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With increasing numbers of companies outsourcing meeting planning, Paul Nix has seen that side of his business rise 25 percent since Sept. 11. Conversely, fewer of his customers are planning parties, causing that portion of his business to fall 50 percent.
Nix, president of St. Louis-based Matrix Event Partners and consultant for Landmark Event Partners, said that overall his business is down.
"We're expecting with the end of the war, fears will start subsiding and people will start entertaining again," he said.
Nix said that all types of businesses are outsourcing their meeting planning. Many that previously had full-time event planners have also scaled back or in some cases eliminated those people.
"It's across the board. It doesn't matter what size of business, if their business is down then that is a department where they do targeted layoffs," he said.
Pat Simpson, marketing communications director at Maryland Heightsbased Parents as Teachers National Center (PATNC), outsourced planning and staffing for the organization's annual conference in April. She made the...