Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals
Northstar Meetings Group
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Hosted by Northstar Meetings Group, Eventful invites you to listen in on insightful conversations about hot topics in the meetings and events industry. Tune in for interviews and analysis of the editorial coverage in Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News and Incentive.
Available episodes
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2 days ago
Will Attendees Need a Covid Passport?
Travelocity founder Terrell Jones says digital health apps can restore confidence in flying and meeting.
How can we restore confidence in traveling and attending in-person events? Proof of a negative Covid test is required of international travelers entering the U.S., but that’s not the rule for domestic travel…yet. As vaccine distribution continues to expand, we’re likely to see some form of a digital Covid passport required for all travel, believes Terrell Jones, founder of Travelocity, Kayak and several other travel startups. He’s now working with governments and travel leaders to establish such digital records.
In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Loren Edelstein, vice president and content director for Northstar Meetings Group, speaks with Jones about these efforts, including whether it would make sense to conduct Covid testing at airports (3:55), how a globally accepted Covid passport could work (6:50) and whether meeting planners should be prepared to require such records from attendees (14:45).
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Feb 12, 2021
Event-Security Lessons from the Capitol Riot
IAVM’s Mark Herrera discusses how risk assessment is evolving.
When it comes to identifying and reducing event security risks, planners must navigate a constantly shifting landscape. Health concerns around Covid-19 continue to dominate most event professionals’ concerns, but over the last month worries about disruptions from civil unrest have taken on growing importance. In Northstar’s recent PULSE Survey, a number of respondents mentioned, unsolicited, that civil unrest is an issue that’s impacting their events.
To address these issues, we spoke with Mark Herrera, director of education for the International Association of Venue Managers. Herrera brings more than two decades of law enforcement experience to this role, and he draws on that to train managers who host large gatherings. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, he discusses what the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol could mean for venue security more broadly, as well as the strategies he teaches to help his members ensure that events are held safely.
Herrera also will be a presenter at Northstar Meetings Group’s upcoming Back to Booking digital event, taking place on Feb. 23. Learn more at www.northstarmeetingsgroup.com/BacktoBooking
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Feb 3, 2021
How Destination DC Is Navigating a Tumultuous Time
Elliott Ferguson discusses the Capitol riot, inauguration and the future of event security.
While meeting planners had high hopes that the new year would be one of recovery, 2021 got off to a rocky start in January. In addition to a slow vaccine rollout, the attack on the Capitol raised new fears about event safety.
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar Meetings Group Associate Editor Elise Schoening spoke with Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC and national chair of the U.S. Travel Association. Ferguson discussed what it was like to be in D.C. during the insurrection and shared what the CVB is doing to address planner concerns around civil unrest. He also discussed new hybrid and virtual event offerings available at the convention center and how the city is adapting to a changing meetings landscape.
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Jan 25, 2021
Why IMEX Decided to Cancel its 2021 Frankfurt Event
CEO Carina Bauer discusses what the cancellation means — and does not mean — for the meetings industry more broadly.
Earlier this month, IMEX Group announced that for the second year in a row it would be cancelling its annual IMEX Frankfurt event, scheduled for May 2021. The news came as a reality check to many in the industry who hoped recent positive news around vaccine distribution would mean a quicker return to in-person meetings. But while the cancellation of one of the biggest events in the industry is a reminder that we are still a long way from a return to normalcy, it doesn't necessarily mean other event organizers will follow suit.
That's one of the points emphasized by IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer, who discusses how her organization came to the decision. On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Bauer not only discusses:
Why there are still plenty of reasons for optimism for the industry's comeback (3:45)
How the decision to cancel IMEX Frankfrurt may affect IMEX America in Las Vegas (6:45)
Bauer's general thoughts about how the U.S. political climate could affect the industry more broadly (8:00)
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Jan 6, 2021
What Should You Do If a Meeting Attendee Tests Positive for Covid-19?
As coronavirus cases continue to surge and vaccines are slowly rolled out, meeting planners should be considering protocols for in-person events when they are able to return. Beyond enacting measures to mitigate risks for participants, what will you do if an attendee tests positive for Covid-19 on-site?
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we’re speaking with Sean Murray, president of Eurofins, a testing laboratory company that provides on-site Covid testing for workplaces and corporate events — and that recently had to respond to a positive Covid test at one of its own events.
Murray discusses how his organization responded to this health emergency and how Eurofins is delivering its testing services to the wider meeting and incentive market, including through its partnership with engagement firm ITA Group, Inc.
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Dec 22, 2020
How to Create Accessible Digital Events, Part 2
Samantha Evans of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, provides specific ways every meeting planner can ensure their virtual or hybrid event is welcoming to all.
The growth of digital and hybrid events this year has removed some barriers that attendees with physical disabilities might have faced at in-person events. But while digital events provide a new level of accessibility — outlined in a recent episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals — they also present new challenges for some attendees, which meeting planners should address.
