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To aid in the selection process for the world’s largest events, Northstar Meetings Group has created the meetings industry’s first-and-only Convention Cities Index, a weighted-ranking system that identifies those destinations that are ideally suited for the world’s grandest gatherings. The CCi rankings reveal the top 25 global convention cities, as well as the top 25 U.S. cities.

More than 1,200 event professionals gathered at MPI’s World Education Congress at CAESARS FORUM last week, the largest in-person industry event so far this year. While attendance was about half of pre-pandemic levels, the large showing is another shot in the arm for an industry recovering from essentially a lost year of business.

Wikimania, the annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation, is going virtual for the first time in its 16-year history. Instead of viewing it as a limitation, the operator of Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects is taking the opportunity to expand the event’s reach across time zones and language barriers.

Trade show, exhibition and the event professionals took a moment to celebrate the industry’s worth and influence before a grand kickoff of shows begins to flood the global marketplace.

The Biden administration is making progress toward reopening borders. According to the White House, it is creating ‘working groups’ with other countries, including Canada, the European Union, Mexico and the United Kingdom to lift restrictions.

Royal Caribbean International has announced that six of its ships will begin sailing from major U.S. cruise ports in Florida and Texas in July and August. The full fleet will be in operation by the end of 2021, according to the company.

A rapidly recovering Las Vegas will be the focus of the global tourism industry Monday, when World of Concrete stages the first major trade show in the United States since the COVID pandemic wiped out the lucrative convention and meeting business.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released data that suggests more than two million jobs could be created if international travel reopens before the busy summer period.

New seating layouts, zero-proof cocktails and meals that boost your immune system are among the top food-and-beverage trends for face-to-face meetings this year.

At WEC Vegas, June 15-17 at CAESARS FORUM, MPI is bringing key women leaders from Las Vegas together for a panel discussion called “The Superwomen of Vegas: Rising Up and Empowering Others”.

The coming months will see live entertainment venues opening in waves, some for the first time in well over a year. Those working in this industry and have weathered the pandemic’s devastating effects on their businesses need practical, actionable guidance on which CDC-recommended health precautions to take.

ROI around virtual events can mean different things for your different stakeholders - from your attendees, sponsors, exhibitors to your speakers and clients. So what do you need to know when measuring the success of online events?

XpressWest, the subsidiary of Virgin Trains USA planning a high-speed line from California to Las Vegas, has begun talks to extend the western terminus from Victorville to Rancho Cucamonga, where the line could connect directly to the Los Angeles metro network.

Zoom just announced that it will be launching a new event platform, Zoom Events, over the summer in an already saturated event tech market. Will it be worth the wait? Here's our take.

Worth an estimated $551 billion, according to a joint press release sent by Clarion Events and UFI, the global association of the exhibitions industry, trade shows and exhibitions are poised to stage a grand comeback at a time when economies across the world need them most.

Stress Matters are launching a series of support services to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, the 10th – 16th May.  Two online courses: Managing mental health and stress for eventprofs and Designing and delivering mentally safe events are being launched to support the mental health of the industry re-opening.

Bosses of major U.S. and UK airlines called on Tuesday for a summit between the two governments to speed the reopening of transatlantic travel, still paralyzed even though the countries have among the world's highest COVID-19 vaccination rates.

Hybrid events have more risk than in-person or virtual events. And this is mainly because a hybrid event combines two very different audience experiences. As in-person events slowly start to return, organisers now are faced with the prospect of running two kinds of events that carry their own set of risks. They need to look at the new issues of social distancing and the criteria for letting people into events. But they also need to consider the risks that are brought from the virtual element of the hybrid event.

Audio-only features have been popping up all over the place in recent months — most notably on popular new social app Clubhouse. What’s the appeal for events, and are they here to stay? 

As meeting planners navigated the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year, concerns about attendee health and well-being have dictated nearly every aspect of how face-to-face events were held — or, in most cases, not held. In the Global Wellness Institute's latest "Global Wellness Trends Report," the authors explain that the pandemic has forced planners to reinvent their gatherings in a way that puts health at the center of virtually every decision — and that is likely to continue.

Mobile technology is sure to play a critical role in our much-desired return to in-person events, yet event apps are currently not top of mind. Will they be used to help ensure a covid-safe environment? If so, can planners force all attendees to use them?

The revival of the travel industry is well underway. That’s the clear message here at the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2021 Global Summit. "This is the world platform for recovery,” WTTC CEO Gloria Guevara said. “The recovery of travel and tourism starts here."

The United Kingdom is set to trial a non-socially distanced outdoor concert with 5,000 attendees in a bid to get audiences back to live events safely this summer, the British government announced in a statement on Sunday.

Despite a sea change in market circumstances the sophomore Sustainable Event Buyer’s Guide maintains its focus, detailing green thinking, green policy, green technology, green products/services and green best practice.

Even as it sidelined travel worldwide, the Covid crisis also helped sharpen the industry’s focus on sustainability.