Checking In

January 19, 2011

Tyler Davidson

Having just returned from PCMA’s Convening Leaders event in Las Vegas, a couple things hit me—a Sin City epiphany. The meetings industry is changing at a rapid rate, and those that don’t adapt will be left behind.

In the last two years, hotel financing evaporated, corporate budgets were slashed, association attendance plummeted and jobs vanished.

However, the prospects for recovery are good. Slow and steady wins the race, but the very nature of how and where we meet will change.

The evidence is PCMA’s decision to co-locate with the Virtual Edge Summit and produce a hybrid meeting.

We’ll see what effect this has on face-to-face meetings, but at the moment I’m buying into the concept it will serve as an augmentation.

In the end, you can’t fight change—you adapt.

About the author

Tyler Davidson is the vice president and chief content director for Meetings Today, which publishes the meetings industry trade magazine Meetings Today as well as MeetingsToday.com, various newsletters, webinars, the in-person Meetings Today LIVE! Hosted-buyer events and other meetings and events industry B2B channels.

Tyler has covered the travel trade for nearly 35 years. In his role with Meetings Today, which recently won the prestigious FOLIO: Eddies Award for best magazine issue, Tyler leads the editorial team on its mission to provide the most in-depth meetings content in the industry. Previously, he worked as the Asia, Canada, Pacific Northwest and Western U.S. editor at Travel Weekly magazine and TravelAge West. Before joining the dual editorial staff producing destination sections for Travel Weekly and TravelAge West, Tyler was the Africa, Israel, Middle East, Switzerland and Pacific Northwest editor at TravelAge West. He also undertook general news and feature assignments while working at the magazines.

Besides reporting on the travel trade, Tyler has covered the real estate industry, held various editorial positions at the San Francisco-based national satire magazine The Nose, wrote freelance technology industry pieces and covered the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders for a bilingual newspaper in San Francisco. He has a B.A. in Journalism from San Francisco State University, where he worked in various editorial capacities on its award-winning student magazine, Prism.

Contact: tyler.davidson@meetingstoday.com