Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 26, 2024

With a host of exciting new hotels slated to open throughout the next 12 months, plus some major strategic visions in the works at major brands, the opportunities for every style meeting are boundless. Australia Awaits Sofitel Sydney Wentworth reopens after a $60 million renovation, showcasing newly refurbished conference and event spaces.

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Affiliate Hospitality Trends Conference 246

Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 26, 2023

In recent years, many event organizers have observed a notable trend: despite offering enticing early bird registration discounts, many attendees are hesitant to commit to conferences well in advance. Read More : Helpful Budget Tips for Event Planners in a Post-Covid World 2. What’s Behind Attendee Hesitancy 1.

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Attendee Conference Registration Seminar 278

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

Modernity and history entwined to welcome European meeting professionals The best ideas happen when diverse points of view come together. We break down some of the innovative notes at the conference and the destination below. This is something that you cannot find everywhere else, she explained.

Tourism 223

Tourism Tourism Sustainability Healthcare 223

Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 26, 2024

For many meeting professionals, taking a well-deserved breath after a year of planning large conventions, attending the International Association of Exhibitions & Events (IAEE) Expo! Meeting professionals can ignite others with the work they do. Put on a Show for Show Organizers in LA appeared first on Smart Meetings.

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Organization Trade Show Education Social Media 245

Convene by PCMA

DECEMBER 9, 2024

The recent death of a participant at an event due to a food allergy led a number of event organizers to comment about event planners taking attendees health concerns seriously. More on This Topic On our Podcast: Convene editors discuss how event planners can navigate dietary needs in this Convene Talk. Immediate action can save lives.

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Planner Social Media Retail Events 105

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

Modernity and history entwined to welcome European meeting professionals The best ideas happen when diverse points of view come together. We break down some of the innovative notes at the conference and the destination below. This is something that you cannot find everywhere else, she explained.

Tourism 223

Tourism Tourism Sustainability Healthcare 223

Smart Meetings

JULY 28, 2021

The number of meetings being scheduled now is quickly picking up steam as mask mandates are lifted and people start gathering again, but meeting formats have evolved. With Salamander Hotels & Resorts , a luxury resort management company founded by Sheila Johnson , a Smart Women in Meetings Hall of Fame winner. Ty Brassie.

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Meeting Planner Booking Retreat 331

Smart Meetings

AUGUST 16, 2023

Bizzabo Survey: While hybrid isn’t dead, community is the cornerstone B2B conferences are back and have no sign of slowing down anytime soon. At least, according to a recent survey from the event management technology company Bizzabo that showed in-person conferences are once again the darling for attendees and organizers alike.

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B2B Conference B2C Technology 246

Endless Events

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

Event planners and event managers have all been through a steep learning curve to master the art of creating successful event experiences. Let’s take the skill of hotel contract negotiations ; novice planners tend to feel overwhelmed by the nitty-gritty details of hotel contracts and often learn as they go.

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Contracts Contracts Planner Venue 316

Smart Meetings

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

By working with Visit Bellevue, the planners for Lenovo Tech World 2024 show the transformative power of partnership. Lenovo Tech World is the global technology company’s annual event, and as events at this level go, it’s an enormous undertaking for the planners organizing it. Having this kind of advocacy is completely helpful.”

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Transportation Planner Contracts Contracts 211

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Do you need to find new monetary sources for conferences, conventions and trade shows? Give attendees a discount code on the last day of the conference that is only good for the next 30 days. Establishing the conference fee, contracting with the venue and locking the dates will require some effort. Create a zero-waste meeting.

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Conference Sponsors Trade Show SEO 279

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

On top of the ask, that exact meeting participant may miss telling their children bedtime stories, attending their soccer games, or being present for milestone events like their child’s first steps or words. Select a hotel or conference center with family suites. The post Are Family-friendly Conferences in Your Future?

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Conference Site Selection Trade Show Attendee 246

Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Master planner consultants offer 6 tips for negotiating your next corporate event Does this sound familiar? Smart Meetings asked two veteran independent meeting professionals : ConferenceDirect Vice President Carolyn Poole and Bravo! View Webinar on Demand: Unlocking The Secret Weapon of a Corporate Planner 1.

