nonprofit organizations. Connected to an expanded and enhanced Charity Navigator rating system, students in

Y.M.C.A. Is Downsizing to a Single Letter https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/12Y.html

"There are few cast iron laws in economics but one seems to hold - the organisers of sporting mega-events always overestimate the economic benefits and underestimate the costs."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8718696.stm

You can add a new entry to the long list of problems that can be solved by robots: arranging tables in a conference room...

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/the-confer...

Medical registrants of the 2010 AANS Paperless Annual Meeting will be given an iPod touch device at this meeting – this will serve as your window to some of the highest quality neurosurgical educational available. Being at the forefront of medical education and continually looking for new ways to enhance members' meeting experience, it was a natural progression for the AANS to utilize the iPod touch® for an annual scientific meeting.

not a helpful article in my opinion...

Rise of the virtual conference - BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8608417.stm

Product piracy at exhibitions - Recommendations for exhibitors

Some recommendations & information from WORLDDIDAC Basel / Switzerland available here:

http://www.worlddidac.org/en/031_Newsletters/upload/Product%20piracy%20at%20exhibitions%20Worlddidac.pdf

United Airlines has agreed to buy Continental in a $3 billion-plus deal that would create the world's largest carrier with a commanding position in several top U.S. cities.

Deal expected to conclude in 4th quarter 2010.

http://www.unitedcontinentalmerger.com/

New standard for the meetings industry

"The Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol is a new advanced level guide for sustainable event management which uses the United Nations’ COP15 conference in Copenhagen as its case study. The protocol is designed to be used in conjunction with The COP15 Event Sustainability Report which provides in-depth details of the COP15 sustainability approach, initiatives and performance. The report follows GRI reporting guidelines and sets a new standard for the meetings industry.