Apr 26, 2021
Want to see the progression of corporate events in the past six months? Just track what LeAnn Koenig, vice operations of operations at Vertical Xchange, has experienced.
Primarily an organizer of boutique events across myriad industries, Koenig was hosting groups during the pandemic as early as last September. As you might expect, the audience was split about 50-50 between in-person and virtual. The ratio has gradually tilted more toward face-to-face, reaching 90% for Vertical Xchange’s Row Corp Exchange at The Westin Cape Coral Resort in Cape Coral, Florida, in January. In March, the… more
Apr 20, 2021
Ryan Costello, founder of Event Farm, has made a career off of bringing people together since graduating from Georgetown University. In more than 18 years as an event producer and experiential marketer, Costello has assisted the likes of Nike, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Adobe and JP Morgan Chase execute thousands of event experiences around the world.
Needless to say, he is eager to get back to business as usual. But Costello is concerned about how the industry revives itself. “There is this kind of pressure to hurry up and get back,” said Costello, whose company, Event Farm, was acquired by… more
Apr 14, 2021
For event professionals who are passionate about sustainability, this past year has raised some concerns about the future of green events. As the trade show and meetings industry begins to recover, and with event budgets tighter than ever, will anyone care enough about sustainability to help the cause or will green practices end up on the bottom rung of importance? And with many events using chemical cleaning agents to keep participants safe from possible virus spread, how do eco-minded event planners reconcile this not-always-green operating procedure with creating an environmentally… more
Apr 09, 2021
Soon after founding Meetaway three years ago, Scott Barnett conducted research for how his platform could work best for conferences. All it took was one question, asked pre-COVID: What is your favorite part of an event? About 90% of respondents cited one-on-one hallway meetings — impromptu or pre-planned.
“There’s something magical about that one-on-one conversation,” said Barnett, who has built his product to “take that magic moment and run an entire networking session around that.”
Flash forward to the past 12 months, when many attendees and exhibitors have cursed their virtual… more
Apr 01, 2021
There is more than one way to run a virtual event. Likewise, there are significant different objectives. Finding the right technological partner is crucial to securing the desired outcome. Here, we look at how two vastly different organizations — Connect and The Mars Society —have much to be proud of despite their paths.
Connect Cyber
Connect is a business-to-business operation geared to develop business relationships between meeting planners and hosts ranging from CVBs to hotels, convention centers and other venues. Unlike many companies, Connect kept its flagship conference in-person in… more
Mar 26, 2021
Marriott International turned event planners into willing lab rats this January at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center outside of Denver. More than 100 of the attendees were on-site at the massive property while another 800 were digital. Knowing that more than 50% of those attendees were meeting and event professionals planning to host a hybrid event within the next six to 12 months, Marriott hoped to show a way forward while gaining insight into how it could serve the new era of events.
The results, which surely will be modified as the industry learns more, are the centerpiece… more
Mar 22, 2021
Do you have Zoom fatigue? Haute Dokimazo CEO Liz Lathan and President Nicole Osibodu are willing to bet you’ll never get tired of a virtual shark dive. In the first of four virtual events known collectively as Convo 2021, the two event virtuosos sent nearly 80 sales and marketing executives jaws to jaws with, well, Jaws, from the comforts of their own home.
While it seems like a deep-sea adventure that only the wildly creative Haute Dokimazo team could imagine, Lathan and Osibodu note that event planners have the capability to create memorable experiences — whether attendees are together in-… more
Feb 22, 2021
Perhaps a lost fact in the pandemic is that large groups are indeed gathering at one site with a common goal—the very definition of what a corporate event should be. Naturally, it would take experienced event producers to see the potential for enhancing the shared experience of getting stuck with a hypodermic needle.
“We are going in with a mindset of when they arrive, how do you ease them through it?” said Mimi Eayrs, chief operating officer of JWP, a boutique event and fundraising agency founded by Josh Wood that is in talks to energize vaccine centers across the county. “We want to make… more
Feb 10, 2021
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then the love companies feel for their employees working remotely must be at all-time high as we approach the first Valentine’s Day of the pandemic era.
Given that the recovery isn’t going quite as fast as we would like, a little prick from Cupid’s arrow can go a long way right now. It doesn’t take much to show appreciation to staff adapting to a new reality that very likely includes kids homeschooling and Zoom burnout.
While there is certainly more than one way to show the love this year, here are a few choice ideas for V-day gifts to help sweeten… more
Feb 08, 2021
How do you guarantee a new experience for your next meeting? Book at a hotel that is not even open yet.
That’s what Sandra Geiger, a global account executive with ConferenceDirect, opted for when planning an Alabama association’s annual membership meeting.
The June 2021 event will be held at Hotel Effie in Destin, Florida. The boutique property opened its doors the first week of February.
From all accounts, the hotel appears to be the latest gem along the Emerald Coast. Geiger is certainly counting on it—as she signed the contract without setting foot on the property.
“We have never… more
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