Digital Tools Aren't Always Better — Meetings Innovation Report

As part of our revamped meetings coverage, we're going to be taking a look at how technology trends are influencing meeting planners, events, and venues around the world.

Today we examine the way electronic request-for-proposal tools haven't totally changed up how planners find venues and venues match up with the right event. There's no perfect solution that suits both sides of the equation, although better automation and curation will help going forward.

We'll take a much deeper look at these issues in 2018, but enjoy this little taste for now.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Business Travel Editor

The Future of Meetings

Electronic Requests for Proposals Have Created a Mess for Many: Hailed as a panacea to streamline the bidding process that would make venues and meeting planners more productive, electronic requests for proposals still have a long way to go.

Meetings and Event Headlines

Trump’s Third Travel Ban Goes Into Effect Despite Pending Lawsuits: The revised version of the travel ban goes into effect, for now. Pending lawsuits mean there is still a chance the Supreme Court will strike down the restrictions.

Expedia Brings Meetings and Incentive Booking Tool to U.S.: Speeding up the request for proposals process has become an industry-wide focus, and Expedia is adding an attractive tool for its hotel partners. It'll be interesting to see which solutions win out.

Industry Trends

PCMA Names New CEO: A new CEO has been promoted from within as longtime chief executive Deborah Sexton steps aside at the Professional Convention Management Association. This move has been brewing for some time, as the organization gears up for a wider international focus.

Lack of Female Speakers at CES 2018 Is Atrocious: It's ludicrous that a conference with the scope and reach of the Consumer Electronics Show can't find any women to keynote the event. The organization's stringent requirements simply expose the ways that pervasive sexism cuts across the global technology industry.

The Brains Behind C2: Jean-Francois Bouchard talks about how ridiculously boring conferences led him down a path of innovation.

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Skift Business Travel Editor Andrew Sheivachman [as@skift.com] curates the Skift Meetings Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday.

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