MuffinGate and Beyond: Who Will Stand Up for the Industry?

Here is what started it all, or so it seems: a 151 page document entitled "Audit of Department of Justice Conference Planning and Food and Beverage Costs". This is the relevant verbiage from the audit:

"Considering the EOIR {Executive Office for Immigration Review] reported that at least 534 people received refreshments at its 2009 Legal Training Conference in Washington, DC, it spent an average of $14.74 per attendee per day on food and beverages—just above the $14.72 JMD limit for refreshments. We credit the EOIR for implementing the following controls to reduce food and beverage costs: (1) it provided just refreshments and not full meals, (2) it ordered fewer refreshments than the total number of reported attendees, and (3) it received 15 gallons of coffee, 30 gallons of iced tea, and 200 pieces of fruit for free. However, many individual food and beverage items listed on conference invoices and paid by the EOIR were very costly. The EOIR spent $4,200 on 250 muffins and $2,880 on 300 cookies and brownies. By itemizing these costs, we determined that, with service and and gratuity, muffins cost over $16 each and cookies and brownies cost almost $10 each."

One insight from the resulting "muffin" controversy is that a government employee with a calculator can be dangerous. A second is that the EOIR probably gave the hotel where the meeting was held a budget, and the hotel provided the type of invoice that the meeting industry is used to. Because transparency on a food item by food item basis has never been SOP, it wasn't provided here.

But on the heels of MuffinGate, the first thing the main stream media picked up, came a glimpse of the bigger picture: a proposal to prohibit federal government employees from attending trade shows in the industries they regulate. The proposal is part of suggested amendments to regulations governing standards of ethical conduct for federal employees. The current regulation allows non-appointed federal executive branch employees to receive small gifts worth no more than $20, with a cap at $50 per year. Plus they can accept free admission to gatherings, including trade shows. Political appointees are now prohibited from accepting gifts of any amount, including free conference registration for non-speakers. The new rules would extend this prohibition to all federal employees.

The hotel industry has responded. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) sent a letter to the Honorable Jack Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) opposing his memorandum on excessive conference spending for federal agencies.

Taking issue with the spirit although agreeing with the letter (i.e., reduced federal spending) of the memo, the AH&LA letter points to jobs created by the hospitality industry and suggests that savings be achieved by addressing "approximately $100 million in unauthorized travel upgrades by federal employees...[that] included upgrading to first-class airline tickets, taking a more expensive hotel room, or using a larger rental car than what government per diems authorized... .Controlling federal travel expenditures would be a far more effective method to reduce government travel and meetings costs than indiscriminately eliminating legitimate business conferences." Three days later AH&LA formally opposed the proposal.

The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) was no less vocal in its opposition nor was the response by Convention Industry Council (CIC)

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is accepting public comments and written responses until November 14, 2011 when hearings will be conducted on the proposal. The industry voice needs to be heard.

About the Author

Pat Friedlander, owner of Word-Up! a consultancy that specializes in but isn't limited to healthcare convention marketing, is an accomplished marketer, writer, speaker, and trainer in the meeting and convention industries.

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