Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Model Policy for Meetings, Events and Incentive/Recognition Travel for Those Businesses Benefiting from TARP Funds

The meeting and travel industry has developed a Model Board Policy for meetings, events, and incentive travel that is designed for businesses receiving TARP monies. It is recommended that any agency receiving government monies consider adopting guidelines similar to these.

The guidelines clearly emphasize that meetings, events, and incentive/recognition travel serve legitimate business purposes and are cost-justified. They propose that any meeting exceeding $75,000 must have a written justification. It also suggests that at least 90 percent of the incentive program attendees shall be other than senior executives from the host organization. The U.S. Travel Association has published these guidelines along with examples of legitimate business purposes for meetings, events and travel. If your business expects to receive TARP monies, you should definitely look to have a policy in place to address meetings and conferences. To get started, you can download a copy of the guidelines here.


- Linda Begbie, Meeting & Conference Planner

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

RDL enterprises is "on the air"!

Welcome to our brand new blog, written by the staff of RDL enterprises. We will be posting items of interest weekly from the world of meetings and conferences.

For those of you who travel frequently, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) guidelines for fliers are probably fairly well ingrained by now and even those who fly only on rare occasions are becoming savvy about what they can and cannot take through security. However, some of the new data requirements for passengers under the new "Secure Flight" program might surprise you...

Beginning May 15th, according to a TSA press release, the name that appears on your ticket must be the same as it appears on your government issued ID (such as your driver's license or passport). Though this does not affect everyone, be careful if your name is "Michael" and you usually book your tickets under "Mike". And, while the TSA has said that small differences should not be an issue, you could still run into problems getting through security under the new rules.

The second phase is scheduled to begin August 15th, at which time passengers will need to provide their gender and date of birth as well when booking airline flights. As with your name, this information should be the same as it appears on your ID.

In both instances, the TSA recommends that all travelers aim to be consistent with the information that they have on their government issues ID and that they use while traveling. For more information on the TSA's travel rules, please visit the TSA website.

- Karl Baur, CMP