"ask not..." first impressions from a long day

Yesterday morning at 930am a group of of company owners, executive producers, vendors, a CFO, an attorney and one blogger gathered in a conference room at the London Hotel in West Hollywood. They were there to talk about the state of the industry. After a year of fear and finger pointing, it was time for solutions. 

A long day debating industry issues combined with an even longer night at the Christmas party prohibits me from going into the detail of todays meeting. I'll give a fuller more comprehensive report on Monday once I have a chance to digest the entire days events. 

I will say this, the main discussion was about a larger vision as a national organization. It was about a significant structural overhaul to more effectively and efficiently address the issues facing our business today. This new structure is intended to create more communication, more transparency, quicker reaction, proactive engagements and most of all inclusion of the membership. 

For those of you that are vendors, agencies or clients (assuming any of you read this blog), the intent is not to turn back the clock through aggressive measures. This is neither realistic or constructive strategy. The intention is not to fight industry transformation but rather to embrace it. If successful it should create a platform for better communication and business practices to the benefit of all parties within our industry.

For those of you that are members, the people in that room in the London know your frustration. They share it and live it. This understanding is the catalyst for the proposed overhaul of the organization. As much as I believe it is a positive step, it will NOT increase your margins or lower your liability. It will NOT roll back every bad policy or restore higher mark-ups. I sure as hell wish it could. Unfortunately nothing anyone can conceive will achieve those ends. We can however create a better playing field to run our businesses. 

In the last year, I have had countless conversations with people critical of the AICP. We all believe we have better ideas how to deal with labor negotiations, RFP's, standardizing contracts, creating a better show, etc. This new structure is intended to provide the membership with a forum not only to speak about these issues (and more) but to actually act upon it. Paying dues albeit crucial is no longer enough.

For lack of a better reference, I'll use a bastardize version of the often quoted, almost to the point of cliche, line from Kennedy's inaugural address "Ask not what the AICP can do for you but what you can do for the AICP." No matter how brilliant or flawed the plan is (and it's a little of both), it's effectiveness hinges upon members giving what they get. 

Details to come on Monday.