We've all probably been there at one point in our lives … you said something you thought was perfectly appropriate to someone from another country and they laughed at you (when what you intended wasn't funny at all), scowled, or at best, gave you a very puzzled look. Perhaps you've extended your hand to a person overseas, and they've awkwardly stood still. Maybe it was a gift that backfired or a food you never should have put in front of them.

It's one thing if a cultural misstep occurs with a shopkeeper on the Champs-Élysées or a long-lost relative visiting your home. It's quite another if it happens when you're trying to close a business deal with someone in São Paulo. And it's a whole other story if it takes place on the grand stage of your first international meeting in Shanghai.

The world is an increasingly global place. When you factor in the current challenges many U.S. meetings are having in getting international attendees, it certainly makes sense to consider holding an event abroad. Yet, we as meeting professionals need to make sure that we do all of the necessary homework about the host country's culture - and that of its attendees - when planning and staging an event overseas.

As experienced meeting professionals and protocol experts in our cover story, "When in Rome" (p. 44), said over and over again, it's important to be aware of how a foreign country's culture affects a meeting's learning environment, sales conditions, and social situations. Accepted views of everything from punctuality to dress codes and diet can be profoundly different than what we're accustomed to here in our country. Local religious observances and views of social status can also have a considerable effect. When you're in their backyard - even if you're used to hosting non-native attendees at your U.S. meetings - the need to understand "where they're coming from" is absolutely critical.

While some cultural generalizations can be made for some continents or regions, the differences from country to country can be drastic. A colleague from Australia recently commented that the problem with Americans is that we tend to lump the entire world beyond our borders as "international" without grasping important distinctions between individual countries and cultures.

Clearly an international meeting that is respectful of local culture will be more effective and meaningful for everyone involved and can lead to future overseas opportunities. As SmithBucklin's Michael Payne said in our article, "If a meeting is being held overseas, it should reflect the culture of that country. Otherwise, why go?"

On a broader scale, if we as meeting professionals make good ambassadors for our country at overseas meetings, we can play a role in convincing people from other countries to come to events in our own backyard … and demonstrate that we're a nation that actually welcomes guests from other lands. As part of the travel and tourism industry, we can help reverse a sagging global opinion of the United States. Left unchecked, that's a worldwide public perception that threatens to have long-term economic consequences. InterContinental's Stevan Porter raises this concern in our "One-on-One" interview on p. 79.

Does it sound like there's a lot of extra work that goes into staging an international event? Perhaps in the short-term, but I don't think that's reason to be discouraged. There's a wealth of opportunities out there on the global landscape, just waiting for the right people and organizations (the ones who "get" proper protocol) to take advantage of them. What steps have you taken to execute a successful international meeting either here or abroad? I'd love to hear from you.