Meetings Today Podcast

Meetings Today Vice President & Chief Content Director Tyler Davidson sat down with Amy Kramer, innovation leader, and Aaron Dorsey, vice president of product management, for Maritz at IMEX America 2023 to get their take on how AI will transform the meetings industry, as well as other tech trends business event planners should have on their radar.

During IMEX’s Smart Monday powered by MPI, SITE Chief Marketing Officer Padraic Gilligan took to the stage to moderate a panel discussion breaking down the data. We caught up with Gilligan after the panel to learn more about this new report from SITE and to find out more about where the meetings and events industry is headed.

Greater Phoenix is on a growth spurt that is welcoming new industries into the Valley of the Sun, with a robust tech sector in particular leading the way. Deborah Lahti, director of resort and hotel sales for Visit Phoenix, shares how the fifth-largest city in the U.S. is continuing to expand, with spectacular new hotels and resorts and improvements to traditional favorites transforming its meetings and events offering. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson sat down with Lahti to discover more about the impressive new resorts coming online and also learn about some of the top offsite event venue options in Greater Phoenix.

Gaming and hospitality giant Caesars Entertainment is upping its wellness ante via a new Wellness Menu that not only offers healthy food and beverage options for its meetings and events clients, but also selections such as wellness speakers, activities and services. Caesars Entertainment Vice President Catering and Convention Services Las Vegas Don Ross delves into the new wellness initiative as well as some of the big trends he's seeing in meetings and events food and beverage.

Attendees at IMEX America are in for a special treat in the form of the Google Xi CoLaboratory, where the tech giant is teaming up with other exhibitors and speakers to stage sessions and spaces focusing on experience design and inclusion. Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson spoke with Kate Walsh, Megan Henshall and Naomi Clare Crellin to discover what Hello! Destination Management, Google and Storycraft Lab are cooking up in concert with other collaborators such as Marriott and Maritz on the exhibit floor at IMEX America 2023, and how the message they are delivering resonates beyond the annual event.

Meetings industry veteran Eric Rozenberg is one of the foremost experts on international business events, having served as chair of MPI's International Board of Directors and by running his own business serving a global clientele. Rozenberg is also an author of business books and a speaker and instructor on the topic of entrepreneurship, especially in the meetings and events industry. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson caught up with Rozenberg to talk about the state of international meetings as well as his work with Dr. Lalia Rach, who leads ALHI Strategic Consulting Services, where he helps business owners navigate their journey in starting and running businesses.

From a spectacular new 976-room Signia by Hilton headquarters hotel rising from the site of the former Georgia Dome to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Centennial Olympic Park and the Georgia World Congress Center itself, Atlanta's 200-acre Georgia World Congress Center Campus--the largest combined convention, sports and entertainment campus in North America--is a meetings and conventions powerhouse. Beyond Atlanta, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) is also busy with a massive expansion to the Savannah Convention Center that will transform that storied coastal Georgia destination in terms of its conventions offering. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson sat down with Jennifer LeMaster, chief administrative officer of the GWCCA, during ASAE's Annual Meeting & Exposition to discuss the new facilities and major expansions throughout the "Championship Campus" and beyond.

EventMobi recently acquired virtual events platform Run the World, which held an astonishing 50,000 virtual events during the pandemic for heavy hitters such as Forbes, Meta, Amazon, the United Nations Development Programme and Harvard University. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson sat down with event management software company EventMobi founder and CEO Bob Vaez to explore the benefits of the acquisition as face-to-face meetings have rebounded post-pandemic, as well as his take on some of the major meetings and events technology issues impacting the industry. Hear why EventMobi is upping its hybrid meetings offering, and why you should continue to explore both standalone virtual events as well as meetings that combine virtual with in-person.

Omni Hotels & Resorts has embarked on its first brand refresh in more than a decade, coinciding with an impressive growth phase that figures convention hotels large in the equation. Dan Surette, chief sales officer for Omni Hotels & Resorts, explains how the privately owned hotel company is placing a premium on the customer by working with global experience transformation company Materials Plus on a $1 million project to create two signature employee training programs that focus on personalization.

The meetings industry is losing a vast reservoir of institutional knowledge with the retirement of Christine "Shimo" Shimasaki, whose most recent position was managing director of 2SYNERGIZE, a Simpleview consulting company specializing on delivering intelligence to DMOs. Meetings Today's Tyler Davidson caught up with Shimo shortly after the retirement announcement to discuss her 40 years in the meetings and hospitality industry, advice for those just starting out, as well as her post-career plans.