To delve deeper into creating accessible digital events, we spoke with Samantha Evans, CAE, certification manager for the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, and an accessibility advocate and specialist in certification and credentials. In this episode, she outlines why planners need to think about their events’ accessibility from the earliest planning stages, while selecting a platform provider, making staffing decisions and more. In this in-depth conversation, Evans provides actionable steps every meeting planner should take to ensure all attendees feel welcome.
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Dec 18, 2020
What's Next for Meetings and Diversity?
Jason Dunn reflects on an eventful year and how far the industry has yet to go.
While lack of diversity has long been an issue within the meetings industry, the death of George Floyd in May brought a renewed focus to the matter. But six months later, it's clear that there's still much work to be done.
In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we speak with Jason Dunn, group vice president of diversity sales and inclusion for the Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. Dunn has been leading the charge for change within the meetings industry and spent the past year serving as chairman of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals. That term ended in November and he will now serve as co-chair of the Event Industry Council's new Equity Task Force.
Here, he discusses these roles as well as where the meetings industry stands now in terms of diversity and what changes he'd like to see in the year ahead.
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Dec 2, 2020
How to Create Accessible Digital Events
Holding meetings virtually can open up opportunities for those with disabilities.
One of the few silver linings of 2020 and the necessity to meet online vs. in person has been the way in which digital and hybrid events allow more attendees to take part, on their terms.
In advance of the United Nations' International Day of Disabled Persons on Dec. 3, we spoke with Rosemarie Rossetti, an accessibility expert and consultant, author and speaker who travels globally to discuss Universal Design and inclusive meetings and events. She told us how the changing landscape of meetings impacts those with disabilities, and how planners can ensure their events — whether digital, in-person or hybrid — are truly accessible.
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Nov 24, 2020
Promoting Safe Travel in a Covid-19 World
Risk management expert Bruce McIndoe on when group travel will safely return.
Covid-19 has upended many companies’ plans for group gatherings, leaving planners eager for answers on when they might be able to hold events in-person again and the associated risks. During the recent Global Incentive Summit Digital, hosted by Northstar Meetings Group, attendees were able to get these insights from a risk-management expert.
Bruce McIndoe, president of McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC and founder of WorldAware, shared the latest travel facts, figures and resources to help planners confidently promote group travel to their stakeholders and clients. On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we share his insights.
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Sep 30, 2020
How the Power of Song Can Boost Digital Events
SongDivision CEO Andy Sharpe shares how his company pivoted to online events.
After pivoting to virtual events, meeting planners now face a new challenge: how to keep attendees engaged and battle Zoom fatigue? One option is to add a musical component to the event, whether it be bringing in A-list talent to perform, hosting a lip-sync battle or working with songwriters to create a team anthem.
“Whenever someone comes onto a session with us, if they’re getting Zoom fatigue in their current environment, we’re going to be a shot in the arm, a breath of fresh air for them," says Andy Sharpe, founder and CEO of SongDivision, which offers interactive musical experiences for events. SongDivision has worked on more than 400 digital events since the pandemic began. In this episode of the Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, SongDivision founder and CEO Andy Sharpe discusses how the company transitioned from working on live to virtual meetings, and how music can help unite virtual terms and liven up digital meetings.
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Sep 15, 2020
How to Rethink F&B in the Age of Covid-19
To address these new imperatives, Northstar Meetings Group recently hosted a webcast featuring Tracy Stuckrath, owner of Thrive! Meetings & Events and an expert on food safety and allergies. She discussed the range of questions that planners should be asking, from staff training to food sourcing and room design. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we share some highlights from that conversation.
Listeners will learn:
• Why food safety practices should no longer be kept “behind the kitchen door” (beginning at 2:30 minutes)
• Ways F&B can present risks to attendees — even though the virus is not passed through food itself (6:40)
• How the pandemic is likely to impact food prices (13:45)
• How to modify the timing and layout of your meals to ensure social distancing (16:50)
• Why it might make sense to renegotiate F&B minimums (22:50)
To view the full webcast on-demand, and earn CMP credits, visit northstarmeetingsgroup.…
Sep 1, 2020
How to Travel Safely During a Pandemic
Since Covid-19 hit, so much has changed about how we approach travel, and how individuals and organizations assess the risks of going to another city or country. Today, event planners and individual business travelers must navigate new rules and restrictions, take additional precautions and manage a number of logistical steps that would have been hard to imagine just a few months ago.
During Incentive Live, Northstar’s digital event, Suzanne Sangiovese, commercial and communications director at Riskline [LINK], presented on “The New Science of Travel.” She discussed each stage of the attendee’s journey, how it has changed in response to Covid-19 and steps every traveler should take to ensure their safety.
On today’s episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we share those tips.
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Aug 18, 2020
Survival Skills for Meeting Professionals
David Kliman discusses navigating the current crisis and thriving in a challenging environment.
When the Covid crisis hit, David Kliman, president of The Kliman Group, watched his business plans disintegrate. “The day before the lockdown, I had a full calendar — it was going to be a banner year,” he says. “A day after, I had an empty calendar.”
In that way, he’s like many in the industry, who faced unprecedented difficulties as the pandemic hit. But instead of mourning his lost business or idly waiting for it to come back, he picked up the phone — reaching out to industry members to ask how he could help.
