Dealing With The AIG “Effect”

In 2009, the New York Times coined the phrase “AIG Effect” to refer to the negative impression that is created in corporate America when a conference or meeting is held at a resort location.

For the last 10 years, Rail Equipment Finance has been held at the La Quinta Resort & Spa. We are very, very aware of the “AIG Effect’s” potential impact on many of our corporate attendees.

While La Quinta is a golf resort, the primary purpose of our attendance there are the two and half days spent in “school room style” meetings on industry subjects of vital interest to those in attendance. I would estimate that 90% to 95% of those in attendance actively participate in the business sessions each day. The golf outing and the evening receptions are much-needed networking opportunities because the business sessions during the day go from early morning to early evening with precious few breaks.

Our contract with La Quinta continues until 2015 and was last entered into after some significant polling of our regular attendees as to their preferences. Our friends at La Quinta have “been there” for us in prior years and we intend to support them in this very unusual timeframe for industry off-site meetings.

If you need support to convince your firm to allow you to attend REF2012, please review the “Who Should Attend?,” “Testimonials” and “Q & A” sections of this website. If you still hit resistance to your attendance......give me a call......perhaps there is something I can do to help.

Remember, the most important reason to attend REF2012 is to materially increase your chances of doing your share of the business that we will all need to do to get ourselves out of this economic malaise!