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Planner Contracts Contracts Consulting 264

Smart Meetings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

And this goes beyond meeting planning. Humans in general are complacent,” says Alan Kleinfeld, former law enforcement officer and director of Arrive Conference Solutions , a company that specializes in event safety. But it’s a big problem in the meetings industry.”. So what will planners do?” It’s a human issue.

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Meeting Planner Attendee Communications 278

Smart Meetings

JULY 15, 2021

By all measures, this week’s Destinations International Annual Conference 2021 (AC21) in Baltimore, Maryland, was a huge success. The story behind AC21 is a lesson in how important robust partnerships for meeting event production in this Covid-era. Or a completely on-site event at the scale of the 2019 conference in St.

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Conference Organization Transportation Training 299

Smart Meetings

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Hologram technology can increase engagement and attract hard-to-get speakers Meetings may be a mostly in-person experience but—as we learned during Covid, with the use of Zoom, Teams and other online video platforms—the use of communications technology has its place in the world of meetings and events.

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Events Speakers Technology Technology 246

Smart Meetings

MARCH 22, 2024

How planners can safeguard their attendees against hotel room breaches In 2022, at a private event in Las Vegas during “hacker summer camp,” as the Black Hat and Defcon hacker conferences have come to be known, a group of researchers found a flaw that could put millions of hotel rooms around the world at risk of being breached.

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Planner Preparation Venue Attendee 264

Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Experts weigh in on what needs to change to work together better Editor’s Note : Hospitality sales consultant Steve Steinhart will be speaking at Smart Meetings Extraordinary Experience in Monterey, California, Nov. If all the meetings that we have re-scheduled for 2024 come through, we will show a very nice gain in the group market.”

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Meeting Proposal Contracts Contracts 264

Smart Meetings

JUNE 15, 2024

At the annual user conference Cvent Connect for a record 4,000 attendees in San Antonio this week, the event technology company which was purchased by Blackstone last year announced new products and acquisitions designed to better meet the needs of meeting professionals, whether planning simple events or complex hybrid affairs.

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Registration Meeting Proposal Trade Show 264

Smart Meetings

MAY 31, 2022

If there is a silver lining to the pandemic for the meetings industry, it’s this: The pandemic accelerated the evolutions of meetings. Like the typewriter, print publications and fax machines, the fully in-person meeting would have eventually become extinct. People know how to use them, and they make great meeting programs.

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Meeting Social Media Trade Show Technology 306

Smart Meetings

AUGUST 21, 2023

A meeting professional veteran share tricks for managing inflation, expectations and savings Money moves mountains. Money also is essential to getting an event off the ground and is the bones of an event planner’s budget. Ultimately, the dynamic between hotels and event planners has shifted since the pandemic.

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Planner Events Communications Communications 243

Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Bespoke experiences to Wow attendees These new and renovated spaces have one critical element that brings meetings to the next level: character. of meeting and event space, including a ballroom and breakout rooms, include state-of-the-art tech and optimize natural light. The nearly 5,000 sq. of flexible indoor and outdoor options.

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Retreat Meeting Hospitality Attendee 246

Smart Meetings

JUNE 4, 2024

You think planning a sales conference at a Chicago hotel ballroom is tough, try planning the 2024 Summer Olympics. There has been a big investment in infrastructure development for the Games, so that allows meeting planners to have access in the future to the venues that have been built,” she says. Security will be massive.

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Meeting Logistics Banking Planner 264

Smart Meetings

JANUARY 11, 2022

Just as virtual meetings can’t replace in-person events, the Metaverse won’t replicate real life. Both digital solutions bring advances that can teach real-world lessons to meeting professionals looking to improve their experiences. People are looking to participate in meetings in a more exploratory fashion,” she said.

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Meeting Platform Fashion Insurance 279

Smart Meetings

JANUARY 9, 2025

Corporate Events (meetings, conferences, tradeshows, product launches, brand activations, consumer shows, company parties). These verticals include nearly 200 unique roles, from event planners and production crews to performers and rental vendors. What Is the Live Events Industry?

