The current environment across the globe has presented the meetings and events industry with a clear focus on virtual opportunities. As a result, there are some natural questions that come to mind. Are virtual meetings the new normal? Will they ultimately replace live meetings? And, can people do without face-to-face events? The answer is understandably ...

Happy International Women’s Day! With women making up nearly 77% of the meeting, convention, and event planning industry in the U.S.,* today is a great day for self-reflection. How did I get where I am? Where am I going? What will my future be? One of the subjects I hear the most about from women ...

When it’s time to select your venue, a site visit is one of the most critical steps. Not only do you get to physically step in your space and imagine your event coming to life, it’s a chance to ask the most important questions with your potential venue team. Unfortunately, so many of us are ...

In our series on event Wi-Fi, we’ve uncovered the mysteries of determining bandwidth and the infrastructure that supports it. And while those two aspects are certainly critical to the process, neither one of them would be able to function without a talented group of people pulling the strings. So, the third and final piece to ...

In the first post of our series on meeting Wi-Fi, we broke down bandwidth and the myths around how much you actually need for your meetings. But without a quality infrastructure, bandwidth would never reach the devices – laptops, tablets, smartphones – that we all use. In this second part of our series, we’re looking ...

It happens to everyone. The holiday season creeps up on us and before you know it, it’s November! For us event planners, that usually comes with the annual task of planning a corporate holiday party. We always want to keep both our stakeholders and attendees happy. So here comes the million-dollar question: how can I ...

Grand ballrooms, exhibit halls, breakout rooms one, two, and three. Been there, done that? If you feel that way, that means your customers do, too. These days, customers want options! An atypical location brings something new and exciting to the table, and venues can’t just be reactive to requests for creative meeting spaces anymore. They ...

As a meeting planner, do you ask yourself if attendees leave your events happier and more productive than when they arrived?  All too often, the business-side of a meeting becomes so focused on cost-savings and ROI that the human element is forgotten. Attendee engagement, problem-solving, and behavior-changing goals get pushed aside for these “results-based” aspects.    It’s time to reignite that conversation and think about creating meaningful, lasting experiences for attendees. We ...

As a meeting planner, we’re faced with tough choices every day. From selecting venues to coordinating stakeholder travel, the details are endless. Selecting an AV provider might be one of the biggest – and toughest – choices to make. The decision to stay in-house or to go with an outside vendor is a constant conundrum. With such fierce competition, ...

Advancements in technology have certainly made our lives easier in many ways, including how we choose to meet. Thanks to videoconferencing solutions like Skype, Zoom, WebEx (among others), employees across the globe are able to connect without having to meet face to face. But despite the convenience of virtual substitutes, in-person events are still the ...