As we cruise into 2010, the Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Northeast Region has selected the theme “Shifting Gears” for its upcoming meeting. Hendrie Weisinger, PhD, headlines the meeting, set for January 24–26 at Tarrytown House Estate & Conference Center in Tarrytown, N.Y. A prolific author and expert on emotional intelligence, Weisinger teaches executive education courses at the Wharton School of Business. Register now and offer your input on roundtable discussion topics.

Despite continued budget-cutting, in-person meetings will not be replaced by virtual meetings. They will, however, need to evolve, says Futurist Richard Worzel. “Conference 2.0,” he says, will be more interactive by including such things as “crowdsourcing”—that is, allowing attendees to create some of the content. (The upcoming gathering of the Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Northeast region is a great example of this trend: At registration, attendees are asked to suggest roundtable discussion topics.) Read what else Worzel sees influencing meetings in the future.

If you’ve taken your first steps toward green meeting planning, now it’s time to get comprehensive. Jennifer Dela-Cruz did just that at RBC in Toronto when she helped to create the company’s “Blueprint for Holding a ‘Green’ Meeting.” Read about the elements she included—everything from organizing food donations to keeping attendees aware of recycling bins in meeting areas.