In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Kliman discusses what came out of those phone calls: The Events Industry Council’s APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force — an international team of industry thought leaders helping to curate and share accepted practices to help the industry recover. He also offers other tips for navigating th…
Aug 5, 2020
How to Prepare for Hybrid Events and Other COVID-Driven Realities
Bizly’s Kevin Iwamoto explains how meeting planners can adapt to a changed world.
The meetings industry as a whole is experiencing the five stages of grief, according to Bizly chief strategy officer Kevin Iwamoto, and a lot of professionals are stuck in the denial stage. We need to fast-track that psychological process, he says, so that we can reach the final stage — acceptance.
Iwamoto, a longtime industry consultant and thought leader, says that planners should be busy preparing for the many COVID-driven realities that will reshape live events for the long term. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, he talks with Northstar’s Loren Edelstein about modifiying meeting agendas for an online audience, and preparing both in-person and remote audiences for a very different experience.
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Jul 29, 2020
Are Meeting Planners Liable if an Attendee Catches COVID-19?
Legal expert Jonathan Howe on the latest legal risks for meeting professionals.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created plenty of legal issues for the events industry, from grappling with force majeure clauses to negotiating attrition terms that make sense. As face-to-face events slowly begin to resume in some form, one question continues to pop up: Can planners be held liable if an attendee contracts COVID at their event? It’s a tricky matter, and one that was recently addressed by Jonathan Howe, founding partner of Chicago's Howe & Hutton law firm and Northstar Meetings Group's longtime legal expert.
Howe spoke with Loren Edelstein, vice president and content director for Northstar Meetings Group, during Interact Independent Planners, the latest in Northstar’s new series of half-day digital meetings for planners and suppliers. He discussed liability and contract issues and answered questions from the attendees who joined the event. On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Mee…
Jul 21, 2020
How the GBAC Star Program Is Helping Meetings to Restart Safely
This certification helps assure event stakeholders of their venues’ commitment to health safety.
As the meetings industry continues to grapple with the many challenges presented by the COVID pandemic, venues are revamping their hygiene practices in order to mitigate health risks for visitors. To help in this effort, a new certificate program from the Global BioRisk Advisory Council, a division of the worldwide cleaning industry association ISSA, has been introduced with the aim of providing meeting planners and attendees the assurance that high levels of cleanliness and safety are being followed. A handful of hotels, convention centers and cities have already signed on to this GBAC Star program, with many more in the process of gaining accreditation.
On this episode of Eventful, we speak with Patricia Olinger, executive director of the Global BioRisk Advisory Council, as well as Dominic Bruno, director of facility operations for the Georgia World Congress Center — the first v…
Jul 14, 2020
Best Practices for Hybrid Events
How to enhance the meeting experience for both in-person attendees and remote viewers
The freeze on live-in-person events in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many meeting planners to become more comfortable creating digital meetings. As physical gatherings slowly and haltingly return, these same planners can channel their new digital experience into the design of hybrid events, combining the in-person and remote audiences to accomplish meeting goals.
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we speak with a pair of experts about best practices for these hybrid events. Alex Patriquin, founder and CEO of events management platform EventGeek, believes we should be preparing for the fact that all events will soon be hybrid. Ashanti Bentil-Dhue, founder and director of virtual and hybrid-event production company EventMind, shares the four key…
Jul 8, 2020
How Travel Managers Are Getting Ready for a Return to the Road
Elizabeth West of the BTN Group details the current and future realities of business travel.
Not many employees are on the road right now, but travel managers have had a very busy year. Even with minimal travel volume, it’s going to take a lot of legwork to prepare companies for the safe return of business travel and meetings.
Elizabeth West, editorial director of The BTN Group, has been leading regular group discussions with travel managers since the beginning of the pandemic. In her role, she oversees content for Business Travel News, Travel Procurement and The Beat.
For this episode of Eventful, we talked with Elizabeth about this odd time in the corporate travel world, what will be different as business travel ramps up again.
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Jun 30, 2020
How to Attract Sponsors for Virtual Events
While our meetings may be taking place online, they still offer many unique revenue-generating opportunities.
Restrictions on face-to-face gatherings have led to a surge in virtual meetings. But while webcasts and digital networking sessions have proven popular, they have many planners concerned about the lack of revenue they are bringing in. Not all of the same engaging sponsorship opportunities associated with live events are available in the digital realm, but there are still plenty of creative ways to incorporate sponsor branding, exposure, messaging and complete virtual sponsorship packages for your digital events.
On today’s episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we feature a pair of experts on virtual sponsorships. The first is Keri Mcintosh, senior vice president of events for The Castle Group, a full-service event management and PR firm based in Boston. Keri has been working with clients who had to move their events online to develop creative sponsor p…
Jun 23, 2020
How to Make Tough Choices During Disruptive Times
Global trend-watcher Vikram Mansharamani advises planners to consult experts when necessary, but take responsibility for the big decisions.
