At a time when the global meetings and event industry are dealing with budget cuts, and issues of public perception regarding government spending and getting value for money, all eyes are on the latest spending scandal of government employees who arranged a convention in Las Vegas.
In a recently released budget report, a group of federal employees appear to have gone a little over the top on a five-day conference in 2010 in Las Vegas.The event cost a mere $823,000, where costs on commemorative coins, exclusive $44 breakfasts, costly dinners and specialized clothing(vests) for delegates.
The event costs were released by an internal General Services Administration report, and prompted an outcry over irresponsible spending at a time when the USA is still struggling with huge federal debts. There was some comic relief when a few suggested that if the bureaucrats were going to blow the money, “they should at least do it in Vegas Style”.
The internal report resulted in two top deputies losing their jobs and the resignation of the agency’s top official just before its public release. The federal agency involved, oversees office space and supplies, transportation and management tasks and the report described multiple trips to Las Vegas by employees, and the event as a weeklong, party conference at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson. Apparently the conference violated federal contracting regulations and exceeded the government’s meal costs of $71 a day.
The government employees arranging the event stayed in luxury suites, had parties catered by room service and had a $75,000 team-building exercise (building 24 bicycles for a charity) and arranged what appears to be an expensive “networking reception”. The government’s event planners for the conference were instructed by a regional administrator to make it “over the top.” And suggestions to minimize expenses were ignored, according to the report.
The free spending image of Las Vegas had already been pointed out by President Obama, conscious of tight budgets, “You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.” According to city official, the convention business dropped after his remarks. Convention organisers were critical of the situation that damaged the image of an industry already reforming itself to meet the needs of transparency and value of both government spending and convention organisers.
