Strange visitors at the door

One interesting aspect of working for a global company is sharing local experiences that seem out of this world to your colleagues.

Here's a photo of a 3 am visitor to the front door of our Support Consultant Julian in Brisbane:





I had a similarly startling experience at my office door last week while on a conference call. I hope that the client didn't hear me snap this photo. (Notice that the "child fence" in the background didn't do its job.)




I don't think that any amount of bad economic news can withstand the smile of a baby (koala or human)!

Keep your pre-registration money in your bank account

I have read of a few meeting management companies going bankrupt this year, taking some of their clients' pre-registration revenue with them. Having lived through the event registration carnage of 2001-2004 (remember Event411.com, Procurepoint.com, Bthere.com?), I thought that large event producers had learned to process fees directly into their own bank accounts. Meetings technology companies seem to be stronger this time, but I don't think these will be the last bankruptcies.

If your event produces a substantial amount of money (whose loss would severely hurt your organization) then I suggest you set up an Internet-ready merchant bank account and have your registration service provider process payments directly into your account. This is standard practice for many companies like Certain Software.

Don't trust your vendors bank accounts, and don't trust escrow services as funds can be diverted by criminal or accidental negligence.