Inspiration Hub

Some 14,000 event professionals walked into Sands Expo this week to talk about advances in hotels, destinations and event services, and then an imaginative career development program broke out.

The theme for the ninth annual IMEX America, which ran Sept. 9–12 in Las Vegas, was the Power of Imagination. IMEX paired the hosted buyer appointments with Smart Monday powered by MPI sessions (900 people strong) and She Means Business content to add value for planners who came from all over the world to share best practices.

Nothing at IMEX America quite matches the excitement and energy of participants when the trade show floor opens at Sands Expo Convention Center on Tuesday morning.

“When the doors open, the crowds rush in—and keep in mind that the booth staff are already inside,” says Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group. “People don’t just stroll in; they want to get inside, to get new ideas, make new contacts and learn about new venues, sources and suppliers. They are keen and ready to do business, and the electric show floor atmosphere reflects the excitement that comes with people doing business and meeting both old and new friends.

IMEX America, the Super Bowl of the meetings industry, always generates excitement as professionals from around the globe gather to do business, learn and socialize. This year’s event delivered on its promise, with a Discovery Zone full of innovative ideas and a record number of participants and booths.

Corporate and association meetings often leave a positive impact across a destination that goes beyond simple financial benefit. But while most organizations do understand the impact of their events’ social-responsibility initiatives, there is another legacy component that’s often overlooked: event content.

We’re all in the meetings business. We understand how effectively meetings can increase collaboration and communication among teams and help organizations reach their business goals. But, in our efforts to plan a successful meeting, sometimes we lose sight of the “why.” Why are your attendees being asked to gather in the first place? What do they hope to get out of the event? When they return home, will they reflect positively on their time away? Can we get them to put their phones away?

Throughout your career you’ll build professional relationships with a LOT of different personality types, and some of those personalities will be very different from yours. And that’s ok! Different perspectives allow for more creative problem-solving, thoughtfulness, and innovation...but, that doesn’t mean you won’t clash with someone from time to time.

Frequently, meeting professionals have challenges linking with leadership to get their sponsorship for new programs, such as strategic meetings management. It is important to connect with them to get their buy-in for an initiative’s governance, value drivers, and outcomes.

Are you in the middle of your organization’s busy season? Conference season, perhaps? If so, you’re not alone. But even if you aren’t, chances are, that time is coming...soon!

So when that happens, how you can you stay productive and get done what you need to get done without wanting to pull your hair out? It’s all about working smarter, not harder. 

At Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Conference in June, speaker Joanne Dennison, CMP, of The Ordinary Success Project, offered an hour of advice on how to make “bad” business more valuable to host venues. The packed house of planners and suppliers heard these eight tips.

When you think of the word “team,” what is the first thing that comes to mind? Most of us automatically associate teams with some kind of organized play. And if you want to generate a sense of team spirit among a group of co-workers, games are one of the most effective ways to make it happen.

Phone interviews are a great way to connect with a candidate without the time and effort investment (on both sides!) that an in-person interview requires. If the position you’re hiring for includes time on the phone with those you serve - even better! You get to test drive the experience.

In the spirit of the theme of Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Conference 2019in Toronto, the Smart Meetings team gathered lessons from the main stage and The Village floor to share with event professionals who couldn’t attend.

Is your daily routine leaving you tired and burnt out? Do you find it hard to build up the energy to get even the smallest tasks done? Well, you’re not alone. The job of event professional is consistently rated one of the most stressful after emergency responder and surgeon—a condition that can lead to stagnation. But even the most junior meeting manager knows that nothing gets the blood flowing like crossing things off a checklist.

Inbox zero is something people love to talk about, but it remains elusive for many of us. That need not be the case any longer.

Audrey Thomas, founder of Organized Audrey, recently shared tips in an FICP webinar on how to achieve inbox cleanliness and how to maintain it. With proper use of the calendar, task feature and rule creation, you’ll be an expert at Outlook in no time.

At the annual Exhibition & Convention Executives Forum, Sam Lippman, president of Lippman Connects and producer of the event, has a tradition of starting off the conference with a five-minute summary of the top-level takeaways from the annual ECEF Pulse Survey. This year’s event on May 28 at the JW Marriott Washington, D.C., was no exception, and Lippman’s quick delivery of the survey results—five business trends for convention executives—was a fitting blast-off to the fast-paced educational day.

Just like people, teams have personalities. While the nature of teams has shifted since our tribal hunter-gatherer days, teams are still one of our most crucial social structures. This is true in most organizations, and particularly the case in high-stress event planning groups. How we introduce hopefulness into our teams can be the difference between joyful collaboration and frustrating second-guessing.

It’s entirely normal—and almost expected—to feel lost in the beginning stages of your job. You’re trying not to forget details, dealing with clients, all the while trying to maintain sight of the big picture. And aside from some internet articles, there isn’t a real guidebook. Enter: mentors. Mentors in your field can be underrated. But they hold information and wisdom that will help guide you through your job—and even far into your career. So, how do you find one, and how do you present yourself as the perfect mentee?

Meetings are necessary. We have to have them to move business forward, make decisions, plan projects and communicate with cross-functional teams. They are an intrinsic business component.

But what is not a given is an effective meeting. We all want them, want to be in them and want to host them. But often, we are faced with meetings that are either poorly managed, unnecessary or a huge time suck. How much time do you spend in meetings? I’ll bet it’s more than you think.

If Bill Gates dropped a dollar, would he pick it up? You may have heard some version of this question before. Following a 2011 experiment by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Internet was ablaze with the finding that Gates would have to stumble across $45,000 in order for it to be worth his time to bend down and pick it up.

What can you, as an event professional, do to help the 40.3 million people around the world who are victims in the multibillion-dollar human trafficking trade? It turns out the answer is: a lot. During a panel discussion of the many faces of trafficking, attendees at The Smart Woman Summit at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas learned that they could make a real difference by doing something as simple as taking a picture of their hotel room.