July 2011 Issue: Live!

One of our best covers ever (IMHO, as the kids text today) adorns our July issue, now available in both digital and text-only versions -- a fantastic illustration whose attention to detail is matched by the cover story it serves. Looking for a trade show with something to say about adaptation and reinvention in a turbulent economy, Hunter Slaton walked the floor at BookExpo America in New York City; the result is "Every Year They Write the Book," a deeply reported look at a show whose industry has been in flux for the last 15 years.

CMP Series: And speaking of deep reporting, for this month's CMP Series article, "The Blog That Became a Conference," Barbara Palmer attended SOBCon 2011 Chicago, a social-media conference that is as warm, hospitable, and high-touch a live meeting as you'll find anywhere.

One on One With: Veteran TV journalist Lisa Ling, who recently co-wrote a book with her sister, Laura, about Laura's four-month captivity in North Korea, and who yesterday morning delivered an opening general session at the DMAI Annual Convention that was sponsored by Convene.

"Coffee Klatch": An excerpt from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul, by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, that goes behind the scenes at the company's 2008 North America Leadership Conference -- "an event that would educate our partners and reinstill confidence in the company's purpose."

Plenary: Our lead news article this month blows the lid off the price hikes that are afflicting the two most important fuels for meetings: oil and coffee. Beyond that, we've got photos from the International Quilt Festival and the Reality Rocks Expo, a Pre Con snapshot of Kidney Week 2011, a Post Con debrief on the SXSW Trade Show, a What's Your Story? story from Clinton administration director of events Laura Schwartz, and Convene On Site reports from Puerto Vallarta, Virginia Beach, and Milan.

Meeting Management -- Crisis: Continuing our coverage of post-earthquake Japan, we look at the Optical Society of America's 2011 Digital Holography and Three-Dimensional Imaging conference, which convened in Tokyo two months after the Tohoku earthquake.

Giving Back: The silver lining to Minneapolis' Project Homeless Connect, which offers services for homeless people twice a month at the Minneapolis Convention Center? The program left the city -- and the center -- perfectly positioned to help victims of the tornadoes that touched down in the area in May.

Other Duties as Assigned: Cheryl L. Gendron, CMP, remembers that crazy evening on site when she dealt first with a staff member's crazy ex and then with a drunken attendee arguing with police in the lobby. In his boxers.

Could we make this stuff? Would you even want us to?