At a time of such unpredictability, disruption and risk, it is hard for even the most experienced meeting planner to feel confident when making major decisions about when or whether to hold their next event, or what form it should take. To help explore how planners can make these choices, Vikram Mansharamani, a lecturer at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and author of the just-released Think for Yourself: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence, as well as Boombustology: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Burst, offers his insights.
He spoke previously at Northstar Meetings Group’s SMU International at the end of February, just as the threat of the coronavirus was beginning to be understood. At that time, he told the audience of meeting planners and supplier, “This i…
Jun 18, 2020
Striving for Inclusion During Pride Month
June is Pride Month, but this year the rainbow flag that celebrates freedom of sexual expression has perhaps been overshadowed by Black Lives Matter flags, signs and banners, as the issue of racial inequality drawn heated attention and concern across the country and in many parts of the world.
For the meetings and travel business, this is a difficult and important time to assess our progress with diversity and inclusion among all oppressed groups, says Jim Clapes, events manager for the Specialty Food Association and chair of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (and former events manager for the Drug Policy Alliance). We’ve made some strides as an industry, Clapes says, but there’s plenty of work to be done.
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Jun 16, 2020
The Future of International Association Meetings
Gregg Talley discusses how associations are managing events amid the pandemic.
The "glory days" of international conferences are probably over, says Gregg Talley, CAE, FASAE. As president and CEO of Talley Management Group, Inc., which manages 35 international associations, he's been helping clients launch virtual events in the short term and organize hybrid meetings in the longer term. Two months ago he told Northstar that COVID-19 would force associations to rethink their business models. Now he's helping them tackle that challenge.
The pandemic is just one factor driving change. Deepening economic pressures, health concerns, political issues and civil unrest are cracking the foundation of traditional association business models. In a recent conversation, I asked Talley, "Do associations need to reinvent themselves completely?" His answer: "You hold your values in place, but yeah, I think it's all brand new now."
Talley does see a silver lining amid today's challenges: the much-…
Jun 9, 2020
Focusing on Diversity in Meetings
Black meeting professionals share their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter protests and how the industry should respond.
The past two weeks have seen large-scale demonstrations in almost every major U.S. city and across the world as hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd, and the need for widespread police reform. The events have not only renewed demands for major changes, but have put the spotlight on the country’s ongoing discrimination against people of color, and black people in particular.
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we hear from industry insiders on the protests, their own experiences, and the need for greater diversity in the meetings industry. Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC and national chair for the U.S. Travel Association (left), and Jason Dunn, group vice president of diversity sales and inclusion for the Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau and…
Jun 2, 2020
How Event Technology Is Being Transformed
Entrepreneur and investor Marco Giberti discusses the meetings tech changes we can expect in the years to come.
The rapid shift away from face-to-face events due to the COVID-19 pandemic has meant a steep drop in revenue, loss of jobs and widespread disruption in the meetings industry. But it has also created a situation that could significantly accelerate innovation in the world of event technology.
That’s the opinion of entrepreneur and investor Marco Giberti, featured inthis episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals. The founder of Vesuvio Ventures and a serial entrepreneur himself in the events sector shares his thoughts on the long-term changes we might expect from this upheaval — and how our current experiences with technology could form the basis for the tools we use for years to come. True innovation and fresh perspectives, he adds, could well come from outside the meetings industry.
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May 26, 2020
How to Engage Virtual Attendees
Expert tips on connecting with an audience that isn’t in the room.
As planners have had to cancel face-to-face gatherings of all sizes, digital meetings have become a vital alternative. But for those accustomed to developing in-person events, it’s become clear that the rules for engaging face-to-face attendees don’t necessarily apply in the digital universe. To provide best practices for designing a captivating virtual event, Northstar Meetings Group recently hosted a webcast, “Welcoming the Virtual Attendee,” featuring a pair of presenters experienced in planning digital and hybrid events.
In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we’re bringing you highlights from that webcast. You’ll hear from Elise Keith, co-founder and CEO of Lucid Meetings and Meeting School and the author of Where the Action Is: The Meetings That Make or Break Your Organization; and Nancy Settle-Murphy, president of meeting facilitation company Guided Insights and au…
May 18, 2020
Case Study of a COVID-Era Event: The Voice of Healthcare Summit
No mask? No problem. Based on attendee pushback, a coronavirus test at the door will be the only health safety measure for this business event.
Do attendees want to wear masks and keep their distance when meetings resume, or will such practices detract too much from the experience of live events? That’s a question Bradley Metrock, CEO of Nashville-based Score Publishing, has been grappling with for months.
His team painstakingly created Project Voice Series Protocols that would include COVID-19 testing, daily temperature checks and health monitoring. “It was really hardcore,” says Metrock. “We said there’s going to be masks, distancing, no food, no swag.” The 420-person capacity of the conference center at Harvard Medical School would be cut down to 200 with appropriately distanced room setups.
But two factors upended that plan: Harvard will likely remain closed until Labor Day, and attendees didn’t want to come to an event so mired in health safety measures. Withi…
May 12, 2020
Why a Health Security Plan Is Critical for a Return to Meetings
Jonathan Spero of InHouse Physicians describes what it will take to give attendees the confidence to meet again.
