News
Nov 04, 2019
Imagine chartering a plane to your event destination. You get to choose the plane size, configuration, even food and beverage service. Picture your attendees’ excitement at this extra-special treatment.
Freespeed Aviation serves as an agent in obtaining air charter services. The company sources its aircraft from 3 different charter operator platforms, utilizing a fleet of jets from qualified and carefully selected FAA and EASA Certified Air Carriers. This includes thousands of jets and turboprops that may not normally be based at your local airport, but can be made available for your special… more
Nov 01, 2019
Following an insightful session on leadership at IMEX, I was surprised to see a woman in a white doctor’s coat enter the room. “Everyone, stand up!” she said. Oh, great, I thought to myself — is this going to be one of those awkward, “go introduce yourself to someone new” activities? It turned out to be something much more fun.
Sarah Routman, founder of the company Laugh Healthy and a self-proclaimed “laugh doctor,” proceeded to lead our group in a new-to-me kind of exercise: laughter yoga. We practiced forced laughter, pretended to toss an imaginary laughing emoji up in the air, focused on… more
Oct 31, 2019
In 2018, the United States recorded 340 mass shootings and 108 natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, severe thunderstorms, wildfires and more), making it feel like emergencies are everywhere. Whether emergencies are more prolific than they used to be or not, the reality is event organizers must be ready for an emergency of any type to occur during their event. As such, emergency preparedness has gone well beyond hiring a team of security guards to stand at the door.
Event organizers must be prepared to keep their participants safe both inside and outside of the event. They… more
Oct 30, 2019
Have you ever hired a photographer for an event and wound up with very few photos you could actually use? Event photography is an important component of capturing the event, but often it’s something that planners don’t spend much time on aside from sourcing a photographer.
Professional photographer Chris Savas, who owns and operates Chris Savas Photography in the Atlanta area, has been in the business for more than 30 years. He worked as a photojournalist and in advertising for over a decade before switching his specialty to corporate meetings and events. We spoke with Savas about industry… more
Oct 29, 2019
Rich in history, tradition and culture, Scotland is an easy-to-reach, yet often new destination for meeting attendees. The number of direct flights from the U.S. east coast has grown significantly over the past several years, and many major European cities offer connections to Scotland’s five international airports.
There’s a lot more to the country than golf, Scotch whisky, bagpipes, sheep and haggis (a boiled Scottish dish made from sheep offal, onion, oatmeal and other ingredients), although all of those are plentiful.
“Scotland offers historic cities, castles, distillery tasting… more
Oct 25, 2019
You’ve been working on this event for months — years, maybe — and your anxiety is through the roof as it approaches. You know that you can’t control every aspect of your event, and something, however minor, is bound to go wrong.
Stress and anxiety manifest in many different ways, such as sweating, a racing heart, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, insomnia … the list goes on. But when you anticipate what’s to come and approach your event with a sense of calm, feeling collected and in control, you’ll prepare yourself to better handle any situation that comes your way.
In a… more
Oct 24, 2019
More than half of exhibiting companies don’t provide training for their exhibit staff, and as many as 86 percent of staffers have never received even one hour of training, according to trade show industry studies conducted by CEIR and Exhibit Surveys Inc., respectively.
To address this disconnect, trade show marketing expert and author Marlys Arnold has launched Exhibit Marketers Academy, an online library of comprehensive trade show training classes. Designed specifically for exhibitors, these courses can be accessed anytime and anywhere from one’s tablet, smartphone or computer. … more
Oct 23, 2019
We’re all born curious – we came into the world with innate fascination and a desire to explore and experiment. As we get older and our lives are more structured, our creative self often takes a back seat to other life priorities.
As marketing professionals, we strive to be innovative, but the creative process is often mired in organizational layers. This reality is reflected in the views of many CEOs, who in a recent survey called out key barriers to creativity and innovation: no time to think, competing definitions of innovation and creativity, high risk aversion, no/low consumer insight… more
Oct 21, 2019
I first met Connie Luc when one of my former interns referred her for an internship in the Sybase events department, back in 2005. I hired her for the summer, and she was one of the most organized people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. As it turns out, that internship helped her decide that she wanted to pursue a career in events.
Luc was only in the Bay Area for school (she attended U.C. Berkeley), and didn’t stay long before moving back down to Los Angeles, where she quickly found employment at City National Bank. She had interned there for three summers and they were eager to… more
Oct 18, 2019
If you’re meeting in autumn and looking for a spot that’s a beautiful as it is functional, consider one of these eight properties around the country where fiery shades of red, gold and orange take center stage this time of year.
Cambria Hotel Downtown Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina
Located in the heart of downtown Asheville, a prime leaf-peeping destination in the South, this hotel has 8,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including a venue that opens to a terrace on the fourth floor. Attendees may want to add on a few days before or after a meeting to drive through the Blue… more
Partner Voices
One of the most iconic names on the Las Vegas Strip just got an upgrade. Mandalay Bay has everything that your business needs from a refreshed convention space designed to inspire productivity and creativity, to an impressive selection of world-class restaurants and amenities. If you're looking for a venue that's both inviting and innovative, you have to be here.
New Wave Experiences
Mandalay Bay continues to invest in a new wave of enhancements both in the convention space and within the resort as a whole. New restaurant openings including Orla by Michael Mina, more