Meetings and Events Industry News

These four destinations represent the highest concentration of international association headquarters. So the partnership has the opportunity to evolve into a true platform for sharing knowledge on global association meeting trends with the rest of the industry, and not just sales leads among themselves.

For meeting planners, adopting an attendee-first mindset is the most important factor. optimizing attendee experience

Getting the right site is what separates smart meeting planners, those who know when to book, from the rest. How do they do it? They look at the “shoulder” seasons – the times in between a destination’s peak demand.

While there are many issues prohibiting meeting attendees from booking Airbnb, the amount of those who do will skyrocket as more people understand the opportunities for local travel experiences and inherent cost savings. Affordable sharing accommodations also help people attend educational association events who otherwise might not be able to afford to participate.

Macau is an example of an emerging meetings destination that will see U.S. market growth on the backs of its U.S. hotel partners like Sheraton and St. Regis, but the challenges are significant due to the region's reputation as the "Las Vegas of the East."

As the next generation of meeting planners rises in the work place, hotels and event venues need to better understand their behaviors to close more group business.

Since Meetings Mean Business launched in January 2014 with industry-wide representation (except for the airlines), the coalition has become a valuable resource for industry research. The next phase includes getting non-industry CEOs to advocate for the value of meetings, finally ending the millennial conversation, and partnering with new tech and sharing companies.

Visit Detroit created a lineup of educational tours for the ASAE Convention that provided both professional development opportunities and immersive travel experiences for the attendees.

This is the first time a convention bureau has launched an official website promoting a destination's intellectual software ahead of its infrastructure hardware.

This survey is the first real evidence that North America is catching up with the trend in Europe to align destination marketing with knowledge leaders in the destination.