When can we start meeting again? There’s no simple answer to this question, considering the various local restrictions, evolving public-health developments and the individual preferences and concerns of attendees. But whenever meetings finally resume, we can be sure that planners will need to have a plan in place for protecting their attendees, reducing the risk of infection spread and providing every stakeholder with the resources they need to meet without fearing for their health.
For every meeting there must be a health security plan, according to Jonathan Spero, CEO of InHouse Physicians. For 30 years InHouse Physicians has provided corporate meetings and events with medical care resources to help attendees and offer health guidance to both planners and venues. For the latest episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we spoke with Spero about how pl…
May 5, 2020
Planning Your Career Comeback During the Pandemic
Dawn Penfold, an executive recruiter for the meetings industry, offers advice for event professionals.
The unprecedented job losses and economic damage caused by the pandemic shutdown have seriously impacted almost all areas of the meetings industry, as countless event professionals are now out of work or suddenly unsure about their futures. But while things might be unclear and even alarming, there are some steps that meeting planners can be taking now to navigate this fast-changing terrain and to position themselves for a comeback.
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we spoke with Dawn Penfold, founder and president of Meetingjobs.com. She discusses what planners can be doing now to improve their job prospects, how this crisis will reorient employers' priorities and what lessons we can apply from previous crises.
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Apr 28, 2020
Why Michael Dominguez Thinks the Meetings Industry Recovery Can Begin Now
Michael Dominguez, president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International, sees reasons for hope for the meetings industry — and not just in the distant future. "I see a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not another train coming at us," he says. How bright that light is depends on where you're located. "What's happening in New York, New Jersey and other states in that area is different than anywhere else in the country. That's not the reality outside of that corridor."
With the April 16 release of the "Opening Up America Again" guidelines from the White House, Dominguez says that if precautions are taken and we don't see a spike in cases, some areas might see something resembling normalcy as soon as six weeks from now.
In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Dominguez outlines his reasons for cautious optimism, the steps ALHI is taking to establish health and safety measures for its member properties and how he expects the industry to "com…
Apr 21, 2020
How the Meetings Industry Will Come Out of COVID Stronger
Meetings Mean Business Co-Chair Trina Camacho-London on how the industry must be proactive in the face of global challenges.
Last Tuesday, April 14, was supposed to be Global Meetings Industry Day — the annual day of advocacy for in-person events in which groups around the world gather together to celebrate. But due to lockdowns and travel restrictions in response to COVID-19, that was not an option this year. Yet the Meetings Mean Business Coalition, which created GMID, partnered with Meeting Professionals International and the Events Industry Council to create GMID Virtual. The online series of events and education sessions gave members of the industry plenty of insights and information, even if it lacked the face-to-face experience that has been part of the event in its previous four iterations.
To discuss the event and the state of the meetings industry at this critical time, we reached out to Trina Camacho-London, vice president of global group sales for Hyatt Hotels Corp.,…
Apr 14, 2020
How COVID-19 Changes the Global Role of the Meeting Planner
Positive Impact Events' Fiona Pelham outlines how the events industry will need to get more strategic in the wake of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the global economy, public health and the meetings industry in particular. And even as events return, it is likely that planners will face more questions on why an event must happen in person and feel greater pressure to make the business case for face-to-face meetings.
To discuss the long-term effect that the pandemic may have on the role of meeting planners, we spoke with Fiona Pelham, CEO of Positive Impact Events, who has dedicated herself to helping meeting planners evolve their approach to prepare not for the next few months, but for years into the future. Last year, she submitted an acceleration action to the UN Sustainable Development Goals Summit that showed how the in-person events industry could help accomplish the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and help it find new solutions.
Here…
Apr 7, 2020
How Your Business Can Weather the COVID-19 Pandemic
Crisis management expert Edward Segal shares his tips for getting through such unprecedented times.
These are challenging times for any meeting planner. But instead of being fearful of the economic upheaval brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a time to focus on what can be done to survive the crisis and bounce back once it ends. That’s the advice of Edward Segal, a crisis-management and public relations consultant whose clients have included companies and trade shows in the meetings, consumer electronics, plastics and real estate industries. He is also the author of Crisis Ready — 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies, out later this month.
In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we speak with Segal about his tips for getting through such unprecedented times.
This episode is sponsored by Meet AC. Atlantic City is eager to welcome you back to our seaside destination when we defeat this cris…
Mar 31, 2020
How to Get Things Done at Your Meeting
Productivity guru David Allen offers tips on how to cut out wasted time at meetings and events.
While the industry continues to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic, we thought we would pause the news onslaught and get back to basics: How do meetings help us get things done? Whether hosting a gathering in-person or from home, with five attendees or 5,000, there are some constants when it comes to making your event productive. That's the outlook of David Allen, productivity expert and author of Getting Things Done, who has introduced more than 2 million people to his approach to tracking and managing all of the things one wants to complete in one's work and personal life — and actually doing them.
