Conference Costs

Budget pressures will force the Army to cut back on holding costly conferences, Army Secretary John McHugh writes in an Oct. 14 memo.

“Changing the ‘business as usual’ mindset as it relates to conferences is the right thing to do and is even more imperative in the current environment of declining resources,” McHugh writes. “Simply put, we must implement more cost-effective and efficient methods to train, plan, collaborate and disseminate information. Experience has shown that conferences are an expensive means of accomplishing these goals.”

The memo challenges the Army to eliminate “waste in conference planning.” Attached to the memo is a new policy that establishes conference-approval authorities.