The meetings and events industry is approaching advancing sustainability on multiple fronts.

For example, in the past few weeks the Professional Convention Management Association launched the Convene 4 Climate conference while Marriott International rolled out a new program called Connect Responsibly that provides groups with post-event impact reports.

Organized by Informa Markets with Informa Connect as co-organizer, Connect Marketplace Hong Kong is launching March 19-21, 2025, at AsiaWorld-Expo.

With marketing events becoming ever more important to companies’ customer-acquisition and -relationship efforts, Liz Lathan, CMP saw a need for focused, substantive conversations among the professionals who create those events—not just brief encounters during the big conventions for the wider meeting-planning industry.

Look up “bad-ass event professional” and you’ll likely see a photo of Monique Ruff-Bell next to it. As the chief program and strategy officer for TED, producer of world-renowned TED conferences, Ruff-Bell isn’t afraid to push boundaries and disrupt TED’s winning formula to keep its events compelling, engaging, memorable, inclusive, and always on-trend.  

PCMA and event technology solutions provider Gevme recently rolled out new enhancements to Spark, a generative AI tool built by event professionals for event professionals. Introduced to the global business events community nearly 17 months ago, Spark now boasts more than 9,000 users.

A downtown Las Vegas resort and a mixed-use development in New York City recently announced the completion of a guest room expansion and a new experiential meeting and event space, respectively. 

According to a recent survey, it seems that a lot of corporate meeting planners are juggling more work beyond booking and building out their organizations’ events.

What do corporate event organizers need to know about Orlando, Fla.? 

In October, we spent 72 hours in the Sunshine State to discover what’s new for attendees and exhibitors in the theme park capital of the world, as well to find out what’s trending for meetings and trade shows. 

Here’s what you need to know.  

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past four decades, you’ve likely heard of TED conferences, known for “ideas worth spreading” via talks spanning a cornucopia of inspiring, thought-provoking topics and diverse perspectives delivered by celebrities, thought leaders, and groundbreaking leaders and legends in their respective fields.  

With annual events like Gartner’s IT Symposium/Xpo taking every inch of available space and even building additional temporary structures outside, the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort is set to embark on the largest renovation and expansion in the property’s history, highlighted by the addition of 120,000 square feet of event space to its current meeting and convention floorplan.