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we speak with Allen about how to run meetings more effectively — clarifying the purpose of gatherings of all sizes, determining who is responsible for what and ensuring that every event ends with actionable takeaways. He al…
Mar 24, 2020
How to Prepare for an Economic Downturn
These are unpredictable times, to say the least, with all signs pointing to a dramatic economic downturn. When conditions improve, many businesses will not look the same as they once did. Instead of just bracing yourself and hoping for the best, now is the time to take proactive steps to shore up your business. That’s the advice of Jonathan Slain, author of Rock the Recession, who in 2009 had to borrow a quarter-million dollars from his mother-in-law to keep his business afloat.
In the years since, he’s dedicated himself to identifying what he could have done differently so that instead of sinking in the downturn, he could have used it to his advantage. We spoke with Jonathan about some of those lessons, how meeting professionals can determine their level of preparedness, and what they should be doing right now to strengthen their business as the going gets tougher.
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Mar 17, 2020
What’s Next for Meetings?
The world has been turned upside down in the past week by the spread of COVID-19, and even the most knowledgeable experts are unsure of what it will mean to the travel and meetings business in the months and even years ahead. But while such unpredictable times create challenges for forecasting about the future and the meetings industry specifically, upheaval and change also demand creative thinking, and a plan not just for weathering the current crisis, but how to recover after it.
To that end, we spoke with Dan Berger, founder of Social Tables, who recently shared his predictions for the next decade at Northstar Meetings Group’s SMU International event in New York City just two weeks ago. We spoke with Berger on March 10 about how the coronavirus could impact events long term, and more general trends around meeting technology, venue sourcing and the future of meetings.
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Mar 10, 2020
Coronavirus and Event Insurance: What Are Your Options?
The fast spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has led a large number of event and meeting organizers to ask tough questions about changes they might need to make to the event or whether it can be held at all. At the top of most of these lists: What are our options as far as insurance? While this often depends on the specific event and policy held by the organizer, there are some general rules of thumb that planners should keep in mind — and important questions that they can ask in reviewing the policies they currently have in place.
To better understand what options are available to planners when it comes to their event insurance in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, Northstar Meetings Group’s news and technology editor, Michael Shapiro, caught up with Michael Giusti, senior writer at InsuranceQuotes.com and expert on special-event insurance. Listen to learn where event insurance can be a major help — and where it can’t.
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Mar 3, 2020
The Lessons of Puerto Rico’s Resilience
Puerto Rico has seen more than its fair share of adversity in recent years. Just this year, it has experienced a 6.4-magnitude earthquake and thousands of smaller quakes and aftershocks since, as well as political unrest and protests. This as the destination is still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the Zika virus before that.
But as it has been hit by one challenge after another, the island has shown itself to be nothing if not resilient, coming back stronger than it had been before and ready to welcome back meeting and incentive groups. As concerns about the impact of coronavirus affect a growing number of destinations, Puerto Rico offers an inspiring example of how a place can boomerang back after difficulty and seemingly insurmountable setbacks.
Last month, we caught up with Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, to discuss how the destination has navigated so many challenges and continues to keep attracting corporate and incentive groups. With the expan…
Feb 18, 2020
Realities of Coronavirus: How to Travel and Meet Safely
Each day brings alarming headlines about the fast-spreading coronavirus, with the numbers of people infected and countries impacted rising steadily. Health concerns haven’t just halted travel in China, they’ve taken a toll on the global travel and meetings industry. In reality though, there’s no reason for meetings outside of China to be canceled, according to Dr. William Spangler, a board-certified emergency physician and the global medical director for AIG Travel Guard,
We spoke with Dr. Spangler last week about the realities of the risk, and how we can protect ourselves in meetings, on the road and at home. In short, wash your hands! Note that this interview was recorded last week, so some of the statistics mentioned have changed.
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Feb 11, 2020
How – and Why – to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Meetings
Last year saw a surge of public interest in climate change — and the impact of travel and meetings on the environment. Since travel, consumption and producing waste are often components of large-scale gatherings, pressure is growing on events to find ways to reduce their carbon emissions. But how can we accomplish this goal when travel, consumption and waste are usually integral components to gatherings of people?
This edition of Eventful, produced as part of the Better Meetings, Better Future initiative between Northstar Meetings Group and Positive Impact Events, aims to answer these questions. The team at Positive Impact Events sat down with Miguel Naranjo, program officer at Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Michael Schneider, assistant director of the International Air Transport Association, to discuss practical ways event professionals can reduce the carbon emissions, the role carbon offsetting can play, and how lowering car…
Feb 4, 2020
PCMA’s Sherrif Karamat on the Evolving Role of Event Organizers
As we dive into a new decade, it’s a good time to stop and consider the value that events and the people who plan them provide — both in a direct, revenue-generating sense and in a more big-picture way. To discuss the evolving role of meeting planners, we spoke with Sherrif Karamat, CEO and president of the Professional Convention Management Association. Here he discusses why financial returns are just a piece of the ROI that event organizers should be measuring and how planners should be thinking about the work they do.
