News
Jan 31, 2019
Portland, Ore. is rising to the top of the list for many corporations looking for a new destination for their events.
Known for its coffee shops, doughnuts, microbreweries, Powell’s bookstore and men with beards, Portland is the largest city in the state. It’s also known for its parks, being environmentally friendly and for the “Keep Portland Weird” counterculture, lovingly ridiculed in the sketch-comedy television show “Portlandia.”
In addition, Portland is home to a growing number of technology companies, including tech giant Amazon, which continues to expand its presence within the city… more
Jan 30, 2019
It’s late; you’ve skipped dinner, again; and the hotel mini bar beckons. What will it be: overpriced potato chips, M&Ms, or maybe both? With a little advance planning, you could have prevented the strike of nighttime hunger — and perhaps a multitude of health issues down the road.
While more research is needed on humans to determine whether calories eaten are night are more likely to cause weight gain than the same number of calories consumed during the day (as one study conducted on mice by Northwestern University suggested), there’s no question that making poor eating choices at night… more
Jan 28, 2019
We’ve all been to corporate team building events that brought us closer with colleagues and reinvigorated our teams to work toward our common goals. Then we’ve been to others that fall flat, appearing “lame” or a waste of valuable professional or personal time. When corporations develop team building events, it often falls primarily on the event planner to ensure the experience is positive.
Start with the Basics
Karla Singson, CEO of PREP - PR, Events and Promotions, says effective team building events have three basic ingredients.
“They should be good for fostering teamwork and friendship… more
Jan 25, 2019
The greater Dallas area has a new spot for meetings and conventions: Delta Hotels by Marriott Dallas Allen and Watters Creek Convention Center, which debuted in January. Located 30 minutes north of Dallas and 30 miles from DFW International and Love Field airports, the new facility is the first four-star, full-service hotel and convention center in Allen and one of the largest facilities of its kind in North Texas.
With 90,000 square feet of flexible meeting and convention space, the Watters Creek Convention Center can accommodate gatherings of up to 1,000 attendees. It offers 23 meeting… more
Jan 24, 2019
You know the drill: Touch down in your destination, immediately bring up your Uber app to get a ride to your hotel, set down your suitcase and get right to work. Between site visits, responding to emails, answering incessant phone calls and putting out all the fires that go along with managing a meeting, you barely have time to eat, let alone meditate.
Yet when you’re on the road — perhaps with elevated anxiety levels from the stress of your job, and guilt over missing out on family life for a few days — taking time to pause and hit your own personal reset button can make a big difference in… more
Jan 22, 2019
The events industry is financially healthy — and growing, according to a new report from Eventbrite.
The global ticketing and event technology platform company has released its annual Pulse Report, which aggregates survey data from more than 1,200 event professionals based in the U.S. and Canada. Approximately one third of the participants organize business events.
Katie Sawyer, Eventbrite’s head of content, said the interactive report is designed to help event professionals be more successful.
“The data provides the insights they need to make smart decisions about hiring, budget and… more
Jan 21, 2019
We recently wrote about some of the new developments in Washington D.C. that are making the city even more attractive as an event destination. But with the U.S. government shutdown in effect, which has already stretched longer than any other in history, many event organizers are concerned about how this might impact their meeting programs.
Destination DC has been actively campaigning to let the world know that the city is open for business and ready to welcome both meetings and leisure travelers.
The “DC is Open” campaign was first launched in October 2013, during a previous shutdown, and… more
Jan 18, 2019
We’re already a few weeks into 2019, and if you’re like most people, your New Year’s resolutions to create a better work-life balance may already have gotten pushed to the wayside. Life happens; we get it — not to mention, work-life balance can feel especially out of reach to those in the events industry, where long, irregular hours and frequent “fires” can make you feel like you’re not in control of your time.
Yet there are ways to gain back that control and make this the year you finally feel you’re creating a sense of equilibrium in your professional and personal lives. We spoke with work… more
Jan 17, 2019
From black box spaces to renovated castles to cinemas, there are unique and transformative spaces around the globe. This ongoing series of articles highlights a few of the many options available for corporate events.
When people think of transformative, they typically think of a black box, or an empty warehouse. But the broader definition of transformative is “to cause a marked change in someone or something.” When planners are looking for a unique venue, one of the objectives is that it must provide a memorable experience for attendees — one that will live on when the event is long past.… more
Jan 15, 2019
PSAV is known by many planners as the in-house or preferred audio-visual provider at leading venues across the nation. In fact, PSAV has a presence in nearly 1,600 locations within 10 different countries.
The production, creative, technology and staging services company was acquired by investment firm Blackstone in August 2018 and will soon become even larger with the acquisition of Encore Event Technologies.
Encore Event Technologies, a global provider of event technology, staging and production services, was formed in 2014 when The Freeman Company merged acquisitions made respectively in… more
Partner Voices
Just when it seems like Las Vegas can’t get any bigger, brighter or more exciting for groups, MGM Resorts raises the bar again. The company continues to invest and innovate across its portfolio of Las Vegas resorts, with new attractions and upgraded experiences for attendees of all interests.
Remodeled Guest Rooms
MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with over 5,000 guest rooms and an 850,000-square-foot conference center. It is home to the newly remodeled MGM Grand Studio Tower—700 reimagined guest rooms with a fun mid-century vibe. Nearby, the iconic New York-New York Las more