The Misguided Relationship Between Planners and Virtual-Event Tech

Event planners continue to seek out innovative ways to ensure their meetings are sustainably run. That’s particularly important for a destination like Monterey, Calif. With beloved sites including Big Sur, Carmel by the Sea and Pebble Beach, protecting natural surroundings is a vital part of any gathering held here. To understand these efforts, we spoke with Teresa Savage, senior vice president of business operations for See Monterey, the destination’s marketing organization. She discusses how sustainability has been a priority for the organization for decades, but so has evolving with new developments and demands from event planners — ensuring the destination is working with groups to put the most effective eco-friendly efforts into practice. We discuss what’s next for sustainable events and, as Savage puts it, planners can “ensure that all travel paths contribute to a better quality of place and leaving the destination better than it was before.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like almost every business sector, the events industry has been abuzz about AI for months. And the more widely these tools are adopted, the more rapidly they seem to evolve to better meet the needs of meeting planners.   At this exciting but uncertain moment in event tech, we spoke with Huong Nguyen, CEO and president of Shiloh Events who will be moderating a panel at this year’s IMEX on “Leading in the AI Era: Insights and Best Practices.” Here she shares a preview of what will be discussed during the session and shares her own perspective on where AI technology best serves event planners — and where it still may be falling short. To this last point, Nguyen breaks some news about her own efforts to develop an AI program to better meet planners’ needs when it comes to on-site event execution. She also discusses how being based in California’s Bay Area, a hotbed of innovation, has helped fuel these efforts and inspired her and her entrepreneurial efforts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kyle Jordan, chair of LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, discusses inclusivity goals and best practices for business events Join Northstar's Loren Edelstein in a conversation with Kyle Jordan, chair of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, for an update on the nonprofit's efforts and the current state of inclusivity in the business events industry. Planners can do more to create safe spaces and accommodations for underrepresented groups, says Jordan, particularly the LGBTQ+ community. There's a lot of discussion in June for Pride Month, but this issue requires collective action year-round, he adds. Topics covered: New leadership and brand identity for LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (1:00) The need for more inclusive event planning to welcome LGBTQ+ attendees (4:00) Considering discriminatory laws and practices as an important factor in destination selection (6:00) What planners can do to create more inclusive events (7:00) How the travel industry at large needs to be more accommodating (12:00) LGBT MPA's long-term goals (13:45) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it comes to developing creative, out-of-the-box meeting experiences, independent hotels provide a number of appealing options for event planners. In this episode of Eventful, created in partnership with the Caribe Royale Orlando, we delve into the advantages of working with independent properties, by looking in depth at Caribe Royale’s approach to events. We speak with the property’s managing director, Amaury Piedra about how he and his team works with meeting planners to create exceptional events—and how input from meeting planners has shaped new, major upgrades to the property. For a bigger-picture perspective on the value of independent hotels, we also spoke with Michael Dominguez, president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International, which serves as a global sales arm for independent hotels for meetings, incentives and conventions. He shared what he thinks sets independents apart and how planners can leverage their offerings. Listen to the in-depth conversation in our latest episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, and remember to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.This episode was created in partnership with Caribe Royale Orlando.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Attorney Joshua Grimes provides a legal perspective on duty of care, cancellation clauses and more when planning events in states with controversial legislation. Many meeting professionals believe controversial issues like abortion rights are political concerns that have no bearing on their jobs. But that isn't true, says industry attorney Joshua Grimes, Esq., president of Grimes Law Offices, LLC. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Grimes talks with Northstar's Loren Edelstein about the potential risks legislation could pose to meeting organizers and attendees. This timely and important discussion covers: • Why controversial legislation shouldn't be dismissed as "politics" (0.15) • How laws regarding bathroom use, prenatal health care, undocumented immigrants and other concerns can directly affect meetings and attendees (1.00) • Possible workarounds for meeting successfully where such laws exist (3:30) • The effectiveness of nondiscrimination clauses in meeting contracts (5:00) • Duty of care, liability and other legal concerns (9:15) • Weighing the decision to cancel an event (12:00) • Why planners, suppliers and industry associations should be having candid conversations about legislative issues (14:15)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does the future hold for our business and personal lives? Risk-management expert Bruce McIndoe, president of McIndoe Risk Advisory, LLC,  tackles that topic in this enlightening discussion with Northstar’s Loren Edelstein. From weather disasters to robotic companions, here’s what to expect in the years ahead. 