Meetings Today Podcast

Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson talked with Julie Brackenbury, president of Event Service Professionals Association and director of destination services for Visit Raleigh, about what role event services will play as we reboot the meetings industry.

In this Meetings Today Podcast recorded in March, Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson talks with Julius Solaris, the founder of EventMB who just joined Swapcard as its head of engagement. Always a leading meetings and events industry thinker, Solaris shares his take on the confusing “new normal” we’re all in, as well as recent findings from a meeting planner survey he conducted and how the mix of virt...

Featured guest: Tammy Dickerson, CMP, President & Lead Planner, tbg Events How can we lead with excellence during times of great uncertainty and change? Tenacious powerhouse entrepreneur Tammy Dickerson, President & Lead Planner at tbg Events, discusses how being your own biggest cheerleader, putting people first, and taking care of yourself are all important actions to implement when cata...

Danielle LeBreck and Jill Vance, director of sales for The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, discuss how to weave wellness into meeting agendas. Listen for more. *Created in partnership with The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel

ESPA’s Paola Bowman, destination services manager for the Arlington CVB, and Jamie Huckleberry, director, event services for Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center, talk with Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson about how the convention services manager association’s COVID-19 Services Recovery Roadmap can apply to meeting planners, and of the impact the pandemic has had on event and conventio...

Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson talks with Cvent Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Smith about the meetings tech giant’s new hybrid meeting solution, Virtual Attendee Hub, how the company has fared during the pandemic, and what he and others at Cvent see as positive signs for an industry recovery from the COVID calamity. Listen Now. Access another Meetings Today podcast abo...

When the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, companies will be eager to reward their employees with unforgettable incentive programs. Australia has always fit the bill for wow-worthy trips—and there’s plenty more incredible experiences waiting for North American-based attendees, from dinners under the stars at Ulu r u to life-changing expeditions over the Great Barrier Reef. To learn more about the cu...

In this Meetings Today Podcast, David Meerman Scott and Michelle Manafy, co-authors of Standout Virtual Events: How to Create an Experience That Your Audience Will Love , explain the basics of virtual platforms and which ones may be the best fit for you.

Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson chats with Maribel Denner, director of sales marketing for the JW Marriott Anaheim Resort, and Junior Tauvaa, chief sales officer for Visit Anaheim, about the impressive new JW and how it will add a tech-forward luxury hotel offering to a city that is seeing its meetings and conventions product grow by leaps and bounds in recent years. Listen now.

Learn about contact tracing at meetings and events and how planners can limit the impact of COVID-19 on their program. And what do you do if someone tests positive? Listen for more.

In this Meetings Today podcast, Danielle LeBreck sits down with Caesars Entertainment and ConferenceDirect, who collaborated together to design ConferenceDirect's annual partner meeting at the new CAESARS FORUM in Las Vegas. Listen to learn about their hybrid approach, how F&B was modified and more.

The new Grand Hyatt Nashville is adding a luxury hotel with ample meeting space to Music City, which has been on a torrid development pace over the past few years. Read more.

Meetings Today catches up with Kylie Brajak of Australia’s Crystalbrook Collection to learn more about new properties in Cairns, incentive options in Queensland and more in this podcast. *This podcast was created in partnership with Business Events Australia. Note: Read Australia Next , the newly launched magazine for North American planners from Business Events Australia.  See photos and rea...

Kevin Dana of CORT Events highlights key design trends and how the pandemic is changing meeting space designs for live meetings. Learn more.

Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin massively revamped its operating procedures to host the Major League Soccer bubble, from accommodations and equipment to F&B. Here’s how three key staff members handled it. Read more.

Michael Dominguez, CEO of ALHI (Associated Luxury Hotels International), brought meeting planners to the Omni Dallas Hotel for a one-day showcase of what their events may look like after the industry awakens from its COVID-19 slumber. 

Top Cvent execs Brian Ludwig and David Quattrone talk with Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson about how the meetings tech giant pivoted to virtual for its big annual conference and is expecting 40,000 attendees. Also, discover their predictions about the direction of the meetings industry.

Buffets? Gone. And don’t even think about a donut wall! The meetings F&B environment has been disrupted flatter than a collapsed souffle, but that doesn’t mean you need to let the air out of your culinary programs. Tracy Stuckrath, owner of thrive! meetings & events , is the foremost expert on food allergies in the meetings and conventions environment, and has extended her knowledge to ope...

Furloughs. Layoffs. An economy-crippling pandemic with seemingly no end in sight. Who could’ve predicted the tumult that would enter our lives in 2020? In troubling times such as these, maintaining one’s sanity can often seem like the most important job of all. Mindfulness speaker, trainer and author Lee Papa, a leading wellness expert on the meetings and conventions circuit and beyond, is well-ve...

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, legal issues in the meetings industry primarily centered around cancellation, attrition and what became the moving target of force majeure. Now, with face-to-face meetings taking baby steps to resuming, meeting and event planners need to cover their organizations and ensure the safety of attendees by including key contract clauses in an environment that l...

Business development expert and speaker Scott Steinberg shares some positive survey results regarding planner optimism about a face-to-face meetings revival by the end of 2020, with a few caveats thrown in, of course. Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson interviewed Steinberg about some of the statistics he’s crunched to come to his conclusions, and also how the meetings industry will be fundamentally...

June 4, 2020, marks the day when Las Vegas awakens from its coronavirus shutdown slumber, with major casino-resorts reopening their doors at least for leisure travelers. Caesars Entertainment is joining the party by reopening its Caesars Palace and Flamingo properties , with more set to join them shortly. Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson caught up with Michael Massari, chief sales officer for Caesa...

Outspoken Orlando hotel icon Harris Rosen believes constant guest and staff screening is critical to getting the meetings industry out of its deep depression. Hear what the firebrand independent hotelier told Vice President Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a coronavirus hospitality industry roundtable at his Rosen Shingle Creek property. In this Meetings Today Podcast, Tyler Davidson engaged...

Meeting venues like the Javits Center have been pulled into service as field hospitals and other spaces for healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jim Henry, healthcare sector leader at CallisonRTKL, walks us through what it takes to transform hospitality and meeting spaces into sophisticated healthcare facilities.

What will the meetings and events F&B experience look like after the COVID-19 shutdown ends? Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson sat down with Mary Cline, regional director, catering sales-East Coast for Wolfgang Puck Catering to get an idea of what the meetings cuisine scene will look like when we all start meeting face-to-face again.