Allen Konopacki, a trade show consultant, convention industry
researcher, and president of the INCOMM Center for Research and
Sales Training in Chicago, has seen the industry rebound from
recessions and depressions, hurricanes, and even wars. In late
September, he gave us his take on today's uncertain meeting
scene.  TM: Do you believe the meeting and hospitality
industries will bounce back from the terrorist attacks of 9/11?
AK: We're beginning to see the pendulum swing. People I talked
to a week ago [the week after the attacks] said we couldn't
possibly go to a convention. Two weeks later, many of these
people were beginning to think about getting back on track. The
PRINT 2001 show was in Chicago at the time of the terrorist
action. The show went to silence, as you would expect, similar
to what we saw at the time of Desert Storm. But the next day,
business continued. Not at the same level, but it continued. And
not in the same way, not writing orders, but discussions that
were at a very different level tha