BRUCE BOLGER IS A MAN WITH A MISSION: to get people to finally understand incentives. Two years ago, Bolger, president of Selling Communications in Irvington, N.Y., and several incentive industry leaders, in conjunction with Northwestern...

HURRICANE CHARLEY hit Southwest Florida resorts and hotels hard on August 13, particularly around Fort Myers and Sanibel and Captiva islands. While some resorts reopened quickly, others were closed as of this writing, and hoteliers and meeting...

FROM DINNER ON an aircraft carrier to a teambuilding sailboat race in San Diego Bay, the recent Hyatt Insurance & Financial Round Table was an effective example of using local resources to help create a successful event. The meeting, sponsored...

“Americans eat to live, Europeans live to eat.” Until recently, this snipe at our fast-food culture was fairly accurate. But today, growing ranks of ordinary Americans view food in a whole new light. Chefs are stars, organic is in, and diets don't...

Starwood is the latest hotel chain to get on the spa branding bandwagon. The Starwood Spa Collection consists of 30 elite spas around the globe, ranging from the Spa Gaucin at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, Calif., to the AltiraSpa at...

ICPA's own Jim Jones, president, James E. Jones & Associates, was one of six industry pioneers who were inducted into the Convention Industry Council's Hall of Leaders on July 26 in Denver. Jones, who was nominated by ICPA and is the first...

AS READERS OF THIS COLUMN will know, some of the most effective forms of recognition cost little or nothing at all. So it should come as no surprise that the most popular award at Total System Services, a subsidiary of financial services holding...

A stellar group of insurance and financial services executives gathered at the lovely Daufuskie Island Resort in Hilton Head, S.C., August 8 to 12, for the Lynette Owens & Associates Summer Advisory Board. As usual, the meeting mixed great...

All eyes are on the “EU10” — the 10 countries that joined the European Union May 1. Bob Guerriero, president of The Journeymasters, Salem, Mass., reports that he just booked his first group to Prague, and Bill Vastine, executive vice president of...

THE CONVENTION INDUSTRY Council's APEX project continues to roll along, establishing best practices and industry benchmarks for meeting management. Two new preliminary reports are online and awaiting industry comment: one on requests for proposals...