Marriott’s Convention & Resort Network (CRN) ventured decidedly out of the box with its recent 48-Hour Film Challenge, which pitted four teams of independent filmmakers against each other to produce short films on an extremely tight deadline. The competition also showed off the flexibility of the meeting space at Vancouver, British Columbia’s the DOUGLAS, Autograph Collection hotel and the convention facilities it shares with the attached JW Marriott Parq Vancouver.

Marriott’s CRN 48-Hour Film Challenge tasked four teams of five to write, shoot, edit an eight- to 10-minute film shot entirely on location at Vancouver’s the Douglas, An Autograph Collection Hotel.

Positive Impact, a global not-for-profit providing education and collaboration opportunities to create a sustainable event industry, is giving event professionals the opportunity to shine the light on female peers ahead of International Women’s Day March 8.

Losing a $40 million piece of business tends to get one’s attention. Thus was the case in July 2018 when the American Anesthesiology Society decided to locate its annual outside of San Francisco, citing concerns for the safety, or at least the perception of safety, of attendees due to the city’s intractable homelessness and vagrancy epidemic.

Hosting the annual Army-Navy football game for the 88th time, partners led by the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) dedicated sports division (PHL Sports) executed the event with customary operational precision. Valley Forge’s leadership, closely identifying with its legacy, prioritizes winning group outcomes. For meetings and events, it’s win-win defined.

Next-generation artificial intelligence and augmented reality solutions. Flying cars, hyper-pixelated 8K televisions and a controversial robotic massager. The reveals at CES 2019, the 180,000-plus attendee blockbuster tech show that powers up Vegas’ convention calendar each January, are pushing frontiers like never before. The same goes for Las Vegas itself, which is fast becoming its own showcase for daring new realities.

I reached out to meeting planners and others in our industry about what worries them most. The survey was conducted before the U.S. government shutdown that impacted many meetings, hotels, air travel and safety. Comments about a lack of respect and a lack of desire to learn were interesting. Those I shared the above link with and asked to comment are, alphabetically:

VisitDallas executives, including CEO Phillip Jones, addressed major concerns brought to light in a Dallas City Hall audit that claimed a lack of oversight of the bureau.

October 2018 marked a year since actress Alyssa Milano reignited the #MeToo movement. It has become clear that no industry is immune to sexual harassment, including meetings and conventions.

Content marketing for event planners is a strategy in which conference organizers create specific content that is relevant to their target audience (the prospective attendees) and presented in a way that is informational and educational to those prospects. Then, of course, the created content for your event or meeting also offers calls to action to attend the conference, buy a video pass or move down the funnel in some other manner.