News
Sep 30, 2022
The American Hotel & Lodging Association Foundation (AHLAF) announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps to lure its nationwide talent pool with immediate hotel employment. The alliance is the first of its kind for Job Corps and the hospitality industry at large.
With 130,000 open jobs in hospitality around the country, the partnership will utilize engagement and retention initiatives to help fill the positions with the highly skilled, ready-to-work Job Corps students enrolled in hospitality and related training programs.
The collaboration will provide Job Corps… more
May 25, 2022
Sponsored Exclusively by Visit California
Seventy miles of coastline makes San Diego County a shining destination for lovers of sand and surf. And with all that shore, there’s something for every sort of beach goer. From budding marine biologists to experienced shredders, here are five of the best beaches to please them all. Insider tip: Always stay for sunset to see if you can catch a glimpse of the ephemeral green flash.
Swami’s Beach
The surf culture is strong in Encinitas, a beach community in San Diego’s North County. The city offers plenty of breaks for the catching—Seaside, Pipes,… more
Apr 22, 2022
As the world celebrated Earth Day April 22, event professionals, organizations and venues took stock of the impact their carbon footprint has on climate change, implementing initiatives to be more sustainable. Following are three convention centers that unveiled green initiatives to mark Earth Week.
Javits Center
The rooftop farm at New York City’s Javits Center joined the New York State Grown & Certified program, a statewide effort that identifies local producers who adhere to higher standards in terms of food safety and environmental stewardship. Located more than eight stories above… more
Feb 17, 2022
As the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the event industry from in-person to virtual and hybrid over the past two years, a new challenge emerged: a lack of measurement standards for digital events. Enter global assurance provider BPA Worldwide, which formed a working group of 15 representatives from all segments of the industry to tackle the issue and create the newly launched Reporting Standards for Digital Events (RSDE).
RSDE, a standardized set of 17 data tables and glossary terms, is designed to benefit the entire industry, including event organizers, exhibitors and digital event platform (DEP… more
Feb 10, 2022
Membership renewal is mission-critical to healthy and sustainable growth for associations. But the pandemic and its impact have created new challenges for associations of all sizes.
According to the 2021 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, 47% of associations reported declines in total membership, while 50% have reported that members are most likely not to renew because of a lack of engagement. Enabling meaningful engagement in an increasingly virtual and distraction-laden world is quite a challenge!
Here are some actionable tips to ensure a member-centric engagement plan for 2022… more
Nov 26, 2021
The 2022 Global Meetings and Events Forecast by American Express found that the majority of meeting professionals surveyed believe in-person meeting levels will return to pre-pandemic levels in one to two years.
According to the 11th annual report, produced by American Express Meetings and Events, a division of American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), in-person meetings and events are projected to grow in 2022, with 81% of events expected to have an in-person element. In another indicator of industry growth, 64% of global meeting and event professionals surveyed cited increased budgets… more
Jun 28, 2021
There was a time when the most clearly attributable data to track ROI from an event was the revenue from ticket sales and sponsorships. With the advent of virtual events hosted with the help of cutting edge virtual event platforms[1] [2] , measuring the levels of engagement and impact has become easier than ever. But deriving insights from the data still remains a tough challenge. Here are 5 strategic ways to get actionable reporting from your next virtual event:
Focus on insights: Understanding of data and analytics needs time. If you haven’t already, help your team upskill by enabling… more
Jun 15, 2021
Ask event teams about their high-priority KPIs and good audience engagement is sure to feature in the list. But keeping the audiences engaged in a virtual setup can be hard. Great event teams do a few common things to up their audience engagement game. Here are five of those tips for your next virtual event.
Create an engagement-first agenda: You get the audience engagement you plan for. So, start with creating an agenda that is conducive to driving audience participation. Plan for activities that need audiences to get involved during the event, and not just sit back and listen. Schedule… more
Jun 14, 2021
Previously, personalization meant just addressing customers by their first names (We all have written those emails with Hi {First Name}, :) haven’t we?). Cut to today, times have changed. So has consumer sentiment. Now personalization requires marketers and event professionals to be prepared with as much context on customers’ experiences as possible.
The rapid adoption of Virtual Events has opened the door to new ways of understanding the context and preferences of audiences. Here are 5 lesser-known ways in which you can personalize your next virtual event experience.
Personalize your… more
Jun 09, 2021
Event professionals worldwide have been learning quickly and transforming in-person to virtual events, over the last year and the industry is evolving fast. One of the key challenges event professionals face now though is releasing profits from virtual events - overcoming the challenge requires a new playbook.
A recent report by EventMB suggests that 40% of event professionals have not been able to generate a profit from virtual events. If you are among the 40% or if maximizing virtual event ROI has been a long-standing goal, here are 3 key pillars to take care of at your next event:
1.… more
Partner Voices
Just when it seems like Las Vegas can’t get any bigger, brighter or more exciting for groups, MGM Resorts raises the bar again. The company continues to invest and innovate across its portfolio of Las Vegas resorts, with new attractions and upgraded experiences for attendees of all interests.
Remodeled Guest Rooms
MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with over 5,000 guest rooms and an 850,000-square-foot conference center. It is home to the newly remodeled MGM Grand Studio Tower—700 reimagined guest rooms with a fun mid-century vibe. Nearby, the iconic New York-New York Las more