Having traipsed the Meetings circuit for a while now, some of the most memorable networking events I've participated in have featured real party animals as hosts. Allow me to explain.
Our animal kingdom friends make for great conversation starters and "visuals" when events are held in facilities such as zoos or aquariums. I've actually been to a couple major social events at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, and Meetings Focus even held its annual get-together at Santa Rosa, Calif.'s Safari West years ago—I still remember the cookout and "safari drive" we took smack dab in the middle of Wine Country.
So when we sat down to discuss possible angles for our special venues story, the idea of an "animal attraction" immediately leaped to mind.
Our cover story this issue, "Animal Magnetism," explores some top venues where groups can commune with flora and fauna amongst cocktails and canapes.
Also included are sidebars detailing how your organization can give back to the animal world, as well as a roadmap to getting really off the beaten path on an excursion to see beasts in their native environments.
Other highlights of the June issue include our new World Beat international feature, where we bring you interesting meetings-related information from outside of North America each month, even when we aren't offering our regularly scheduled international section.
Our food and beverage feature digests each meal of a typical meeting or convention, offering budget tips to accompany each setting.
The SMERF story breaks down the individual components of that market segment—social, military, educational, religious and fraternal—to examine some of the key issues affecting each.
Finally, on the live events side, we're headlong into our 2013 Meetings Focus Live! hosted buyer educational events, each of which features a corporate social responsibility program facilitated by Meetings Focus regular John Chen, of Seattle-based Geoteaming. Check out the full schedule at www.meetingstoday.com/LiveEvents.
And be on the lookout for our upcoming live broadcasts from major meetings industry events, featuring top thought-leaders discussing the issues of the day.
It's going to be a "wild" summer!
