Unexpectedness is an element that Dan Heath and Chip Heath, authors of the best-selling book Made to Stick, say helps an idea stick in our minds. (See the October 2007 issue of Convene.)

Every time we explore an issue in Convene, we aim for not only an environmental scan but to scratch beneath the surface to see what's new, what's changed, what will surprise us (and hopefully, our readers). There were a few surprises for me in this issue. For the past few years, respondents to our annual meetings market survey (last month's issue) have said that international attendance has grown at their meetings. I've seen that as a positive indicator for meetings overall. Little did I know that it's not cause for celebration for many medical meeting exhibitors (see stories on p. 43 and p. 49).

Here's a startling statistic: Many people will plunk down $100 for a virtual event and then never show up. According to Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society, the "industry average" for no-shows can be 60 percent to 70 percent (see p. 52).

Being green is all the rage today, but did you know that there has been an organization working to make the restaurant industry more environmentally sustainable for almost 20 years? Now the founder of that organization is moving on to conventions (see p. 72). Or, on the flip side of green, a group of scientists dispute that the earth is warming at a calamitous rate and humans are to blame? (See p. 112.)

But Stephen Lewis, this month's Leading by Example profile, was my biggest surprise (see p. 62). How could I (and every other American I asked) know nothing about him? Perhaps it's because, as rock star and humanitarian BonoQ said, "Canadians are not known for their boastfulness." He went on to say, "but they should break character and be boastful about Stephen Lewis. He has been an extraordinary and relentless one-man band for the world's most poor and vulnerable." (From the Toronto Star.) This former United Nations' HIV/AIDS envoy for Africa is, we've been told by a few of our Canadian friends, an amazingly gifted orator. He has used that gift to get people to notice the grave medical continent-wide crisis on the other side of our world.

After photographing Lewis for our issue, Peter Sibbald posted this on his Web site: "In the 26 1/2 minutes of the photo shoot, approximately 129 new HIV infections occurred worldwide." The man touches every person he meets.

Listening to Lewis can save lives. And that's the promise of medical and scientific meetings … despite all the challenges to put them on. For as long as we're all in this together, I hope the potential all meetings have to change lives for the better will never fail to surprise us.

Read how Bono used "the art of woo" to raise money in the fight against AIDS (see p. 76).