This morning I flipped through four Indonesian newspapers and came to understand that in the next two weeks, there would be 11 major groups busy conferencing in Jakarta and Bali. Curious what other conferences could possibly be going on I called the Ritz Carlton, Bali and asked for Conference Manager.
“Hello” I said,” can I speak to the Conference Manager please?”
“Oh, I am sorry Sir, we are fully booked till next year,” said a harassed female and cut the line.
I looked at Bali News on the web and the tourist tabloid seemed to confirm that Bali could be fully booked for conferences till sometime in 2009.
Conferences Everywhere
Couriouser and couriouser, I searched the net going further afield. From April to July it seems that Geneva will also be fully booked with United Nations conferences on nearly every topic foreboding trouble for the planet. Indeed the UN is going to be very busy in all the interesting cities and spots around the world. The Year of Sanitation, which 2008 is, is going to be hectic for the staffers. The European Union will compete effectively with a nice list of conferences too. The Association of South East Asian Nations has at least one scheduled every day. Small fish! That's only a wee bit of Inter- Government conferencing. What if you take all countries, associations, organizations and corporations? Would it be fair to say that in one day there would be at least a 100 conferences going on in nice cities around the world.
10,000 Conferences a Day
That, said an international conference organizer staff member, would be terribly off the mark. My ignorance was appalling! The figure is more likely to be around 10,000 conferences a day.
“Hello, can I speak to the Conference Manager” I asked calling the Marriot, Bali.
“I am sorry Sir; he is not in his office right now.”
He was not in his office at all the next day and the day after. It turned out that Marriot; Bali had three conferences going on that day. So please don't fire the guy. He was fagged out. I eventually learned from the Bali News that there were on, that particular day, more than 100 conferences forging along, according to the staffer's educated guess. I learned also that there were about 300 going on simultaneously in Las Vegas. An UN official in Jakarta estimated that the UN and its bodies would have at least 200 conferences a day all over the place. I realized then that 10,000 a day may not be impossibility.
Then of course there were the more serious types of conferences. Like Condoleezza Rice and Hu Jiabao. Mbeki and Abdullah. Bush and Brown. Nuri al-Maliki and Asad. Sarkozy and Gaddafi.There must be hundreds of these too, comprising of the principals and bunches of hangers-on.
The Big Numbers
Conferencing is the biggest single industry in the world. It is also the engine driving another 100 industries at least to greatness and glory
My friend in the hospitality network said, to be really conservative, that the average number of participants, per conference could be put down as100. There were conferences with as many as 5000 and as little as maybe a dozen. Hundred was a safe figure to be an average. If he is right there are some 1,000,000 people a day attending conferences. That would work out to around 200,000,000 a year. Excluding holidays in our count. Lots of duplication of course. Assuming conferencing costs at US$500 a person, per day, per person, a trillion dollar industry.
Employment in the industry, if you apply the hospitality industry formula will be around one billion. These figures do not include those of the support industries.
The Support Industries
High in the list of beneficiaries of the conference industries are those that are dedicated to make conference attendees look good and feel good. These of course include hairdressers, plastic surgeons, manicurists, spas, cosmetics, fragrances, breath fresheners and I have been reliably informed that sales of anti-flatulents increase during conferences.
Hong Kong tailors enjoy a buoyant trade all year round thanks to the numerous conferences held in that region... No tailor, even the guys you are told by the sartorially wise to avoid are among Hong Kong's list of millionaires. House owners cling to plumbers. Conference attendees have strong to their tailors who can adorn them with splendid raiments. On CNN reports on conferences they look splendid even if they are not. It is amazing what tailors can accomplish. Just look they have done with Robert Mugabe
Food Services thrive on conferences as do the beverage industry. Though there is a slow down, I am again reliably informed, on hot chocolate. If about 200million mouths have to be fed magnificently around the world each year it may be worth some consideration by the FAO and other foodies at their respective and current and forthcoming conferences.
