February, 2025

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LA Tourism President: ‘Host an Event to Support the City’

Smart Meetings

In a quest to better understand what is really happening in Southern California after the well-publicized fires last month, we asked Los Angeles Tourism President and CEO Adam Burke what meeting professionals can expect when they arrive. He described a city physically intact, but mourning emotional losses and eager to return to work and life. How has the Los Angeles hospitality industry fared during the fires?

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Two Convention Centers, One Big Meeting

Convene by PCMA

Participants at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) annual meeting network, work, and hang out in the multi-story staircase in the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit building. (Alabastro Photography) Along with thousands of audiologists, speech-language pathologists, researchers, and students, I traveled to Seattle in early December, headed to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Associations (ASHA) annual conference.

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MICE professionals

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Apple’s Invites App Introduces A Fresh Take on Event Planning

InEvent

Apple’s Invites app is here, and its already sparking plenty of conversation in the events industry. Like Pedro Gos said, Could this be another Apple Airtag vs Tile or Apple watch vs Pebble moment, where they completely take out hundreds of companies in a single fell swoop with a single feature? Imagine crafting beautiful, personalized … Post Apple’s Invites App Introduces A Fresh Take on Event Planning showed as first in InEvent.

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How to Enhance Your Tourism Website During the Offseason

Tourism Tiger

The offseason gives time to reflect on the year and relax. Make sure to take care of these items before the next peak season!

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Exclusive Travel Opportunities for Doctors to Attend Heart Congress 2025 in Dubai

Join us and connect with experts at the 3rd International Conference on Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases”, scheduled on May 05-06, 2025 in Dubai, UAE with the theme of “Novel Progression Towards the Heart and Cardiovascular Research”.

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Brazil's Future as a Top Luxury Incentive Destination 

inVOYAGE

Emily, inVOYAGE: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us! Its now just days to go until we welcome our delegates to inVOYAGE Rio. With Latin America quickly rising as a sought-after destination for MICE and Luxury events, what factors do you think have contributed to this growth, and why do you believe Brazil is a go-to destination for incentive trips and events?

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Cost concerns weigh on 2025 international travel plans to Europe in key markets

ETC Corporate

Long-haul travel sentiment globally and to Europe has weakened for 2025, as reported in the latest Long-Haul Travel Barometer (LHTB) 1/2025, published by the European Travel Commission (ETC) and Eurail BV. This report provides valuable insights into long-haul travel sentiments for 2025, along with trends and plans for the year’s first four months.

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Our 2025 Airfare Outlook; What You Need to Know & How You Can Try to Save Money

Motivation Excellence

At Motivation Excellence , we book thousands of airfares every year for the participants who earn group travel experiences through our incentive programs and attend conferences that we organize for our corporate clients. We know a thing or two (or 12) about airfare trends and expectations. In the overall budget for our programs, air is the one thing that can fluctuate the most, so knowing when the best time to lock in tickets is critical.

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Authentic connection platforms: the future of disintegrating social media

Conferences that Work

The social media platforms we once relied on for authentic connection are disintegrating. My ikigai the reason I get up in the morningis facilitating connection. But today’s major social media platformsFacebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, et al.are all owned by billionaires and tech bros who impose their political leanings on their users and/or seek to make massive fortunes from revenue streams such as ads and selling user information.

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Apple’s Invites App Introduces A Fresh Take on Event Planning

InEvent

Apple’s Invites app is here, and its already sparking plenty of conversation in the events industry. Like Pedro Gos said, Could this be another Apple Airtag vs Tile or Apple watch vs Pebble moment, where they completely take out hundreds of companies in a single fell swoop with a single feature? Imagine crafting beautiful, personalized … Post Apple’s Invites App Introduces A Fresh Take on Event Planning showed as first in InEvent.

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From Salvador to Pantanal:5 Destintions To Add To Your Next Incentive

inVOYAGE

Incentive tourism in Brazil has established itself as a major destination for motivating teams, fostering business relationships, and delivering exclusive experiences. Not only has this helped stimulate the local economy but it has also positively contributed to cultural and environmental preservation, benefiting both businesses and regional development.

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COVID-19 Travel Consumer Sentiment Study

TravelBoom and sister agency, The Brandon Agency, release new consumer sentiment study on travel amidst the COVID-19 second wave

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Jordan Lacey | PCMA Member Spotlight

Convene by PCMA

Get to know PCMA Member Jordan Lacey, MBA, CMP, Project Manager: Tech Events, Capital One What initially led you to becoming involved with PCMA? I first got involved with PCMA after graduating with an undergraduate degree in Event Management because I saw it as an unparalleled opportunity to stay connected with like-minded professionals and leaders who are passionate about driving innovation in the events industry.

