Was the CoreNet Global Las Vegas Global Summit just an isolated 'feel good' moment in terms of the rising attendance and participation trend we saw there in October? Or was it the beginning of a turn, not only in the economic sense but in attitude, too?
We said that, finally, it looked like more people were coming up for air and to have a look around. The economic news improved, and so did people's desire to get back together and compare notes.
It looks as if the New Orleans Global Summit trend picks up right where Vegas left off. New Orleans early registrations are the second-highest of any Global Summit, one of the best we've ever seen. Nearly half, 46%, of the 300+ industry professionals who've already signed on for the event are corporate end users.
While some of our recent research shows a 5% or so uptick in the number of corporate occupiers whose capital expenditures have increased since April 2009, the early New Orleans trend supports the research findings.
It was more a hope as we arrived in Vegas that the corporate spending freeze was beginning to thaw. Now it seems like it's morphing from hope to fact.
One of the big 'ah-ha's' people are looking for is that one new approach, application or idea that helps us deliver in the context of the so-called 'new normal,' or that post-apocolyptic economy of scale we're all wondering about.
It's also called innovation. The recently announced keynote speaker for New Orleans,
Peter Sheahan, will address it. Many of us are pressing harder than ever to get our hands on it, this thing we're calling "Business Unusual: Inspiring Innovation." Sheahan will cast it in terms of how to exploit opportunity in an 'upside down' world.
Vegas may have been a 'should be there' moment. New Orleans is shaping up to be 'must attend.'
http://www.corenetglobal.org/Learning/NewOrleansSummit2010/content.cfm?ItemNumber=14328&navItemNumber=14329