@Meyerweb That's a really interesting read... and I've never thought of it that way... but I'm thinking I would agree.
I've been out speaking at events for 30 years; I'm booked and represented by most of the world's top speakers bureaus.
And I can tell you the association market has been extremely volatile. Most of my work is now CEO or CxO corporate offsites, where they need to think / strategize around some big trend or disruptive issue. User group events (think SAP, Microsoft etc) are also extremely volatile - there is a LOT of indecision out there (some of that is from the (self-imposed) tech wreckage).
It's become an extremely weird industry.