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Jan 21, 2020
USTA's Roger Dow on the State of the Meetings Industry
In a time of unpredictability, instability and security concerns, the meetings industry has proven surprisingly resilient, enjoying more than 10 straight years of growth. But while the outlook remains positive, it is important to maintain a sense of caution, as well.
At the most recent Northstar Leadership Forum, held in Sea Island, Georgia, we had the chance to speak one-on-one with Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. We discussed how the travel industry, including meetings and events, has proven surprisingly resilient during a time of global instability and security concerns. But he stressed that this is not the time to let down our guards, explaining the importance of making a strong business case for the value of meetings — to city leaders, corporate executives and policymakers. In this wide-ranging discussion, Dow touches on topics including overtourism, responsible travel and meetings’ impact on the global economy.
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Jan 7, 2020
Why Meeting Planners Should Care About Cannabis
The fast-changing legal status of cannabis has introduced some important issues for meeting professionals. These include ensuring that attendees know the rules on cannabis consumption in the meeting location, the proliferation of events related to the legal cannabis industry and what exactly CBD is — and how it can be integrated into an event.
“Will we be seeing bud bars at receptions or marijuana-laced edibles in swag bags? Will pot tastings be the new wine tastings?,” asks Barbara Peterson in Meetings & Conventions' recent cover story. While her answer is “probably not,” her article explores where cannabis is playing a role in events and how planners should be approaching this burgeoning industry.
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Dec 20, 2019
Boredom-Busting Tips for Creating Engaging Meetings
It's a phrase plenty of meeting planners have heard before: "meetings are boring." It's often true, but it doesn't have to be. What needs to change so that the audience is excited, engaged — and not tempted to check email?
For this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, sponsored by Wynn Resorts, we speak with a pair of experts on busting up the typical boring meeting. They offer tips on how to connect with attendees and create an event that will not only hold their interest, but have them talking about what they learned long after the event is over. The guests for this episode are:
Lain Hensley, co-owner and head dream chaser of Odyssey Teams, Inc., who founded the company to create teambuilding and CSR experiences for companies of all kinds.
Dianne Devitt, founder and owner of The DND Group and author of What Color Is Your Event?, has decades of experience in helping clients deliver their best and cut through the noise of a typical gathering.
See omny…
Dec 17, 2019
Best Practices for Medical and Pharmaceutical Meetings
Planning a med-pharma event requires navigating a complex maze of regulations and laws on the federal and state levels — not to mention new rules in a growing number of international destinations. But keeping your eye only on compliance can dull the engagement elements. Health-care professionals are people, too, and want to meet at memorable venues, hear great speakers and partake in fun activities as much as any other attendee.
For this episode of Eventful, sponsored by Visit Seattle, we speak with experts on med-pharma meetings about how to create impactful events for these industries to ensure compliance and produce an engaging gathering. Guests include:
Pat Schaumann, president of Schaumann Consulting Group, the former senior director of health-care compliance for both Maritz Global Events and Meeting Professionals International. She is the author of Breaking the Code to Healthcare Compliance.
Windy Christner, senior director of meetings and expositions for the American…
Dec 12, 2019
How to Ensure Your Meeting Destination Is Inclusive
Fostering a sense of inclusion is of growing importance for any meeting or convention today, and key to accomplishing that is the selection of a destination. A city that creates a sense of welcome to attendees of a wide range of experiences and backgrounds can make the difference between an engaging, well-attended event and one that gets skipped. But what makes a destination “inclusive” and how can planners work with a CVB, venue and other partners to ensure their event warmly welcomes all types of visitors?
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Dec 3, 2019
A Call to Action on Sustainable Meetings
Fiona Pelham, CEO of Positive Impact Events, discusses how business events can play a role in the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, how climate change must be central to meeting and event planning strategy, and how we, as an industry, can adopt more sustainable behaviors in our professional and personal lives.
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Nov 26, 2019
Appealing to Gen Z Meeting Attendees
To understand how the youngest members of the workforce are approaching meetings differently than those who came before them, we speak with David and Jonah Stillman. David, a longtime researcher and expert on generational marketing, teamed up with his son Jonah (a member of Gen Z himself) to found Gen Z Guru. The two speak on the topic of how to connect to Gen Z employees and customers and are the authors of Gen Z @ Work.
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Nov 18, 2019
How Wynn's Energy Strategy Enhances the Meeting Experience
From the producers of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, this special podcast episode, created in partnership with Wynn Resorts, focuses on how these innovations provide big benefits to corporate groups. Wynn Resorts Chief Sustainability Officer Erik Hansen discusses how this cutting-edge approach to energy procurement enhances meetings and events held at a Wynn property. He outlines how Wynn’s new Zero Carbon, Zero Waste Event service, one of the most exciting advancements to date from Wynn Las Vegas, brings benefits to meetings and conventions clients of all sizes — and to the wider world.
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Nov 12, 2019
How to Create Incentive-Level Experiences in Domestic Cities
Domestic cities offer cost savings and logistical ease compared to more far-flung options. But can they also work as an incentive destination — providing immersive experiences as motivating as any posh getaway? For this episode, we speak to experts from One10, BCD Meetings & Events and more to discuss how to make domestic cities succeed as incentive destinations.
