After logging more than four decades at association management company Smithbucklin — and serving in a number of voluntary leadership roles in the association and events industries — Michael Payne will retire at the end of this month. Convene asked him to reflect on his remarkable career.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant explains what we’ve gotten wrong about learning styles — and how thinking about them differently can benefit our audiences.

“We are so much more than layers of specs,” said one respondent to our Salary Survey who is seeking consideration from a boss.

Meeting the challenges of climate change demands that we find new ways of thinking about sustainability.

The annual meeting of the Governors Highway Safety Association tackles traffic issues — including safety among diverse communities.

Savvy event marketers know that influencer marketing is a cost-effective way to increase awareness and, ultimately, attendance at trade shows and conferences.

Event professionals must have mitigation and response plans in place for all risks — whether they are human-caused, natural or weather-related, or technological failures. Security expert and Convening Leaders 2024 speaker John Gainer offers his advice on how to plan for whatever may come.

Respondents didn’t hold back when asked to share how they feel about their jobs — the good, the bad, and the ugly — in several open-ended questions in Convene’s Salary Survey 2023. Here’s a taste of what they had to say.

Bill Reed, chief event strategy officer for the American Society of Hematology, offered insights from his research and experience on the issue of men dominating Q&A conference sessions, after listening to a Convene Podcast episode on that topic.

The popularity of social media’s most businesslike channel — LinkedIn — has exploded in recent years, including among event professionals.

In the last two decades, LinkedIn has evolved far beyond a platform where professionals could post their resumes. Here are ideas for getting the most out of LinkedIn from three savvy event pros.

The CEO of an organization founded to amplify autistic voices shares how to make events more welcoming to neurodivergent people.