With great fanfare, the American Society of Training and Development released their State of the Industry 2009 report.  In the past, I’d report the findings.  This year, I’m not going to bother.  (For those who are curious anyway, here are some statistics.)

Why?  The findings are based on 2008 data, and the report compares the data and findings to 2007.  And we all know the world has changed from 2008 to this year.  While I respect the time it takes to gather and analyze the data, other trade associations do mid-year reports. Why can’t ASTD?

Great example:  Meeting Professionals International (MPI) released their business barometer just before Thanksgiving.  The gist:  only 12% of those surveyed believe that the meetings environment will improve by second quarter 2010.  Now that’s news…