Meetings Today Podcast

Non-profit organization CreatiVets helps veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries by teaming them with songwriters to share what are sometimes their most guarded experiences and emotions. Meetings Today got to experience the concept of this musical magic firsthand when it brought in CreatiVets to facilitate the writing of songs about meeting and event planning at its Meetings Today LIVE! South event in Nashville as part of a CSR program. In this Meetings Today Podcast, Vice President & Chief Content Director Tyler Davidson discusses the mission of CreatiVets with Brett Gillan, its program director. Discover how you can help this amazing organization help our veterans through its unique form of music therapy.

Curious about generative AI and its applications in the meetings industry...but didn't know to ask? Meetings technology expert educator Jim Spellos previews his upcoming webinar, "Everything You Need to Know About AI...But Didn't Know to Ask," on this disruptive technology and the benefits and risks of its use. While the ramifications--and possible regulations--regarding generative AI are yet to truly reveal themselves, Spellos will get you up to date on where were at as the adoption curve seems primed to rapidly ascend.

Fresh from participating in Maritz Global Events' Innovation Lab at IMEX Frankfurt, Amy Kramer, innovation leader for the global events leader, discussed the "new language of events," which includes disruptive technology such as NFTs, the Metaverse and generative AI. How close are meeting and event planners to including these new technologies in their programs, and how are younger meeting and event attendees driving the adoption trend. Discover what's around the corner for your events, and how sustainability is still a major concern as in-person and hybrid meetings come charging back and looking much different than ever before. Stay ahead of the curve!

Wolfgang Puck transformed the way Americans thought about cuisine and is the O.G. celebrity chef. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson asked Puck about his journey to become a entrepreneurial cuisine legend, the 25th anniversary of Wolfgang Puck Catering and what he believes his legacy will be. Along the way, the Austrian-born chef dishes out stories about some of the entertainment industry celebrities that frequented his legendary Spago restaurant, how he emerged from the back of the kitchen to become an F&B icon, and the continuing evolution of high-profile events catering.

Leading Asian American inclusivity consultant Jolene Jang discusses the many facets of the Asian American and Pacific Islander culture and the challenges faced by this massive demographic in the meetings and events industry. From assimilation and the complexity and wide scope of the myriad AAPI cultures to safety issues and representation, Jang is a staunch advocate for inclusion. and moving the industry forward. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson engaged Jang to get her take during this podcast discussing the state of AAPI people and cultures in the meetings and events industry as Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month comes to a close.

Meetings Today sat down with Eugene Blabey, director of event planning and operations at Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West Hotel, to discuss the unique ways in which the hotel infuses local culture into its offerings, welcomes guests to a "West of Zen" experience and provides top-tier meeting services through the R.E.N. Meetings program, offering planners opportunities to try something different when they gather their groups at Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West Hotel.

For Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) May 18, Meetings Today sat down with Stephen Cutchins, senior product manager-accessibility at Cvent, to discuss his work around driving accessibility in Cvent's meetings and events technology tools and raising awareness about accessibility across the meetings and events industry. 

As we move through 2023 with the mindset of making meetings and events industry trends a long-term reality, Alicia Jenelle, a multi-hyphenate professional and international experiential design expert from Toronto, shares how to push the DEIB conversation one step forward.

DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion, is an unstoppable force in the meetings and tourism industry and beyond. Meetings Today touched base with two leading DEI proponents, Greg DeShields, executive director of Tourism Diversity Matters, and Sheila Alexander-Reid, executive director diversity for PHL Diversity (a division of the Philadelphia CVB) to get their take on successes as well as the challenges ahead. Also, information about Tourism Diversity Matters' The Collective Experience conference in October 23-24 in Philadelphia, and why the City of Brotherly Love has always been at the forefront of societal change.

As the leader of the association representing major conference centers in Europe and North America, IACC CEO Mark Cooper is in a unique position to gauge the recovery of the segment, which was hit especially hard by the pandemic. How is the conference center segment currently faring? How are corporations using these facilities to gather a workforce that in many respects was scattered to the wind, or evaporated, over the last three years? Is the message of sustainability getting through as we face climate change? Meetings Today touched base with Cooper at IACC's Americas Knowledge Exchange, its renamed annual conference that seeks to strengthen both the bonds of knowledge and integrate an influx of new leaders into the world of that thoroughbred meeting facility, conference centers.