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So, you want to plan an event. If your head is spinning, don’t worry: it’s all completely normal. Take the event planning process one step at a time. How about you start with creating an event timeline? Event timelines help you stay on track and get you excited about the event you’re going to throw together. You might be thinking: ‘But how can I know what state will the events industry be a month or six months from now?
The act of honoring winners of the Smart Women in Meetings Award is a celebration of the resiliency of meeting professionals everywhere. That’s why when we were finally able to bring the 2020 and 2021 cohorts together last week for a grand gala at Resorts World Las Vegas, we invited all the previous year’s winners and paired the occasion with a Smart Woman Summit day of empowerment showcasing top personal and career development experts.
COVID-19 has drastically changed how people travel — and it will be a good while before we return to “normal,” if ever. Although travelers are finally getting back out into the world and visiting new destinations, things have shifted. The travel industry took an enormous hit because of the pandemic, and destinations are still recovering. . Destination marketing post-COVID will look different, which means travel and tourism companies will need to evolve their strategies to the changing times.
Policymakers, destination management organisations, the tourism industry, local communities and visitors each have a role to play in the sector’s transformation. New ETC handbook brings clarity on how tourism organisations can encourage sustainable practices. COVID-19 has influenced both businesses and consumers to think differently, with sustainability now as an important driver in purchase decisions.
Join us and connect with experts at the 3rd International Conference on Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases”, scheduled on May 05-06, 2025 in Dubai, UAE with the theme of “Novel Progression Towards the Heart and Cardiovascular Research”.
Have you ever tried to teach a class, promote a discussion, or get people to join in on an activity only to be met with blank stares and an awkward silence? Expert planners know that event engagement is vital to an event’s initial success, as well as the success of potential future events. But what is event engagement? Better yet, why does it matter?
September 2021 — Are in-person events COVID safe? The worldwide meeting industry is desperately, and understandably, waiting for the answer to this question to be “Yes” Well, Freeman , the largest global event management firm, has just announced “the truth is, in-person events are actually safer than many daily activities, like trips to the grocery store — and we have the data to prove it” Sadly, while I acknowledge and appreciate Freeman’s significant work on the
What better way to learn more about the exciting world of event technology than listening to an awesome product spotlight episode of the Event Tech Podcast? Today, Will and Brandt bring two guests in to hear an unbiased review of Accelevents , an all-in-one hybrid, and virtual event management platform. After all, in a world where there are more than 100 virtual event platforms , it’s sometimes hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
What better way to learn more about the exciting world of event technology than listening to an awesome product spotlight episode of the Event Tech Podcast? Today, Will and Brandt bring two guests in to hear an unbiased review of Accelevents , an all-in-one hybrid, and virtual event management platform. After all, in a world where there are more than 100 virtual event platforms , it’s sometimes hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Last year, Paolo Kespradit found himself in a bind. Covid-19 hit West Hollywood, California , affecting more than 36,000 residents, causing business to shut down and forcing city hall to shutter operations, cutting off communication to the community—and the only means its citizens had to give input on city issues. Kespradit is a management analyst for the city, which entails working closely with city council to bring its ideas to life.
Next up for our team spotlight is Account Executive Will Crockett! Will has worked in travel & tourism for 6 years now, working through just about every level of it- he began at a Downtown Main Street Association (hyper-local tourism organization), worked his way up to the Tupelo, MS Convention & Visitors Bureau (mid-level DMO), then worked at the Tennessee Dept. of Tourist Development (state level DMO) before joining Advance Travel & Tourism 1 year ago.
Corporate inSITEs Edition 2 is currently “fielding” with our US corporations and we’ll have a sneak peak of preliminary results during SITE Classic. We’ve been following up with some of the corporations on our panel and received this wonderfully inspiring email from one of them highlight how incentive travel is alive and well … “Just completed the survey and thank you for resending and allowing me to include my input.
How can we provide new experiences at meetings? Not new F&B, decor, or glitz. Something deeper. Here’s a story…. A memorial service. Last month, I staffed an online memorial service for E, a friend who died tragically, at age 42, of breast cancer. With over a hundred attendees, most listened as friends and family spoke. When the main service ended, I hosted one of several breakout rooms for those who wanted to stay and talk.
Can you feel that, event planner? It’s the dawn of the hybrid event era! The virtual revolution paved the way to greater accessibility and inclusivity , so it goes without saying that virtual events are here to stay. Meanwhile, in-person events are making a comeback. So, which one will prevail? Well, this is not an argument, so there’s no need to pick sides.
Editor’s Note: We asked Amy Calvert , CEO of Events Industry Council, to share her perspective on how meeting professionals are evolving to meet the needs of post-pandemic era events and why professional designations like CMPs are changing to support that shift. Now, more than ever, we must unite to inspire our workforce and be the “great explainers and advocates” as to why our industry matters.
Advance Travel & Tourism is pleased to announce its territory expansion beyond the panhandle into Central and South Florida with new Account Executive Lisa Konupka. Account Executive Lisa Konupka. Lisa is a resident of Vero Beach with nearly 17 years of tourism experience. Her favorite thing about working in tourism? The people! “I am so fortunate to work in an industry that inspires people to travel and make memories that will last a lifetime.” “Excited to be back home in
The evolution of the DMC industry requires that it embark upon a renewed relationship with clients that is built upon transparency, trust, and understanding.
For many event planners, hybrid events are still a relatively new endeavor, one that brings the unfamiliar challenge of engaging two very different audiences at the same time. Here are 15 tips for avoiding the pitfalls that can easily occur. While hybrid events may be the solution for providing both in-person and virtual choices for […]. The post Hybrid Events – 15 Mistakes to Avoid by Maria Lenhart appeared first on [link].
