Editor's Note: Nickle and Dime Time

These days, with food and beverage minimums rising faster than the price of gas, sellers's-market-rate guest rooms, and sky-high Wi-Fi costs, meeting planners can relate to Yogi Berra's famous saying, “A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.” While budgets for annual meetings are also on the rise, according to our Annual-Meeting Budget Survey results (see page 12), they aren't rising fast enough to compensate for rising prices — and rising attendee expectations. Most organizations are loathe to