Work Conferences

[tvguy]

For the most part I would prefer in person.

One big factor is location - if its in some not so great a place that Id want to avoid than I'll do the virtual if its an option or skip it if at all possible.

Also - if its at an Airport Hotel - Ill probably skip it.
What is the point of flying everyone into say Chicago and staying at the Airport hotel and eating and drinking Airport hotel food.

I used Chicago as an example because I've had that happen.
Fly to Chicago and not even have pizza, Italian beef or a hotdog - that is ridiculous.

You kind of hit the nail on the head why some companies no longer pay for away meetings. A conference at Disney World is a great perk, but they are paying for a lot of goof off time. Why fly 10 employees to Disney when you can fly one trainer to your location and not have the distraction of the theme park. Although my DIL has been to Disney World several times for conferences and has NEVER been any of the parks.
And outside factors have also influenced cut back. My mom was an RN and was required to take 30 hours of continuing education every year to keep her license current. Her hospital would pay the tuition, you had to pay the air fare, hotel, etc. For a while, it was common to take these seminars on cruise ships. She could write off her out of pocket cost on her taxes. But then the IRS said that kind of trip for required continuing education is no longer deductible. Mom retired in 1985, and the IRS crackdown started sometime before that, and after that, all seminars were done locally.