What’s that you say? NOT your favorite assignment? I totally agree. They’re big, cold, parking can be difficult, and those cement floors? No doubt about it, the back pain from standing on those unforgiving surfaces all day can be real! But if you’re earning extra money in the world of meetings and events, then you’d best prepare yourself for convention center work. Here are a few tips I’ve gathered over the years, not only from my own experiences, but also from other planners that have learned to survive and thrive in those challenging environments. And yes, some planners do enjoy working in ..read more

From virtual and hybrid events to AI, technology is revolutionizing how events are planned and executed, providing event professionals with many tools to create immersive and engaging experiences.  The challenge is to understand how to maximize the use of event technology while delivering a successful program with rising event costs.  Shown below are key trends that several event organizations are predicting for 2024. Focus is on the event experience and engagement The event experience is becoming more and more essential. With more competition than ever, an event has to offer some ..read more

The pandemic changed a lot of things in the event industry, not the least of which was on-site event staffing. While Meeting Planners are working harder to adjust to all the changes, securing Onsite Professionals for their events seems to have taken a back seat. I’m here to encourage you to start thinking about your on-site staffing needs much earlier in the process. Here are 3 reasons why: 1) There is a labor shortage. When everything shut down during the pandemic heavily impacting the Event Industry it meant many meeting planners lost their jobs. So why is there a labor shortage now wh ..read more

You’re planning a live event or meeting and need “onsite” temporary event personnel or professionals to either supplement your company’s staff or to completely manage and execute the meeting without anyone from your company traveling to the meeting or event.  Where do you find the right people for your event? What type of Event Temps or Event Staff? What will they be doing? Roles and titles in the event industry can be quite overlapping.  Planning and execution of events or meetings can be divided in many different ways.  Temporary Event Managers and Temporary Meeting Planners ..read more

We have always understood what it means to meet in-person for live, face to face meetings and events, but in the past ten months we have been quickly introduced to some new buzz words within our industry. Virtual Meetings and Hybrid Meetings are the two most prominent buzzwords we are hearing in our day to day operations during this pandemic. Virtual Meetings: Produced by way of video and teleconferencing software, these meetings have proven to be a valuable resource for connecting, engaging while maintaining productivity during this time. People from around the world can share thoughts ..read more

The Meetings and Events industry has felt the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of the last 8 months, we have had to elicit creative ingenuity in how we had previously planned and managed our events, mostly which were in-person, face to face events. With obvious concern about hosting live events, many pivoted to the virtual world whereby we sit in front of a small screen and become a part of a large audience. I say many, but not all. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Marie Caci, one of our independent contractors hailing from Boston and a member of our netwo ..read more

To say that 2020 has proven to wreak havoc on the live meetings and events industry is a vast understatement. It’s with this thought in mind, and to better understand what is taking place and how COVID-19 is making it’s impact on us, that we conducted a survey to poll both our client base and industry veterans. It was our intent to capture their insights and begin a dialogue as to the current state of what’s taking place. We also wanted to try to gage where and how our industry peers see live vs. virtual meeting and events as we move forward into 2021. How Are Meetings and Events Currently ..read more

The narrative surrounding small business throughout 2020 has been one about struggle. This makes perfect sense, given the harsh impact that COVID-19 and the economic recession have had one small businesses both in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world. In many if not most cases, it’s all a small business owner can do to hang on at a time like this, with hopes that 2021 will bring about easier and more prosperous times. These are difficult circumstances we’re perfectly sympathetic to and understanding of. At the same time however, a cautious or timid mindset can be detrimental to a ..read more

How we currently conduct business has changed quite a bit due to the pandemic. In our efforts to adhere to social distancing guidelines, the term “virtual” has become our industry’s battle cry. Virtual meetings are produced by way of video and teleconferencing software and have proven to be a worthy resource to assist with our ability to connect, engage and be productive during this time. In order to survive and thrive during COVID, we have had to make adjustments as to how we plan, execute and complete tasks in a way that feels and looks so different from eight months ago. Meeting and even ..read more

Are we really having this discussion?  Yes, based on how 2020 has been progressing thus far, apparently we are.  Let’s face it, we’re all in some level of shock and awe over the daily/hourly/moment-to-moment announcements coming out of everywhere so best if we share some tips and reiterate things we’ve already learned on our short path to destruction followed by recovery because yes, it will happen people!  See tip #1. . . 1) Attitude is everything. If you talk about gloom and doom it will surely follow you night and day.  On the other hand, if you choose to wear a sm ..read more