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A survey by the
Travel Industry Association indicates 100,000
travelers a day are avoiding air travel (WSJ
5/30). In the past year, air travel hassles led
travelers to avoid 41 million trips (12 million for
business and 29 million for leisure) at a cost of
$26.5 billion to the economy.
TROUBLE:
Wait until you see
the route reductions and higher fares this fall.
Impact on meetings could be considerable.
For years, there
have been predictions that technology could replace
travel. The time may finally be coming (Boston
Globe 7/14). The combination of improved
technologies; airline hassles; tight budgets due to
economic conditions; company carbon footprint
concerns; and a workplace filling with a generation
more comfortable being online are all contributing
to a surge. In May alone, Accenture used virtual
meetings to avoid 240 international tips and 120
domestic flights which will convert to savings of
millions over the year (NYTimes
7/22)
YouTube users view clips more than 1 billion times
on most days (WSJ 7/9).
“Packed Calendars Rule Over Executives” (WSJ 6/16
headline). Executives are “chained to crammed
agendas” with calendars fully booked into fall.
Increased demands on time include: running larger,
more complex companies; global travel; relationships
with directors, investors and regulators; serving as
directors on other companies; speeches; and
participation in civic groups.
TIME:
This is not a problem; it is an epidemic with
considerable but intangible costs to associations.
65 year old Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiaboa has a
page on Facebook (NYTimes 5/28).
The Men’s Dress
Furnishings Association, the trade group that
represents American tie manufacturers is shutting
down (WSJ 6/4). The percent of men wearing
ties to work everyday is at an all time low of 6%.
Some members said the writing was on the wall when a
number of people showed up tieless at the
association’s annual meeting two years ago.
LIFECYCLE:
There is a beginning, middle and an end to
everything.
The online
professional network LinkedIn has 23 million users
with an average age of 41 (WSJ 6/18).
The American
Medical Association apologized for more than a
100 years of “racial inequality” toward black
physicians and for accepting racial segregation in
the medical profession (WSJ 7/11). An
investigating panel cited an incident in Atlanta in
1961 when the AMA did not defend black
doctors who were arrested when they asked to sit in
a whites-only section of a Fulton County Medical
Society luncheon.
DIVERSITY:
Progress, but still a way to go.
The 225,000-member Society for Human Resource
Management’s library of 230 videos draws 500,000
unique visitors a month to its password protected
site (Associations
Now 3/2008)
The 700 member
Amalgamated Order of Real-Bearded Santas was on
a growth trend until last year, then the
organization encountered a slew of problems not
uncommon to mainstream associations (WSJ 7/10).
The group is dealing with a power struggle on the
board of directors; accusations of conflicts of
interest; Santas maligning other Santas in the Elf
Net chat room; and last but not least, the splinter
group: the
Red Suit Society.
COMMENT:
Even Santa is not immune from the vicissitudes of
associations.
A new book: “Here
Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without
Organizations” (Associations Now 6/2008). It
states that while traditional associations will
survive “their purchase on modern life will weaken
as novel alternatives for group action arise.”
I am not making
this up. A Spanish parliamentary committee has
proposed a resolution that, if adopted as expected
next year, will extend human rights to great apes
such as chimpanzees and gorillas (USAToday 7/15).
A court case could go further if the European Court
of Human Rights declares a chimp in Austria
(Matthew) a person. Matthew would have the right to
life, limited freedom of movement, personal safety
and the right to claim property.
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