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Nov 5, 2019
The Reimagination of Convention Centers
Convention centers are changing. Rather than huge boxy buildings set on the outskirts of a city, ambitious new facilities are being fully integrated with their surrounding cities, putting attendees in the middle of the action, even if they spend much of the day on the trade show floor. Consider Seattle, where the Washington State Convention Center is in the midst of a transformation. We spoke with Visit Seattle President & CEO Tom Norwalk and Washington State Convention Center President & CEO Jeff Blosser about what it means for the destination and how it reflects the broader changes happening for conventions today.
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Oct 29, 2019
Welcoming LGBTQ Attendees
Are your meetings and events welcoming environments for LGBTQ participants? The meetings industry has made progress, but there is plenty of room for improvement. In the latest episode, we spoke with Jim Clapes, conference and events manager for Drug Policy Alliance, who is also chair of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association. He discussed how small changes — providing all-gender bathrooms, encouraging use of preferred pronouns and planning LGBTQ mixers — can make a big difference.
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Oct 15, 2019
How to Enhance Your Meeting With Tech Tools
Innovation in the meetings industry is moving at a fast pace. New tools and creative solutions are making it easier than ever for planners to create impactful events and boost their bottom line. For today's episode, we speak with a pair of experts who have their fingers on the pulse of how the industry is using tech: Keith Johnston, managing partner of i3 and the person behind Plannerwire, and Mark Cooper, CEO of the International Association of Conference Centers, which represents almost 400 venues worldwide. They share their specific tips on how planners can use technology to better reach their goals.
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Oct 8, 2019
How to Plan Truly Accessible Meetings and Events
How accessible is your event? Meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act is not nearly enough to fully accommodate attendees with differing abilities. For this week’s episode, Rosemarie Rossetti, an accessibility expert and consultant who travels globally to discuss inclusive meetings and events and Universal Design, discusses physical space details to consider, such as height of registration desks or the direction in which a door opens, how to use “person-first” language when referencing people with disabilities and more.
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Sep 24, 2019
How Planners Can Get More from CVBs
Convention and visitor bureaus have traditionally been viewed by planners as a handy resource — an organization with useful info about a destination’s latest updates or available attractions. But for those planners who know what to ask, these organizations can offer far more, helping planners elevate their events and better meet their goals in myriad ways.
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Sep 17, 2019
New Risks Facing Meetings
Bruce McIndoe, president and founder of WorldAware, discusses the risks that meetings planners must consider, including why monitoring social media is a key component of protecting your meetings and why it's vital to ask about every scenario and situation: "what could go wrong?"
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Aug 30, 2019
How to Ensure Your Meeting Is Inclusive
Melissa Majors, CEO of Melissa Majors Consulting, works with organizations to help them develop an approach to diversity that fosters genuine inclusion with creates bottom-line benefits. Sponsored by American Airlines, on this episode, we speak with Majors about how to effectively make one’s events feel more inclusive — not just in terms of race and gender, but generation, personality and numerous other areas.
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Aug 21, 2019
Working With Independent Hotels
As the big hotel brands get bigger, independent hotels are touting their freedom to be nimble and flexible to meet clients’ needs. That’s the sweet spot for Danielle Bishop, president and founder of HB Hospitality, a membership-based community of luxury independent properties and meeting planner clients. In this week’s episode, Bishop tells us about the benefits of working directly with independent hotels, why the industry should simplify the current business model so that it’s more transparent and more.
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Aug 6, 2019
Guns and Meetings
This week, guns again commanded headlines as a pair of mass shootings took place in Texas and Ohio hours apart, resulting in the deaths of more than 30 people. Recorded before these latest incidents, this episode looks at some of these issues around how to ensure the security and safety of their guests or attendees while obeying federal and state laws around gun possession.
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Jul 24, 2019
The Global Outlook for Meetings
Planners of international events are concerned about terrorism threats, airfare costs and local health concerns. These were among the top findings of M&C’s 15th annual Global Planner survey, which asked those who plan meetings outside the United States to share their experiences in areas such as site selection, budgeting and working with international suppliers. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar Meetings Group’s destinations editor, Lisa A. Grimaldi, discusses key takeaways from this original research, as well as what she is learning about international travel from top meetings destinations.
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Jul 9, 2019
Michael Dominguez on What's Next for Him and the Industry
As Michael Dominguez moves this week from his role as chief sales officer for MGM Resorts into the CEO post at Associated Luxury Hotels International, some things won't change: his commitment to the meetings industry — and MGM — and knack for sizing up the state of the industry and looking into the future.
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Jun 19, 2019
Human Trafficking and Meetings
Anywhere from 30 million to 40 million people in the world today are estimated to be victims of human trafficking — and there are things that meeting planners could be doing to help fight this exploitation. On the inaugural episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar Meetings Group's vice president, content director, Loren Edelstein speaks with contributing editor Cheryl-Anne Sturken about why hotel brands, industry leaders and meeting planners are sounding the alarm on human trafficking, and the steps that can be taken to fight it.
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