Meetings and conventions throughout the United States were canceled yesterday and today in the wake of the terrorist attacks that completely destroyed the World Trade Center here and damaged the Pentagon, near Washington.

Meeting organizers and attendees were mourning the deaths of what is likely to total thousands of people, including possibly some of their own. Twenty-two members of Meeting Professionals International and two members of the Professional Convention Management Association worked in the World Trade Center, but their fates are not yet known, according to their respective organizations.  

In addition to the total destruction wreaked upon the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the 817-room Marriott World Trade Center, located between the towers, suffered significant damage, according to Dasha Ross, a spokeswoman for Marriott International. Authorities evacuated the hotel, but Ross did not know whether guests suffered harm.

Two hotel staff members were unaccounted for as of midday today, she said, but the rest of the staff is safe. The 561-room Millenium Hilton, located across the street from the World Trade Center, was damaged but all guests and staff were evacuated relatively unscathed, according to Millenium spokeswoman Nathalie Pilovetzky. Even if planners and attendees wanted to meet, holding events was all but precluded by a virtual shut-down of intercity public transportation.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted all domestic flights yesterday through at least this afternoon while routing many international flights to Canada. Amtrak halted passenger service yesterday morning through yesterday afternoon.

In addition, for security reasons, downtown areas in many major cities were cordoned off yesterday as workers were sent home, and premier public places, such as the Sears Tower in Chicago and Disney World in Orlando, were closed. Business reopened in most places today. In Las Vegas, the convention center was evacuated of about 250 people Tuesday morning after a man anonymously telephoned center staff, from a pay phone inside the building, and reported seeing another people carrying explosives into the center, according to Rob Powers, spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

The call was made at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, more than an hour after the last of the successful building attacks, at the Pentagon, and more than two hours after the first attack, at the World Trade Center. No explosives were found, but managers of the International Baking Industry Expo, which began Monday, canceled the show for the day. The show, with some 30,000 attendees, resumed today through Friday, said Powers.

The Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, was also evacuated, yesterday afternoon, on the advice of the local sheriff, according to center spokesman Joe Boyd. It reopened today under heightened security, he said. The Emergency Nurses Association, which was moving into the center for its annual convention, last night canceled its educational sessions and trade show due to the disruption in transportation, according to Anna Garrido, ENA associate vice president of marketing and public relations.

The sessions and trade show were scheduled Thursday through Sunday, with about 4,100 attendees expected. The group's business meeting, scheduled for today and tomorrow at the nearby Rosen Centre Hotel, was to proceed. "We do have meeting insurance and we will work with our insurer to determine to what extent the insurance will cover our losses," said Garrido about the possible financial consequences of canceling.

ENA president Mary Jagim said yesterday in a statement, "We are devastated by the senseless tragedies of today. In these most difficult and dark hours, we are encouraged by the tremendous outpouring of support that our members, exhibitors, and other attendees have shared with us in person and over the phone--many of which have offered their assistance wherever needed."

The Central Florida Blood Bank will take over the space allotted to the ENA on Friday and Saturday for a community blood drive, according to Boyd. At McCormick Place, the nation's largest convention center, two high-tech-related shows to be held in conjunction with each other today and tomorrow, were postponed late last night, according to center spokeswoman Mary Kay Marquisos.

Expected to draw 6,000 attendees total, Project World and ITEC are being rescheduled to October. But one large show already in progress, Print 01, for the graphic arts industry, continued its run from Thursday of last week through this Thursday, she said. "We had 20,000 people here yesterday," said Marquisos, about Print 01. "They couldn't just leave."

On the online meetings-industry discussion group, MIMlist, several people posted messages about canceled meetings. (See the Sept. 12 MIMlist digest, accessible from the MeetingNews.com homepage.) Steve LaManna, of AVI Creative Show Services, wrote Tuesday, "We have had at least 12 meetings cancel on us, in various parts of the country, as well as local business canceling their daily plans. We are producing two meetings right now in Orlando, where the attendees are primarily from the Northeast.

There is nowhere for them to go, as the airport is almost closed. No flights are being allowed to go in or out, the parking lots are closed with bomb sniffing dogs canvassing the structures, and, virtually every rental car available has now been taken. "I was watching attendees and some planners of these events run screaming from the room when this news was reported this morning. A lot of folks are trying to comfort each other right now, as it seems that everyone knows, or is related to someone in downtown Manhattan."

David Dubois, PCMA chief executive, was one of many travelers who couldn't travel yesterday to a meeting that was eventually canceled. Dubois was aboard a flight from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, PCMA's headquarters, bound for Boston to attend a meeting of PCMA's New England chapter. The American Airlines plane pulled away from the gate and just moments later returned. "When we got back to the gate, the captain said there had been an incident in New York," Dubois recalled. "I was close to being in the air."

Dubois and PCMA chairman James Youngblood called for both meetings buyers and suppliers to work cooperatively in the event of cancelations. "We ask for everyone to collaborate and be reasonable, as events will probably be rescheduled," said Youngblood, chief executive of the American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology, in a statement. Ed Griffin, chief executive of Meeting Professionals International, said a handful of meeting planners had talked with him yesterday about possibly canceling imminent meetings, and most decided to cancel.

"There was not only concern about whether the human elements of the meetings--speakers, entertainers, and attendees--could come together, but there was respect for the deaths of so many people," said Griffin. "The human instinct is to want to delay meetings." SOURCE: MEETING NEWS MAGAZINE