There may be nothing more dismaying for a meeting planner than looking out at a half-empty ballroom while the closing keynote speaker takes the stage. Where did everybody go? Especially now, when attendees are not only busier than ever but have a...

Elizabeth Pinkham of SalesforceDreamforce, the legendary Salesforce user conference, drew more than 172,000 registered participants to its headquarters city in September (plus some 11 million online viewers). “We took over San Francisco, includin...

A new conference, SenseUP!, a Summit on the Power of Sensory Marketing, debuts next spring in the marketing and events arena. Its focus is “sensory marketing”—that is, awakening and using all the senses to meet an organization...

In 2013, we conducted a survey in partnership with our friends at Tagoras. One hundred and twenty conference/education professionals responded to the question “Does your organization re-write any of its speaker session submissions (e.g...

Social media users tend to fall in one of two camps: Those who love it when their friends post pictures of their meals, and those whose friends don’t know how to take good food pictures. Okay, I jest. Social media—and, in this case, Instag...

You know if you have it. You know if someone else has it. And, you know if some places and things have it. In the world of style, you either have it, or, you don’t. Many of you may have been told that your meeting and events are different...

Her version of Stevie Wonder's Superstition won Lauren Blocker the grand prize at a talent show held during IMEX America this year.One of the things I really enjoyed at Cvent Connect this year was that they used homegrown talent—the company’s own...

Formed in 2009 to keep telling the story about meetings—that they create personal connections, drive positive business outcomes, and build strong communities—the Meetings Mean Business coalition recently announced a change in...

I’ve seen some really cool meeting technology demos and pitches lately, both as a judge in the Event Tech of the Year contest and as an observer at the IMEXPitch, but one new device that really knocks my socks off is an amazing little device call...