The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened in March in Tampa, Fla., “Hard Rock — style,” with the smashing of a guitar, Flying Elvi skydivers in Elvis costumes, and a concert by Hootie and the Blowfish. The opening weekend festivities gave...

Once again, travel incentives got high marks from incentive winners in a survey, this one done by Maritz Travel Co. Of 2,100 employees who participated in company-sponsored travel incentive programs, 89 percent said they had kept the travel...

The summer's big meeting-industry networking events both convene in Colorado in July, starting with the Convention Industry Council's 2004 Certified Meeting Professional Conclave July 8 to 10 at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. The...

When it's time to expand an organization's horizons — literally — and hold a meeting outside the United States, there is no need for a meeting planner to panic. While there are numerous issues unique to international contracts, many familiar...

AS THE MOVERS and shakers of the world continue to move and shake, the Baby Boomer generation is concentrating on remaining as motionless as possible. Those of us in the B2 Generation are concentrating on the next big adventure in life…retirement...

AT A RECENT MEETING I ATTENDED, people were so unhappy with the keynote speakers and some of the sessions that attendance was painfully lean on the last day. On the shuttle ride to the airport, that was all people were talking about...

Argentina native Haydee Pampel likes taking groups to her homeland, especially Buenos Aires. She has planned a number of medical meetings and pharmaceutical programs, bringing attendees from South and North American locations to the European...

IT'S NOT OFTEN that you find two major, highly competitive hotel chains complimenting one another on a business initiative. Unless, of course, that initiative makes so much sense that those chains' execs think it could — and should — become an...

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WHAT DO COPIERS, ELECTRICITY, AND OFFICE SUPPLIES have in common with meeting services? Some major corporations are purchasing all these things, and more, using a reverse auction process. This efficient, but somewhat contentious, sourcing strategy...