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Government Sports Hospitality Events 246

Smart Meetings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

The meetings and events industry is returning with a lot of confidence, and face-to-face gatherings are trending upward with the potential to surpass pre-pandemic numbers. These gatherings illustrated some emerging trends we are seeing that may require meeting professionals to rethink how they approach gathering. Meeting Trend No.1:

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Meeting Trends Booking Events 263

Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Accor Survey: “Meeting Expectations: The Future of Meetings & Events” World-leading hospitality group Accor operates a diverse hospitality group of over 40 hotel brands, from luxury to economy. Sophie Hulgard, Chief Sales Officer at Accor, says, “The total global meetings industry worldwide is forecast to be worth $1.78

Meeting 246

Meeting Sustainability Certification Production 246

Smart Meetings

JUNE 5, 2024

Grand openings and major renovations refresh meeting space in famous international cities All across the world, in some of the most sought-after international cities, come new and renovated hotels and meeting spaces, leaving the stage set for outstanding gatherings, wherever your attendees may be traveling from to get there.

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Meeting Trade Show Entertainment Venue 244

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

After 35 years, the total dollars raised and invested in the business events industry is now $10 million and the group is in the midst of a matching fundraising campaign to help victims of the earthquake in Turkiye , which happens to also be the newly announced location for next year’s SITE Global Conference, Istanbul.

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Conference Incentives Education Certification 246

Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 19, 2024

How can planners help their attendees to feel a sense of genuine belonging through their event design? Megan Henshall, global event solutions, strategic lead at Google and co-lead of the Google Experience Institute (Google Xi) spoke to Smart Meetings about her pioneering work in neuroinclusive event design.

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Event Design Attendee Planner Audience 130

Smart Meetings

JANUARY 10, 2023

Smart Meetings spoke with several event experts whose main goal is to craft a personalized, engaging and educational experience. For the most part, when event planners engage with attendees it is primarily after the event, in the form of surveys to see how attendees felt about the event. Make Your Attendees Feel Like Co-creators.

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Meeting Remote Events Audience 245

Smart Meetings

APRIL 15, 2022

When is a user conference more than an outsized demo? When more than 2,000 meeting professionals gather in person in Las Vegas and 10,000 register to stream Cvent Connect to both learn about new products and experience the platform for themselves. Much of the conference insights are still available on-demand.

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Meeting Vendor Platform Proposal 264

Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 31, 2024

While there are many destinations where you can host your next business meeting or event, Irvine, California, should be at the top of your list. With nearly 190,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space, beautiful weather and endless things to do , Irvine is a hub of innovation and productivity.

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Meeting Venue Transportation Location 130

Smart Meetings

JULY 7, 2022

A new survey from JD Power, US Travel and Tourism Economics (an Oxford Economics company), shows good news for meetings, albeit in tandem with a lag on behalf of corporate to allocate funds for meeting and business travel. One in four (26%) agree these events are critical to building awareness of my organization’s products or services.

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Trade Show Meeting Government Trends 264

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Avoiding wellness washing and incorporating holistic well-being into meetings Wellness is on every planner’s mind these days—with it, come concerns of “wellness washing.” A group of professionals with expertise in wellness—its nuances, scope and impact—gathered for a recent Smart Meetings webinar, “How to Avoid Wellness Washing.”

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Meeting Regulations Speakers Panel 236

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Occasionally, hospitality professionals and meeting planners get the chance to produce an outdoor event and let the fresh air and sun wash over them while standing in the cool shade of a tree. But often, meeting planners are working with in-door spaces, sans nature. They’re probably feeling less stressed.

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Meeting Benefits Events Planner 246

Smart Meetings

APRIL 27, 2023

Nine Ways to Meet Attendees Where They Are It shouldn’t surprise you that 25% of the average meeting budget is spent on food and beverage. However, experienced event planners who have catered to specialty food requests find increased costs associated with this demand. Conclusion Food is an essential element of every meeting.

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Meeting Social Media Regulations Planner 246