As the world faces the growing coronavirus pandemic, many of us are experiencing anxiety and fear about uncertain futures, financial hardships, and protecting ourselves and our loved ones. 

The news cycle the past few weeks has been nearly non-stop about coronavirus (COVID-19), and it seems like the virus is the only thing people are talking about right now. The global outbreak of this virus, and the uncertainty behind how it’s being spread, is disruptive and frightening, and can lead to feelings that the world is less secure or somehow out of control.

Much like social media, podcasts are increasingly becoming a great medium for sharing news, information, tips and best practices in the trade show and events industry. And their popularity is growing. According to Edison Research and Nielsen, there are more than 700,000 active podcasts and more than 29 million podcast episodes in existence, including content in more than 100 languages.

As shown by recent experiential marketing studies, people are craving more human-to-human experiences at events, which for event organizers means shaking things up.

The new EIC Knowledge Hub from Events Industry Council is an online learning platform for event professionals designed to be a go-to source for the latest education, best practices, courses and trends. Besides allowing users to access the organization’s extensive education archive, the new hub complements EIC’s other educational resources, including webinars, industry research and live events.

Coronavirus is all over the news: Airlines are reducing flights to China or grounding flights coming from Wuhan (where the virus originated); Asia trade shows are being postponed; and on Jan. 30, the World Health Organization officially declared the virus outbreak a global health emergency.

The Corporate Event News team has curated a short list of upcoming U.S.-based events that we think every corporate event professional should consider attending.

Ask anyone involved in the green events movement if they’re finding it challenging to move the needle forward on sustainability and you’ll probably see a row of hands, including those of Ryan Harvey, sustainability manager at Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. A former educator, Harvey understands the perfect balance of relaying key facts while making them interesting and easily digestible, a skill he brought with him when he stepped into his role at the OCC almost three years ago.

We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons, surrounded by family and friends. Our team will be taking some time off to enjoy our holidays as well, but will be back the week of December 30 (with the exception of New Year's Day) with our regular lineup of articles. 

Our next weekly enewsletter will go out on Wednesday, January 8 (if you aren't getting it already, you can subscribe here).

The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA) has announced its new board members for 2020.  The board of directors will drive CEMA’s growth, innovation, diversity and sustainability initiatives in the coming year.

2020 CEMA Board Members