Meetings Today Podcast

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is a centrally located meetings mecca with lures ranging from big-city attractions such as world-class museums to charming small towns with only-in-Texas appeal, to suburban communities filled with facilities that are purpose-built for large meetings and events. Plano is a Metroplex city that offers a little bit of it all, and also boasts close proximity both of the region’s major airports as well as downtown Dallas. Meetings Today sat down with Visit Plano’s Marisa Obando, SMERF and Government sales manager for the DMO, to discover why Plano could be a good fit for a wide range of meetings across many segments.

Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson sat down with Encore's Cathy Schlosberg, senior VP of marketing, and Amanda Armstrong, SVP of Brand & Community Engagement, on how meetings technology from in-person to hybrid has undergone a radical transformation because of the pandemic. Discover the latest stats from this essential meetings and events player, and why it is bullish on the vitality of all meetings as a more-remote workforce becomes an increasing reality.

Meetings industry veteran Maura Gast, executive director of Visit Irving Texas, is one of the most engaged leaders in the business—name a board and chances are she’s been on it! Hear what she has to say about the recovery from the pandemic, in terms of both Irving and the industry as a whole, and key destination updates as major Irving attractions such as Toyota Music Factory rev up to welcome meetings and conventions groups en masse.

May 19, 2022, is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, so we sat down with meetings tech titan Cvent to talk with their new senior product manager for accessibility, Stephen Cutchins, and senior director of product management, Carl Aldrich, to discuss the strides and challenges the meetings and events industry has experienced in ensuring everyone is included. Learn about cutting-edge accessibility tech from Cvent and beyond, and how our industry and world is rapidly changing for the better by including more voices in the conversation.

Meetings Today catches up on the latest events and development news in Milwaukee with Leslie Johnson, vice president of sales and services for VISIT Milwaukee. We discuss the highly anticipated Wisconsin Center expansion, what the city's various entertainment districts can offer groups, and new hotel openings on the horizon.  *Produced in collaboration with VISIT Milwaukee

Garrett Ronan, U.S. chief operations officer for etc.venues, talks about post-pandemic meetings and conference center trends and the company's potential expansion plans in the U.S. after opening two New York City venues shortly before COVID-19 roiled the industry.

What does it take to put on an event like the Super Bowl? Darren Green, Chief Sales Officer for LA Tourism, joins Meetings Today to share how his team worked with L.A. hospitality partners and the NFL to host Super Bowl LVI and its surrounding events. We also discuss new developments in L.A. that meeting planners should know about and big events coming to town in the next few years.

Meetings industry veteran Christine “Shimo” Shimasaki, of Simpleview's 2Synergize, is privy to booking pace data from hundreds of DMOs. Here's her well-informed take on where the meetings industry is regarding the return to in-person events, and how data-driven strategic decisions are the key to its future.

Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson sat down with PCMA leader Sherrif Karamat and DI leader Don Welsh to discuss the organization's upcoming Business Events Industry Week, current in-person meetings trends and the associations' stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It’s no secret that the hospitality industry faces a challenge attracting the next generation of talent. In fact, it’s a major topic of discussion among its leaders. In this Meetings Today Podcast, recorded at PCMA’s Convening Leaders, EIC CEO Amy Calvert tackles the subject of the hospitality industry talent pipeline, as well as a major revamp of the EIC’s CMP program.