Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

How can we provide new experiences at meetings? Providing new experiences at meetings can be as simple as this. This universal fear is the reason the meeting industry continues to struggle with incorporating new experiences into events. How to provide valuable new experiences at meetings. Not new F&B, decor, or glitz.

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Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

This year, hotel food and beverage departments as well as catering outlets and F&B in conference and exhibition centers struggled to catch up to post-Covid pent up demand as well as to what is now called “accommodation cuisine.” As meetings went back to in-person settings, health and safety stayed paramount.

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Velvet Chainsaw

MAY 3, 2017

Most conferences are stuck in a rut! So how do you create a conference experience that is not like all the others? Start by considering one or more of these conference big ideas. They are the conference planning road less traveled that harvests success! Big Conference Ideas On The Road Less Traveled Part 1.

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Prestige Events Magazine

AUGUST 27, 2024

The changing dynamics of the workplace and the role of AI in the business meetings and events industry are among the topics being discussed at the miaSummit 2024. MIA chief executive, Kerrin MacPhie, said: “Our flagship annual conference has a pedigree stretching back more than a decade.

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Smart Meetings

JULY 28, 2021

The number of meetings being scheduled now is quickly picking up steam as mask mandates are lifted and people start gathering again, but meeting formats have evolved. With Salamander Hotels & Resorts , a luxury resort management company founded by Sheila Johnson , a Smart Women in Meetings Hall of Fame winner. Ty Brassie.

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Smart Meetings

JUNE 5, 2024

Grand openings and major renovations refresh meeting space in famous international cities All across the world, in some of the most sought-after international cities, come new and renovated hotels and meeting spaces, leaving the stage set for outstanding gatherings, wherever your attendees may be traveling from to get there.

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Eventinterface

AUGUST 20, 2018

Meeting and event planners are now at the forefront of food and beverage trends, providing event attendees with unique gastronomical experiences. Today we share some of the top food and beverage trends shared by planners, venues and caterers around the country. Alternative beverages are hot.

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Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 29, 2016

How your audience responds will have a direct impact on your conference’s brand image and credibility. From a conference design perspective, we believe the current best practice is to bookend your conference by opening with a strong-thought provoking speaker and closing with inspiration. Invest in Professional Speakers.

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Smart Meetings

MARCH 15, 2024

Tsui fills the role of director of food and beverage, bringing over two decades of experience in luxury hospitality. Wells serves as senior catering sales manager, bringing extensive experience in catering, conference services and wedding planning. Dukes is an expert in craft beer, wine and spirits and will serve as mixologist.

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Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

Focusing resources on four primary areas—food, break sessions, the setting and culture—is the most efficient way to harness a health program that boosts attentiveness at your events. Adding early morning running, yoga sessions or Tai Chi classes into conference agendas is becoming the norm. Create a Relaxing Off-Grid Zone.

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Conference Food and Beverage Meetings Hotels 246

Smart Meetings

AUGUST 23, 2024

Accessible, healthy, creative food and the people who order F&B for events took center stage at Smart Meetings Culinary Experience at Paris Las Vegas this week. Meetings & Events founder Tracy Stuckrath kicked off the insights with a primer on not killing or offending your attendees.

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Velvet Chainsaw

MARCH 15, 2023

IStock Photo by cyano66 Before the pandemic, one could argue that jobs with life-and-death consequences were surely more stressful than planning an annual conference. Exhibitors are being more selective about the conferences they will support. Annual conference budgets are usually finalized 12-plus months prior to the event.

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Smart Meetings

JUNE 13, 2024

When you bring people together for a meeting or event, there is always a reason. While we often meticulously plan the culinary experiences at our events, beverages, particularly wine, are frequently chosen from a generic banquet menu. Request to meet with the beverage director or sommelier. Know who to talk to.

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Food and Beverage Hotels Sustainability Hospitality 264

Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Meet at these bright new and renovated resorts in San Diego, Oahu and Barbados that enjoy sunshine and the ocean breeze nearly every day of the year. The resort draws inspiration from its island location to host tranquil yet highly motivating meetings and events. When you hold your meeting in the 1,500 sq.

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Meetings Food and Beverage Trade Shows Hotels 246

Smart Meetings

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Lopez will serve as director of food & beverage, bringing with him 21 years of experience in food and wine in the hospitality industry. He will manage all food and beverage processes and events and will establish and uphold exceptional culinary experiences for guests.

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Event Marketer

JANUARY 17, 2025

It wasnt until Laura Nelson was invited to speak at a womens entrepreneurial conference on a wellness panel, that she realized she wasnt alone in her perception of alcohols role in events. I’m an extrovert, I’m a speaker, I’m there to be involved in the meeting, be involved with the attendees, and I wasn’t doing it.

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Conferences that Work

AUGUST 16, 2021

And it made me think about meeting design. And, me being me, I thought about what Marcy had just said in the context of meeting design. And meetings are no exception. But when we are fully engaged in a meeting, we are just there , immersed in and responding to what is happening. The art and craft of the meeting designer.

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Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Accor Survey: “Meeting Expectations: The Future of Meetings & Events” World-leading hospitality group Accor operates a diverse hospitality group of over 40 hotel brands, from luxury to economy. They offers experiences in over 110 countries with 5,500 properties, 10,000 food and beverage venues, wellness facilities and workspaces.

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Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 30, 2023

The quest to design green meetings often feels like a greenhouse gas-cutting limbo game. This is more than a sustainability moment for meetings. Green meetings are here to stay. But when the phrase “ regenerative meetings ” started getting tossed around, we were curious if that was even possible.

