Las Vegas PR Firm Nevada Gaming Xchange Aims to Provide “AIG Affect” Solutions

Nov. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- Las Vegas, NV  – As the gaming entertainment industry comes together this week at the Global Gaming Expo to discuss key issues and challenges, the debate about the impact of negative convention perception on business meetings has continued. In Las Vegas, convention and meeting attendance is down almost 25 percent through September. Marketing and communications firm Nevada Gaming Xchange LLC (NGX) has recognized the problem and believes a proactive public relations strategy is the most powerful and effective solution.

“Creating a positive image while conducting a business meeting is important and can help companies minimize the impact of the “AIG Affect,” said Reggie Burton, co-founder of Nevada Gaming Xchange and former communications executive with the San Diego Chargers and MGM MIRAGE. “This is the model NGX created that can help save the meetings industry.”

According to HomeTravelAgency.com, the “AIG Affect” is the alleged tendency of corporations to cut down on lavish expenditures and luxuries in areas like travel and meetings to avoid appearing wasteful in times of an economic downturn. It’s so-called because of the negative publicity generated by some practices of the insurance giant American International Group (AIG).

Las Vegas has been among the hardest hit tourist destinations from the public fallout, having seen 402 conventions and meetings canceled from October 2008 to mid-March at a cost of $166 million to the local economy, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority reports. This doesn’t include lost gambling revenue.

Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) recently released findings from a research study which revealed that while constrained budgets due to the current economy represent the No. 1 challenge for events, more than one-third of the planners surveyed cite image, publicity and public-policy concerns.

Writer and economist Ben Stein recently wrote in the American Spectator: “Business Meetings had zero to do with causing this recession. Even more to the point, banning or condemning business meetings will not help us get out of the recession. I will say it again. Meetings and business travel did not cause this recession. Kicking the hospitality and travel industry in the face and not allowing smart people to share their intelligence will not do anyone any good at all.”

Nevada Gaming Xchange is a multi-faceted public relations, marketing and tourism company committed to assisting the meetings industry in preventing convention negative perception. Company executives have over 30 years of experience. For more information, visit www.nvgamingxchange.com. To request a presentation about “AIG Affect” solutions, send an e-mail to info@nvgamingxchange.com.

Media Contact:  Serina Choi, Nevada Gaming Xchange, 702.558.9202 or schoi@nvgamingxchange.com.

# # #

Nevada Gaming Xchange is a mulit-facted public relations, marketing and tourism company. NGX executives have over 20 years of experience specializing in meetings, conventions, conferences, events, hospitality and sports entertainment.