1:20 Why meeting planners should anticipate more frequent and intense weather events5:00 How hybrid events provide a number of benefits, among them a good resiliency strategy7:00 Why human resources should be collaborating with meeting and event planners9:20 The growing need for internal meetings as more organizations have remote workforces11:20 Strategies for recognizing and supporting employees with mental health issues15:20 Where and when robots will replace humans in the hospitality industry18:05 How automation will solve the problem of staff shortages21:20 When to expect flying taxis and personal drones to be in wide use22:20 How education will be geared toward gig workers vs. career professionals23:50 The role of companion robots that will support humanoid unitsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Creating an emergency response plan is one of the many responsibilities that fall on an event planner's plate. While they hope to never need to execute it, sometimes disaster strikes mid-meeting. On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Senior Associate Editor Elise Schoening spoke with LaToya Williams, manager of global accounts for HelmsBrice, who was on Turks and Caicos with an incentive group when Hurricane Fiona tore through the Caribbean. The storm cut short the incentive program and forced the group to shelter in place while the worst of the hurricane passed through. The podcast was recorded while Williams was still on the island. In it, she shares her experience of real-time crisis management and offers advice for other meeting planners who find themselves in the midst of an emergency. Since recording, Williams and all 83 attendees have made it home safely.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Salaries have recovered, but the pay gap between women and men has widened. In conjunction with the publications of the 2022 Northstar Meetings Group/Meetingjobs-Cadre Salary Survey, we discuss the findings with Dawn Penfold, president of Meetingjobs.com, in this episode of Eventful, the Podcast for Meeting Professionals. Salaries for planners have recovered from the pandemic, but the pay gap between men and women widened over the past two years. Contemplating this and other statistics from the survey, Penfold adds thoughts on what’s currently happening in the job market and which industry segments are looking for planners.In this episode, we discuss: • The rise in base pay for meeting planners• The pay gap between women and men• How certification affects planner salaries• Planners’ stress levels• How the pandemic affected planners’ jobs• What would make planners happier in their jobs• How hiring continues to shift in the meetings industrySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Mitchell, an integrated marketing and event strategist with a background in the television industry, believes virtual-event tech platforms are scrambling for business now because the entire business model of the past two years was based on false assumptions. Most planners did not want to be digital marketers, he says, which created a bifurcated market for in-person and digital. In this discussion with Northstar Meetings Group executive editor Michael Shapiro, Mitchell explains what he sees as the central disconnect between the tech platforms and meeting planners, the misguided ways in which the technology was targeted over the past two years, and how recent data should make it clear where virtual events can and should still play a significant role. In this wide-ranging discussion in which both Mitchell and Shapiro steadfastly avoid using the 'h' word, Mitchell addresses the need to blend in-person and digital content and reach a target audience despite the challenges. Among his key points: • Virtual event platforms should not have been designed to mimic a planner's in-person event workflow (1:40) • Digital marketers are the real customers of virtual-event technology (4:18) • The events industry's reliance on the hospitality industry creates conflicts of interest with tech (7:04) • We have a bifurcated marketplace, as in-person and virtual events have different value propositions (12:17) • Mitchell predicts which large tech companies will become event-tech game-changers (16:37) • Organizations have to think like media companies in the way they deliver content (21:48) • Different business models will emerge to facilitate in-person and digital audience blending (25:29) Listen to the in-depth conversation in our latest episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, and remember to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President and CEO Paul Van DeVenter discusses how the events industry organization had to find ways to remain viable during the pandemic — lessons that resulted in a new structure and focus. Staying relevant to members was not a problem for MPI over the past two years, according to president and CEO Paul Van DeVenter. More difficult was finding a way to stay financially viable. In this podcast discussion with Northstar’s Sarah J.F. Braley, Van DeVenter describes how the association's structure was redesigned, how pandemic lessons learned are being applied to MPI's in-person events and how to achieve the goals that have been set in the group's five-year plan (among them, bringing the community size to 250,000 people by 2027; having a 40,000-person customer base; bringing in 20 percent of the association's revenue from outside North America; and having more than 20 affiliate partners). The association is now focused on creating a stronger meeting professional community that isn’t solely based on membership. Among Van DeVenters insights are: How Covid underscored the importance of organizations like MPI (1:20) How MPI restructured in order to stay financially viable over the past two years (3:38) Challenges Van DeVenter faced at MPI and as volunteer chair for the Events Industry Council (9:15) How lessons learned during the pandemic are being applied to MPI's in-person events (11:09) How attendee desires have changed (13:24) What associations took away from the pandemic (15:40) Reaching MPI’s 2027 goals (16:35) Bold predictions going forward (19:33)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.