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Smart Moves at Explore St. Louis, BCD M&E and More

Smart Meetings

Brad Dean Brad Dean, Explore St. Louis. Dean takes on the role of president & CEO at Explore St. Louis , bringing over two decades of leadership in travel and tourism. Both in his most recent position as CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, and earlier, his 20 years as president & CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, his work significantly expanded tourism and the tourism economy.

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11 Tips to Bring Good Luck Into Your Home In 2025

Redfin

Whether youre searching for a new home in Boston or youre looking to spark a new wave of life into your Phoenix apartment , let 2025 be the year of welcoming luck into your home. With this year being the Year of the Snake in the Lunar New Year cycle, its an ideal time to refresh your living space with thoughtful changes rooted in feng shui, home decor , color psychology, and traditional symbols of prosperity.

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EMEC: Your event has its own dreams—and a story to tell

MPI

You should think of your meeting or event as if it were a person, according to Nils Roemen, who will be presenting the plenary session “The Power of Mesmerizing Moments” during MPI’s European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC), 22-25 February in Istanbul. “Your event has its own dreams, intentions and reasons for inviting people to attend,” says Roemen, experience designer for the Experience Experts.

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Evolution of the DMC:Renewing Business Relationships with Deeper Trust, Transparency & Understanding

The evolution of the DMC industry requires that it embark upon a renewed relationship with clients that is built upon transparency, trust, and understanding.

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Speak Like a Pro: Insider Tips from Producer & Speaker Coach Kurt Stamm

Meeting Tomorrow

Its possible all your presenters are seasoned, captivating public speaking pros. But more often than not, theyre executives and team leads whose primary focus isnt public speaking, and may have a healthy dose of nerves. Thats where Kurt Stamm comes in. With over 30 years of experience as an Executive Speaker Coach, Producer, Director, and Choreographer in both professional theater and corporate settings, Stamm specializes in transforming presenters into confident, compelling speakers.

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Discover the Unseen Wonders that Lie within Brazil's Natural Biomes

inVOYAGE

Brazil is one of the richest destinations in biodiversity, home to about 20% of the known species on the planet. Its vast and varied biomes, such as the Amazon, the Pantanal Wetlands, the Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado, the Caatinga and the Pampas, offer an impressive diversity of flora and fauna, often unique to these regions. For incentive trips, Brazil goes beyond the stunning landscapes by offering qualified infrastructure and providing experiences that connect people to nature and local cultu

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Fast Company’s Secret to Event Success: Fast Tracks with Top Innovators

Convene by PCMA

Attendees danced the night away at the Fast Company Innovation Festival’s opening night party. When Kristin Mooney, senior vice president of events for Inc. and Fast Company, was asked to describe Fast Tracks, part of the Fast Company Innovation Festival program, she likened them to the well-loved childrens book series, Choose Your Own Adventure.

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Case Study: How One Event Achieved Renowned Sustainability Accreditation

Smart Meetings

WEFTEC Earns EICs Platinum-level Sustainable Event Standards Certification In October 2024, over 20,000 professionals in the global water sector gathered in New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for the Water Environment Federation s (WEF) annual Technical Exhibition and Conference ( WEFTEC ). A few months later, in January, the Events Industry Council (EIC) announced that the event had achieved Platinum-level certification of its Sustainable Event Standards the highest level possiblea

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Spring Home Maintenance Tips: 7 Essential Tasks to Tackle

Redfin

As the days get longer and the sunshine starts to peek through, spring is the perfect excuse to give your home a little love. After months of cold temperatures and unpredictable weather, your space might be showing signs of wearand it’s definitely ready for a refresh. Spring home maintenance tips are helpful for you to stay on top of tasks and make sure every nook and cranny is prepped for those warm, sunny days ahead.

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EMEC: Promoting wellness at events through simple moments that matter

MPI

“How can we create immersive, engaging and wellness-centric experiences that prioritize the wellbeing of attendees keeping in mind the end client’s event goals and themes?” Sales Manager Attila Laszlo says the team at the MONDORF Domaine Thermal in Luxembourg started to ask that question more than 15 years ago and created a working group to find ways to include healthcare and wellness elements in their services.

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8 Indicators of a Problematic Meeting Culture – and How to Solve Them

Gavel International

Reading Time: 7 minutes The connection between a productive meeting culture and high-performing teams is clear. High-performing teams benefit from well-planned, organized, and structured meetings. Research shows that: 46% of high-performing teams often or always do pre-work, compared to 33% of other teams. 77% of high-performing teams have an agenda compared to 60% of other teams. 54% of high-performing teams have a meeting ritual, compared to 33% of other teams.( 1 ) As you can imagine, when te

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How Event Production Prepared Me For Leading Disaster Relief During The LA Wildfires

Smart Meetings

The last seven years I’ve been living bicoastally, toggling back and forth from New York City then Los Angeles then NYC again. In 2020, I bought a car and drove across the country on a solo road trip because I knew that rebuilding my business, after Covid-19 ravaged it, I would not be able to thrive in a small apartment in a cold Manhattan winter.

