Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals

At the United Nations climate-change conference, COP26, now underway in Glasgow, Scotland, governments and industries from around the globe are presenting the strides they've made toward reducing the carbon footprint of their respective operations. Where does the events industry stand? We asked Fiona Pelham, CEO of Positive Impact Events, to discuss the progress to date and the challenges ahead. (...

Managing Covid tests and mask mandates can get complicated even for a small gathering—but what about a high-profile series of events across multiple venues, in which you're testing everyone from frontline workers to Lady Gaga herself? That's the situation event planners found themselves in as they prepared for the grand opening of Los Angeles' Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. To pull off t...

Their turnkey solution helps event professionals ensure their L.A. events and attendees are in compliance with the latest health protocols. Working on in-person meetings these days, event professionals have had to spend considerable time ensuring the safety and health of their attendees. To help share these additional responsibilities, the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board has partnered w...

We are in a particularly crucial moment in the evolution of events and event technology. The pandemic accelerated many trends towards digitization that were embraced by the industry, because really we had no choice. But now, industry members are taking a hard look at what we've learned so far and what our strategies should be moving.   In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Prof...

IMEX America, the meetings industry trade show that will take place Nov. 9-11 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, announced last week that all attendees and exhibitors will be required to be fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization. Carina Bauer, CEO of the Imex Group, spoke with Lisa Grimaldi, Northstar Meeting Group’s incentives and destin...

Attorney Jonathan Howe offers advice on the latest legal questions facing the meetings and events industry. As the Covid-19 Delta variant has shaken up plans for many upcoming in-person events, meeting planners are increasingly finding themselves forced to make decisions with only the slightest idea of what the future might hold. It’s more important than ever to ensure legal protections are...

Meeting planners are getting nervous again — with good reason, according to risk-management expert Bruce McIndoe. If we don’t act collectively to reduce the spread of Covid-19, we’ll be grappling with the virus for years, he posits. Listen to his discussion with Northstar’s Loren Edelstein in this episode of Eventful. Among best practices for meetings, McIndoe explains why...

Destinations International’s Jack Johnson discusses why destination marketers should focus first on making their cities better places to live.   We generally think of destination marketing organizations as focused on bringing visitors to their destination — attracting outside business to help support the local economy. But Jack Johnson, chief advocacy officer for Destinations Inte...

Jason Gewirtz, editor and publisher of SportsTravel, has been covering the Olympics for several years, but this year's Games have been an experience like no other. Even with no spectators permitted, an estimated 50,000 people will visit Tokyo for this year's competitions. All were issued extensive Covid-safety protocols to follow before and during the event.   In this week's episode of Eventf...

Event Specialists’ Mahoganey Jones shares tips for leveraging audience data, monetization opportunities and more.   The restrictions on in-person gatherings over the past 16 months gave meeting planners the opportunity to embrace digital events. But for Mahoganey Jones, founder and CEO of Toronto-based Event Specialists, her company had already been “going virtual” for more...

The events sector must transform itself in order to address the issue of global climate change, stresses Fiona Pelham, CEO of Positive Impact Events. With COP26 — the United Nation’s 26th Climate Change Conference — just months away, the industry must take action now.   COP26, set for Oct. 31 - Nov. 12, 2021, in Glasgow, will bring parties together to accelerate action towar...

John Nawn explains how creating impactful hybrid and digital events requires thorough analysis well in advance of the gatherings.   Event planners must think strategically, whether their meetings are virtual, in-person or a hybrid version of the two. John Nawn, cofounder of Event Strategy Network, maintains that planners too often get caught up in the technical details of an event and lose tr...

Pride Month is here. A time to celebrate, support and uplift members of the LGBTQ+ community. While diversity issues have taken on greater prominence over the past year, there is still much work to be done, and the meetings industry is well-positioned to lead that charge.   On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Derrick Johnson chair of the LGBT Meeting Profession...

A new white paper from ADMEI lays out ways planners can strengthen their relationships with destination management partners. One of the key resources for many meeting planners is the destination management company that helps them select a location for their event, scout venues and assist in almost every aspect of a gathering. When a planner needs local, insider knowledge they lean on their DMC par...

Mary-Ann Urbanovich discusses how the Pandemic Compliance Advisor designation makes health an enduring priority. As more face-to-face events resume, health protocols should be considered in every stage of planning. Efforts to establish best practices are ensure that they are being followed bring a new set of responsibilities to the process, from the earliest stages of venue selection through post-...

MeetingPlay's Joe Schwinger discusses how to get the most value from events with both in-person and virtual audiences. After a year in which most found themselves only attending events remotely, the value of in-person has never been clearer. But the meetings industry has also seen the many advantages that virtual events can provide, including greater accessibility, availability and data-collecting...

The conference for online creators transformed its annual gathering into a year-long online offering.  Pulling off a successful virtual event is no easy task, especially when there are thousands of attendees to cater to, but it can also present opportunities to rethink your entire event strategy. Such was the case for VidCon, an annual conference for digital creators that typically attracts 7...

Global Wellness Institute’s Nancy Davis discusses how the pandemic has transformed the way we think about attendee wellness. As meeting planners navigated the Covid-19 pandemic this past year, concerns about attendee wellness transformed how events were held — or, in most cases, not held. Now, as vaccinations become more widespread and in-person gatherings are poised to fully return, i...

More than a year into a global pandemic, if there’s one thing meeting planners have learned, it’s that connecting with at-home attendees presents distinct challenges. In the virtual environment, every detail needs to be reconsidered, from the flow of the agenda to education formats, marketing and more. Even as in-person events return, it’s important to consider welcoming virtual...

Jonathan Howe discusses the latest legal issues facing meeting planners. Can meeting planners require attendees to be vaccinated? And what privacy issues does this raise? These are among the thorny questions that meeting professionals have to consider as they plan safe in-person events. Jonathan Howe, president and founding partner of Howe & Hutton Ltd., and the leading legal mind on meetings...

Bizly's Kevin Iwamoto discusses why now is the time for meeting professionals to speak out. Last week, a gunman killed eight people in Atlanta, six of whom were Asian-Americans, but this was not an isolated incident; according to the nonprofit organization Stop AAPI Hate, nearly 3,800 incidents of violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported over the past...

Brightcove’s David Bornstein discusses how they’re helping to transform the cultural event into must-watch TV.   In normal years, the month of March means people are about to flock in droves to Austin, Texas — home to South by Southwest. The gathering has become an increasingly high-profile cultural event, a conglomeration of an interactive media and tech conference with a c...

Meetings consultant Liz Warwick discusses the EIC’s Code of Conduct and how attendees play a part in creating a safe event.   A safe gathering during the pandemic and beyond now requires everyone to take some responsibility in reducing health risks – attendees included. More than ever, actions taken by individual attendees — to follow social-distancing protocols, to wear mas...

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 likel...

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&r...