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Meetings Sustainability Food and Beverage Tourism 278

Event Marketer

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

And that makes it critical for conference organizers to ensure that their first-time attendees are set up for successparticularly as a tidal wave of newcomers continues to flood the b-to-b event landscape. Providing first-time attendees with both a comfortable and valuable experience, however, requires a measured approach.

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Smart Meetings

OCTOBER 2, 2024

A conference in California’s vineyard-covered, rolling Napa Valley just feels different than any other place in the world. Alain Negueloua, Vice President and General Manager Alain Negueloua Being located right in Yountville—the very heart of Napa Valley—“Napa-izing” meetings and events for groups at Bardessono is second nature.

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Smart Meetings

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Breaking down the company’s recent sustainability strategy International exhibition and convention center ExCel London is a carbon-neutral venue and an advocate for the path towards green meetings. There, over 300,000 worms convert leftover food waste into compost that is used in the center’s green spaces. At over 100,000 sq.

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Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Throughout 2022, nearly every meeting service provider continues to be short-staffed and plagued by last-minute no-shows or insufficiently skilled workers. To best prepare you, here are eight kinds of curveballs other meeting professionals have been thrown so far in 2022, with expectations extending into 2023— and how to deal with them.

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Conference Food and Beverage 2022 Hotels 195

MeetingsNet

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

As Maggie Kearney, meeting and publications manager with the International College of Surgeons–U.S. While you could shorten your meeting just enough to eliminate the final meal—as 44 percent of our survey respondents suggested—there are less drastic ways to trim the fat. First, ask them which food functions they are attending.

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Smart Meetings

APRIL 5, 2023

Annual conference center gathering in Durham addressed staffing, sustainability and collaboration A nine-year average drop in the age of the meeting/hospitality professional since the start of the pandemic translates into a loss of nine years of collective knowledge. Knowledge is what helps you handle the unexpected,” he said.

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Smart Meetings

MAY 31, 2022

When John Walsh, general manager of The National Conference Center, started preparing the legacy Leesburg, Virginia, meetings venue for its newest clients, he knew he was in for a life and palate-changing experience. Their chef and their dining team made great Afghan food, kabobs. Critical Acclaim. Artwork by Afghan children.

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Conferences that Work

APRIL 30, 2018

Stylists working on the look and feel of an event often use it to stimulate fresh thinking about the venue, the décor, the lighting, the food and beverage, entertainment, and so on. Rarely, however, is this tool used to design events that creatively incorporate, illuminate, and support core desires and outcomes for the meeting.

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Smart Meetings

APRIL 23, 2024

Luxury language and presentation tips IACC 2024 in Basking Ridge, New Jersey was centered around empowering attendees to be seen, heard and respected as they drive their careers forward as leaders in the meetings and events industry. Smart Meetings was also privileged to be a judge for IACC Americas Innovations Workshop.

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Smart Meetings

APRIL 3, 2024

Unique venues for meetings with charm From coast to coast, meeting venues and hotels renovate and debut expanded, redesigned meeting spaces. Blending Productivity and Play Expanded meeting space at ilani Meeting & Entertainment Center A 10,000 sq. addition expands ilani Meeting & Entertainment Center.

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Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 10, 2018

.” —Sarah Kendzior, The View From Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America The meeting industry is no exception. A “creative” event design is one with a novel venue and/or decor and lighting and/or food and beverage. The meeting industry has redefined novelty as creativity.

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Prestige Events Magazine

MAY 23, 2023

and UK Convene , the largest single provider of dedicated meeting and event venues in the U.S. events – 10% commission will be paid on the actualized meeting package revenue, which includes the day delegate rate and/or reception packages. Convene and etc.venues to offer 10% commission to agency partners in the U.S.

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Smart Meetings

AUGUST 21, 2023

A meeting professional veteran share tricks for managing inflation, expectations and savings Money moves mountains. The prices are so high for the individual menu items that the value of what you’re getting doesn’t equate a lot of times,” Pilcher stated, “I’m getting so much less food.

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Prestige Events Magazine

MAY 27, 2024

IACC , the association which represents the top one per cent of global meeting and conference venues, has released the findings from its eagerly awaited 2024 Meeting Room of the Future Report. Food and beverage preferences continue to evolve, with just under half of venues noting a decrease in alcohol consumption.

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Smart Meetings

AUGUST 18, 2023

Working with the United Kingdom-based sustainability consultant isla , a total of 92% of event waste was recovered by diverting it into recycling, composting or donation channels, meeting the threshold for a zero-waste event. Since 2012, the conference has been tracking diversion, recycling and reuse and has averaged an 86% diversion rate.

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Smart Meetings

JULY 21, 2023

We’re thrilled to welcome meeting and event attendees back to the City by the Bay. San Francisco’s welcoming people, its unbeatable food scene, and its endless activity regularly lead to record-breaking meeting attendance. And in the past year, a dozen new meeting and event spaces have opened throughout the city.

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Meetings Food and Beverage Hotels Sustainability 246

Smart Meetings

AUGUST 4, 2022

Over the last 17 years, she has garnered experience in hospitality, event, food and beverage, and business management. She has previously been executive director of Sumba Hospitality Foundation in Indonesia, F&B manager for Benchmark Resorts & Hotels, conference services manager for Riviera Palm Springs and more.

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Food and Beverage Hospitality Hotels Tourism 246

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 6, 2017

According to Convene ’s most recent Meetings Market Survey , on average 6 percent of a meeting’s direct expenses fall in the marketing/promotion category. After studying 100 or so meetings’ profit and loss (P&L) statements in great detail, I can confirm that this expense line item varies greatly.

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