While meeting/event production and staging is a large and vital industry serving all levels of business, the press is often unaware of the value of the non-outsourceable jobs this industry represents to the economy and the important services we provide every day to support commerce and encourage economic recovery…Companies that choose to meet, hold events, and attend trade shows create jobs for workers in the airline and hotel industries, for union workers at theatres, convention centers and scene shops, in the restaurant and hospitality industries and beyond. The meetings and events business also supports the production companies who envision and create the communications content used to sell products and increase productivity, and the staging companies who must continually invest in trained personnel and the latest video, audio, and lighting equipment that is required to put on a meeting. And many classes of workers are involved throughout the production process, including a disproportionate number of independent contractors and small businesses.
—Excerpt from commentary by Floyd Dillman, owner of Event Engineering, Chicigo, published in PLSN, March 2009
