Within the span of a week, the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. was rattled by an earthquake and slammed by Hurricane Irene. Severe weather can strike unexpectedly, so event and meeting organizers need to know what to do in advance to protect their attendees. They can learn a lot from a resource that was developed for venue managers, the Severe Weather Planning Guide, created by the International Association of Venue Managers.

The comprehensive, 70-page book explains how to build relationships with emergency management personnel, establish a command center, and create a severe-weather-event team. Read more about the guide.

The exhibition industry grew 2.4 percent in the first half of 2011, outperforming the overall U.S. economy, which grew 1.9 percent over the same period, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research.

There have now been four straight quarters of growth in the industry. Read which CEIR metric performed the best in the second quarter.

Some economists have called 2011 a transition year, with signs of a stronger economy to come in 2012 and beyond. However, depending on the city, many hotels are already in recovery mode as room rates rise and space tightens. For meeting planners, that means the deals won't be as easy to come by and they won't have the kind of leverage they had at the negotiating table during the recession.

Association Meetings explores the subject of negotiating in a changing marketplace, including strategies for dealing with a seller's market, tips from the leading meetings industry attorneys, as well as what hoteliers think about current market conditions.

Association Meetings Editor Betsy Bair weighs in on the discussion, including her impressions of three things that hoteliers are more reluctant to do now.

We want to hear from you! Association Meetings is looking for feedback from association meeting professionals on the following question: Have you changed your registration fees for your annual meeting in the past year or are you planning to change them for next year? Why or why not?

Please e-mail your answers to Dave Kovaleski.

I finally got the chance to participate, if only remotely, in an EventCamp: EventCamp Twin Cities, or #ECTC11 in Twitterese. It was my first real hybrid meeting experience. It also was one of the most interesting conferences I’ve been to in a while.

Thought 1: If I had to use just one word to describe ECTC, it would be “overwhelming.” There was just so much stuff to do…

Velvet Chainsaw, a meetings education consultancy, in conjunction with Tagoras, which focuses on learning trends and research for associations, is collecting data about industry and professional speakers at association conferences with 500 or more attendees. Event organizers can take the online survey until September 9 and may be eligible for a synopsis of the results. You can read more about the survey at the Velvet Chainsaw Web site.