Creating a high-tech meeting/conference room space for businesspeople to connect, make money, and survive the Great Recession is part of my 2010 business plan.   I was reading a great article in the San Diego Daily Transcript, “Young business leaders see opportunity in recession,” by Elizabeth Malloy.  The article reports on a Roundtable discussion sponsored by The Daily Transcript.  Fourteen Young Influential award winners participated in a discussion on surviving in the economic downturn.  As Malloy writes, “For San Diego’s young business leaders, the current recession is the first economic downtown they’ve experienced while in charge.  So perhaps it’s youthful optimism or just a case of not knowing enough to be afraid that’s making so many of them positive.” 

While reading the article, I found the Young Influentials to be very candid and honest.  They admit that they are being forced to become lean, watch their spending, and most importantly evaluate their businesses. 

Malloy says, “Accepting change was a theme that ran through the roundtable conversation.  Most of the Young Influential winners accepted that an economic recovery this time around might not mean that everything simply returns to normal.  A combination of the recession and new technology may permanently alter the way companies get financing, manage employees and generally do business with each other.” 

As a principal of Discovery Conference Centre, I believe that technology is currently and will become an even more important strategy for small businesses and consultants to run their businesses.  As businesses down-size, the principals don’t want to write monthly checks to pay for a lease on space they might use once a week or three times a month to present a new product or concept to a client.  Business owners will want high-definition, high-quality, high-speed video conferencing/teleconferencing capabilities at competitive rates. 

How will the Great Recession play out?  When will it end?  I wish I knew.  In the meantime, I plan to create a new future to deal with the new norm with virtual conference rooms, meetings rooms and first-in-class technology.