Radical RendezvousBye-bye boring. You <I>can</I> plan a lively sales conference without breaking the bank.

Eyes glassy, mouths agape, tongues lolling. No, you haven'tstumbled into the mysterious diseases room at the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, but rather an equally deadlyenvironment-the tedious sales meeting. Another symptom? Thepresentation of 12,345 PowerPoint slides in a room with nowindows.

For a sales rep, there aren't many more mind-numbingpropositions than being pulled from the field to endure three daysof sales meetings. But because sales conferences offer an excellentvenue for reps to discuss a new product launch or simply to regroupand re-energize, there are many powerful reasons to plan agathering. Says Chris Lytle, the author ofThe AccidentalSalesperson(Amacom), "Getting together with people whosell the same things you do and face the same problems iseye-opening."