Your attendees pay a high price to go to your events, and they look for more than educational takeaways to justify their investment, says 360 Live Media’s Don Neal.

We’ll continue to push boundaries — and extend our reach — in San Francisco. I invite you to join us on our journey.

Here are two issues the world is grappling with, and their connection to the business events industry.

Here’s a striking example of using technology — 3D holograms to be specific — to preserve human history, for our benefit. Underscore the benefit part.

The business events industry lost a giant with the passing in July of former PCMA President and CEO Roy B. Evans, Jr., CAE, who built PCMA into the global leader in the business events industry it is today.

Looking at how three trends identified in the PCMA Foundation and Marriott “Future of Meetings & Events” report — sense of place, multimodal design, and bigger than oneself — resonate for planners.

Looking for a way to differentiate your conference? Drop the ‘something-for-everyone’ program approach and use your event as a setting to deliver wisdom, says Dave Lutz of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. Here’s what that looks like.

If we are going to dedicate the time, money, and resources to bring people together, then we owe it to them to create a space that changes them in some way. I love the idea of engineering the unexpected.

At every event, our community must lead the charge to create inclusive experiences. We have a global platform where we can create a respectful space for diverse perspectives, where we can learn from each other, share ideas, and find common ground. 

Event organizers often face competing needs: Suppliers rely on booth traffic while attendees want to pack in as many sessions as possible. Velvet Chainsaw’s Dave Lutz outlines strategies to please them both.

A cooking class — and its no-doggy-bag policy — speaks to the larger issue of how we need to make eliminating food waste a priority at events.

The first step for shifting things at your company — before you jump in, make the commitment and the investment, or take a calculated risk — is to determine if the conditions are favorable for organizational change initiatives.