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How Event Production Prepared Me For Leading Disaster Relief During The LA Wildfires

Smart Meetings

The last seven years I’ve been living bicoastally, toggling back and forth as home bases from New York City then Los Angeles then NYC again. In 2020, I bought a car and drove across the country on a solo road trip because I knew that rebuilding my business, after Covid-19 ravaged it, I would not be able to thrive in a small apartment in a cold Manhattan winter.

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Sustainability event trends for 2025: Part 2

MPI

We asked sustainability experts in the meeting and event industry to tell us about sustainability trends event planners should be paying more attention to in 2025, from certification to evolving regulations to measuring carbon footprints. _ Sustainability certification is finally reaching a tipping point and gaining traction. There are multiple options to cover the entire event ecosystem.

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Raising Your Reg Price?

Convene by PCMA

‘Price is a story, price is a signal, and price is a symptom of your strategy,’ writes Seth Godin in his new book, This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans. When we asked meeting planners to share with us in Convene s most recent Meetings Market Survey the measures theyre taking to offset rising costs, around half said they have increased registration fees.

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EMEC: Take a forward-looking approach to emerging event trends

MPI

Filiz Akdede believes using AI tools for analysis, automation and audience engagement insights is critically important for meeting planners who want to stay informed of the latest trends impacting their events. “Adopt an innovation mindset and experiment with content creation, smart networking tools and data-driven decision-making,” says Filiz Akdede, who will be presenting the plenary session “Mega Trends & the Future of Work,” sponsored by IMEX Group, during MPI&rsq

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Daniel Cornock

Convene by PCMA

PCMA’s 20 in Their Twenties program honors exceptional young leaders in the business events industry. Class of 2025 member Daniel Cornock, front end and product lead at CrowdComms, shares his belief that artificial intelligence will make a transformative impact on the events industry. What do you like most about your job? I love that my work allows me to create tech solutions that make life easier for event planners and delegates alike.

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Inside the Spark AI Innovation Challenge: Spark ‘kind of just jumps in with you.’

Convene by PCMA

The Spark AI Innovation Challenge pushed teams to new levels. (Whatever Media Group) The Spark AI Innovation Challenge, which was introduced at last years Convening Leaders, brings event participants together to compete in teams in a race to complete event-planning tasks using Spark, PCMAs AI platform for meeting professionals. And at this years Convening Leaders challenge, the list of tasks was a long one.

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People on the Move

Convene by PCMA

Your colleagues are on the move, find out who is going where. Joyce Leveston The New York Convention Center Operating Corporation (NYCCOC) has selected 30-year convention industry veteran Joyce Leveston as the new CEO of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. She will join the team on Feb. 10 and officially take the helm on March 10.

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The Best Places to Live in Pennsylvania in 2025

Redfin

If youre planning on moving to Pennsylvania, add these cities to your list. Pennsylvania is a wonderfully diverse state, home to history, natural splendor, and thriving industry. Known as the Keystone State , Pennsylvania has long been shaped by its central role in U.S. history, industry, and policy. The steel and coal industries have been particularly important to the states economy and culture, and manufacturing remains foundational to its identity.

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21 Date Ideas in Seattle

Redfin

Going on a date can be nerve-racking, so why make it harder by antagonizing over the perfect date spot? Whether youre looking for a first, second, or fiftieth date spot, we have you covered! The city of Seattle has so many great places to choose from, but weve narrowed down the top 21 places to take your date. Between dance classes near your rental home , cocktail bars close to your downtown apartment , and great dining spots right by Seattle, WA home , youre sure to find an option youll love. 1

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Handmade Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids: Simple Ideas for Sweet Home Décor

Redfin

Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to celebrate love for one another. It’s a great opportunity to let creativity blossom with fun, heart-filled Valentine’s Day crafts for kids. Using household items, glue, coloring pencils, or any other materials, these hands-on activities not only keep little hands busy, but they also encourage kindness, love, and appreciation ideal for all ages from toddlers, preschoolers, and older kids alike.

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Unique Things to Do in Aurora, CO: 10 Activities the Locals Love

Redfin

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, Aurora, CO, is known for its beautiful parks, diverse dining scene, and easy access to outdoor adventures. But beyond the usual attractions, this city is full of unexpected surprises that make it truly unique. From quirky local spots to unfrequented activities, theres so much more to Aurora than meets the eye.

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Smart Travel: President Trump Calls for New Computerized Air Traffic Controls, Romania Gains VWP Status, Hilton Grows in India, Breeze Airways Expands…Again

Smart Meetings

In response to the recent fatal air collision in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump called for an upgrade to the U.S. air traffic control system. Romania has been added to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, opening up new opportunities for international tourism. Hilton announced a major expansion in India, with the first DoubleTree by Hilton set to open in 2027.