Sponsorship dollars for North American associations grew in 2011, but at a rate that’s below the national average, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report.

Corporate marketers spent $532 million on association sponsorships last year, up 3.5 percent from 2010. The overall growth rate for all sponsorships last year was 5.5 percent. Find out if sponsorship dollars for associations will increase in 2012.

As a former legislative staffer and politician, meetings industry consultant Roger Rickard knows how government works. He knows firsthand how citizens can have an impact by making their voices heard, and he is sharing that information with meeting professionals in his new book, coming out in late February, Voices in Advocacy: Seven Actions of Highly Effective Advocates.

Learn seven ways you can make your voice heard on behalf of the meetings industry.

The still-lagging economy, corporate budget-shifting, and increasingly slick technology have all contributed to a rise in hybrid events—face-to-face meetings that include components for remote participants. While it’s easy enough to live-stream educational sessions to remote attendees, creating a virtual version of the “hallway conversation” is proving harder to pull off. It can be done, however, it can be difficult to track the results of your efforts. How do you prove return on investment, or ROI, on something as ephemeral as Twitter retweets? Here are four ideas.

In the past couple of years there has been a major shift in the average age of meeting attendees. Last month I produced an event for the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers. The program was attended by senior executives of almost every leading insurance company in the country—guys who are usually the oldest in a company—and even they responded to newer tunes like Katy Perry’s “Firework” and Pink’s “Raise Your Glass.” My point? It’s a new generation! The 5 entertainment trends I’m sharing here aren’t my predictions—they’re happening now, driven by this new generation of attendees and leaders.

Managing risk is one of the meeting and event planning elements that gets far more complex when you’re working outside the U.S. Join us for one of MeetingsNet's high-interest webinars with global meeting experts—including an association meetings specialist, Diane Williams, director, meetings and events, International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions—as we discuss all areas of risk management, from contracts to currency.

It's a free, one-hour webinar that allows for 15 minutes of Q&A. Click here to register.