The old saying goes, “The Only Constant in Life Is Change.” [Heraclitus] That certainly has been true of late in the travel and hospitality industry. On a daily basis, we account for all types of uncertainty in the planning of all of our incentive travel programs, meetings and events. In a recent article about returning to in-person events, Brenda Rivers writes, “It seems insurmountable to balance the creation of successful, engaging and motivating live events with the constantly evolving elemen
The European Travel Commission (ETC) announces the appointment of Franka Gulin, Director for China at the Croatian National Tourist Board as the new Chair of ETC’s China Chapter, eyes and ears of the association in the marketplace. In her new position, Gulin will be supported by Vice-Chairs David Wu from Visit Finland and Tiago Brito from Visit Portugal.
Every once in a while, our hosts Will and Brandt love to bring guests to the Event Tech Podcast and have them talk about an exciting technology or software they’ve developed. In September 2020, for example, we had the opportunity to learn more about virtual engagement strategies with Sketch Effect. And today, the techie duo welcomes a very special guest who developed a brand management tool and mostly works with consulting firms and banks.
When did you last go grocery shopping? Do you remember passing all those people, in that uncontrolled environment, coming from and going to places of which you have no inkling? In a study by Freeman, in collaboration with Epistemix, it was found that settings such as this, where individuals’ paths are crossed in an unprotected nature, are riskier than business events.
SITE Foundation and Zeal Optics joined forces during SITE Classic in September as over 200 members gathered in San Diego, CA to showcase the incentive travel industry’s efforts to give back. Coastlines play a crucial role in people’s travels, and as part of the event, SITE Foundation and Zeal Optics worked with Plastic Oceans International to clean half a million square feet of coastline for a full year. “The planet is the incentive travel industry’s playground, and anyth
VOK DAMS is a great example of an event agency that has been successfully implementing virtual and hybrid event strategies for the past 18 months. With over 40 years of experience in the field, virtual event spaces aren’t new to them, though the pandemic has accelerated their adoption by clients, bringing to life new and innovative event concepts. .
Atout France has joined ETC as a full member to collaborate on the renewal and revival of European tourism. ETC is proud to welcome the France Tourism Development Agency on board to share best practice and work together for all Europeans. As European destinations have been welcoming back travellers over recent weeks, the European Travel Commission (ETC), the association uniting the National Tourism Organisations of 32 European countries, has welcomed the France Tourism Development Agency, Atout
There is only one thing that seems to be certain in these trying times in the events industry: virtual events are here to stay , no matter the state of the pandemic and our personal preferences. And that’s why it’s time to talk about virtual event production -again. The #EventIcons podcast strives to talk to the very best in the events world.
Up until 2019, your live event audiovisual Request for Proposal (RFP) was straightforward. There wasn’t a need to include a virtual platform ; unless it was a rare occasion with a one-off request to include a broadcast element. In 2020, that theory went out the window and you learned how to write a virtual meeting AV RFP. Now, here you are in 2021 adding another cog in the wheel as you are tasked with writing a blended RFP for your upcoming event that will most likely include a hybrid plan for 2
The 14 th annual SITE Classic concludes later today at Hotel del Coronado – aka The Del - with 240 incentive travel professionals gathering in person following the extended lacuna caused by the global pandemic. The event theme “Grit & Glory: channeling our inner strength to win” perfectly captures how incentive travel professionals have been living since the on-set of the pandemic.
Specially trained dogs are the next line of defense to keep events Covid-free. As in-person meetings, conventions, and trade shows get set to resume in some cities despite the uncertainty of Covid-19’s delta variant, a new breed of on-site test is becoming more widely available, bringing another layer of health security to business events. At Florida International University’s Forensic Research Institute, four scent dogs were trained earlier this year to identify humans who are infected with Cov
What is the mix of presentation versus interaction at your meetings? What should it be? Traditional meetings focus heavily on presentation. Interaction is limited to a few questions at the end of sessions, plus conversations “outside” the formal sessions. And this has been the norm for hundreds of years. The written word. Let’s explore the popularity of the written words presentation versus interaction over time.
Philip Jarvis, a software engineer on Microsoft’s HoloLens team, uses one of the devices on the job. Jarvis, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, came to Microsoft as part of the Neurodiversity Hiring Program. Read Jarvis’s story on the Microsoft blog. (Courtesy Microsoft). In 2015, Microsoft announced a pilot program to hire people with autism.
Just like with events, the main purpose of translation and captioning is to bring people together and break down the barriers between them. While we might have spent much of the last year and a half isolated from people, the barriers nonetheless came crumbling down. The pandemic ushered in an era of far more inclusive and accessible virtual events and made us re-evaluate some of the event-planning practices we started to take for granted.
The research indicates experience tops destination. In other words, most meeting attendees would rather have a “wow” time somewhere memorable than another breakout room even if it’s at an upscale hotel or resort. But what if you can plan for both? To wit, the wow destination is San Francisco. The wow experience is an intimate gathering at a memory-making new hotel that includes private dining at its restaurant, which is the latest hot spot in that food-obsessed city.
IMEX America adopts what its CEO calls “the unofficial gold standard” of in-person safe-event protocols for its November 8-11 show. The operators of IMEX America, the nation’s largest show for the meeting and incentive industry, have announced that all participants will be required to prove they’ve been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to attend the November event in Las Vegas.
Chicago, 2 September 2021 – Today SITE President, Aoife Delaney, CIS, CITP, Director of Global Marketing & Sales, The DMC Network, announced the appointment of Krzysztof “Kris” Michniewicz, CIS, CITP, Founder & CEO MrPoland, to SITE’s International Board of Directors. Aoife also appointed Chicago-based Colleen Brzozowski, CIS, CITP to serve as member-at-large on the IBOD executive committee.
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