In our latest Meetings and Your Brain column, we look at why the first and last 5 percent of a meeting “really matters,” as conflict resolution facilitator Priya Parker says.

While the worst of the pandemic may be behind us, one event organizer sees the fallout as affecting business events into the “near future,” and is preparing for more uncertainty.

In the third in a series about dealing with uncertainty, the CEO of photo and video company Snapbar shares how four business pivots in two years has taken a toll, but the entire team stepped up to meet the challenge.

Heather Seasholtz, CMP-Fellow, DES, was laid off from her job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the two years since, she’s learned to harness uncertainty in ways she never anticipated.

CEO of the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association reflects on what she learned from her experience navigating a double whammy — a COVID surge and hurricane — happening at the same time as her annual in-person conference.

Meeting professionals aren’t going back to planning exactly the same events they held in 2019, and they aren’t returning to the same conversations about sustainability they were having before the pandemic. Here are three ways industry experts in sustainability say the landscape is changing.

A medical conference in Italy was broadcast from a main studio to more than a dozen sites throughout the country, giving participants both a broad and localized learning experience.

Skyrocketing travel and equipment costs and a sudden talent shortage — pandemic-prompted trends have made affordable audiovisual services a challenge since the return of face-to-face events. Event organizers and suppliers talk about their pain points, how to mitigate costs, and the importance of communication.

A host of Conversation Starters — small group discussions on a range of hot-button topics — were held for in-person and digital participants at Convening Leaders 2022. Here are some takeaways.

Many experts now say that frequent, daily rapid tests are a superior approach to safer travel and gatherings, but for event organizers scarcity and high costs stand in the way.

After two years of digital experimentation, organizations of all stripes are coming to a collective realization — a successful event strategy requires cultivating a strong, year-round online community. 

Two international events — one held last week and another scheduled for Dec. 3-6 — continue in person at RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, despite a recent COVID partial lockdown introduced in the Netherlands.