Meetings Today's Lori Tenny sat down with a meeting planner, a changemaker and a major industry leader at IMEX America in Las Vegas to have a candid conversation about sexual harassment in the meetings industry and how we can propel change and make the biggest impact moving forward.

One year after a tweet from Alyssa Milano reignited the #MeToo movement, we sat down with Fiona Pelham, Courtney Stanley and Sarah Soliman Daudin at #IMEX18 to chat about how far the meetings industry has come with regard to sexual harassment and where it's headed.

Innovative and interactive museums have become highly desirable visitor lures, especially with the trend toward experiential opportunities that directly reflect the character of a destination. For groups bringing families along to meetings, these types of museums provide ideal places to explore before, during and after meetings, and with venue spaces, they can even be used for private events—which can include the family.

In the ever-escalating #MeToo climate, MPI is standing by its commitment to establish harassment-free, safe environments that foster healthy exchanges, professional growth and collaboration. The association just rolled out MPICares, a reporting system for harassment complaints and concerns that can be completely confidential at the reporter’s request.

Starting her career at 19 as a budding marketing and promotions executive, Nova Browning Rutherford spent much of the next six years on autopilot. She worked in the hip hop music business in Toronto and Hollywood with artists such as Kanye West and other top names. Under the pressure of it all, combined with personal incidents that led to depression and anxiety, she hit a wall. Today, she is a top personal development coach and mindfulness and wellness expert with plenty of advice for busy professionals. 

Hyatt Hotels Corporation President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian recently announced that Hyatt will no longer allow hate groups to host meetings or events at its properties. The announcement came in the form of a memo to company employees, which Hyatt did not release.

Enlisting the services of an attorney is a key step in a plan to prevent and address sexual harassment within an organization and at meetings and events. We checked in with two prominent attorneys who are well versed in and frequently speak about legal issues involving the meetings industry: Barbara Dunn O’Neal and Tyra Hilliard.

October marks a year since actress Alyssa Milano reignited the #MeToo movement, persuading millions of people to take a stand against sexual harassment. While Courtney Stanley, speaker, writer and business consultant at CS Consulting, was inspired to start speaking on the topic well before October 2017, #MeToo further encouraged her, along with her good friend, Sarah Soliman Daudin, president and CEO of Soliman Productions, to move the conversation forward in the meetings and events industry, where they have both continuously experienced sexual harassment.