Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals

Now that meeting and event professionals are once again focused on in-person gatherings, it's the perfect time to rethink the design of the program in order to make sure attendees are getting the most out of the event. In this episode of the Eventful Podcast Anthony Vade, event experience strategy director for Encore and director USA for the Event Design Collective speaks with managing editor Sarah Braley about how planners can balance the content being delivered at a meeting with the networking opportunities being offered, as well as how to collaborate internally to create a well-designed event.
 
Listeners will learn:
 
• How meeting and event professionals can effect change in their organizations (1:50)
 
• How planners can bring these practices back to the in-person environment (3:40)
 
• The art of measuring the intangible, emotional impacts of events (6:10)
 
• How to use keynote presentations as setup for more interactive learning (8:35)
 
• How to collaborate internally to design a better meeting (11:20)

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Be prepared for high-profile disasters — as well as the many incidents that are more likely to arise.
 
Event-safety training might cover a weather event or active shooter scenario, but will you know what to do if an attendee has a heart attack on-site? While it’s important to prepare for major but less common disasters, we can’t forget the incidents that are much more likely to happen, says Alan Kleinfeld, an event-safety specialist and a meeting planner. In this episode of Eventful, he shares best practices for minimizing risks and handling problems with maximum efficiency.
 
Among topics addressed:
 
Why we tend to be more prepared for events that are less likely to happen (3:15)
 
How preparation helps us push past the natural reaction of fear (7:51)
 
Basic safety elements to look for when doing a site inspection (8:21)
 
The expectation that our next “pandemic” will be a widespread mental health crisis (11:49)
 
The importance of communicating safety protocols to attendees (15:21)
 
How to delegate so that safety and crisis preparation doesn’t all fall on the shoulders of the meeting planner (17:46)

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How to surprise, delight and engage meeting and event attendees

Traditional presentations generally too long, too dull and fail to hold an audience’s attention. It takes a little creativity — and lot less time — to effectively capture and hold people’s attention, according to Scott Steinberg, a global consultant, speaker and futurist. Listen in to his conversation with Northstar’s Loren Edelstein to learn how to surprise, delight and educate and educate meeting attendees in 15 minute-increments.

Listeners will learn:

Why our attention spans are shorter than ever (2:30)

How to design presentations that are shorter, highly engaging and memorable (3:20)

How to shrink content and add elements of surprise to engage virtual attendees (8:00)

The importance of storytelling — even if you’re making it up (9:25)

How to coach speakers to break out of traditional presentation styles (10:30)

Ways to break down a longer presentation into short segments (13:00)

Questions to ask when hiring a speaker (14:20)

Other ways to use speakers and thought leaders during your program (17:00)

Using the “Pop Future” method to make complex concepts simple, fun and attainable (18:25)

How to think like a futurist (23:20)

Why the future of meetings looks bright — and hybrid (25:20)

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Tonya Hempstead of American Express GBT discusses how the organization is building a more mature diversity and inclusion strategy, and how others can do the same.
 
Diversity within the meetings and travel industries has long been lacking. Although a wave of industry organizations have made public pledges to do better, turning these promises into progress is easier said than done.
 
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar Meetings Group's senior associate editor, Elise Schoening, sat down with Tonya Hempstead, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at American Express Global Business Travel, to discuss how the organization is building an inclusion ecosystem to ensure a long-term commitment to DEI. Hempstead explained the many partners involved with bringing the strategy to life, and why a regional-based approach is key.
 
Other topics of discussion include:
 
How to address staffing shortages and attract diverse talent (10:40)
 
The role suppliers can play in driving change (12:10)
 
The value of DEI certifications and whether they will become must-haves in the industry (14:10).

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The events industry must take action to shape the sustainability policies that will govern our business.

In Scotland this past November at COP26, the United Nation’s climate-change conference, governments and industries made a pledge to reduce carbon emissions. At that time, Northstar’s Loren Edelstein spoke with Fiona Pelham, CEO of Positive Impact Events, about why and how the events industry must commit to reducing its carbon footprint. (For details, listen to the Nov. 3 episode of Eventful.)
 
Nearly five months later, very little action has been taken on that pledge, says Pelham. In this episode of Eventful, she stresses our need as an industry to have a role in framing policies that will govern our business, as well as free resources for reducing the carbon footprint of business meetings and events.
 
Among topics addressed:
 
What the growing focus on carbon means to the events sector today (1:25)
 
Why government policy will soon impact the way we work (4:00)
 
How the industry needs to shift its focus from profitability to creating a sustainable business model (5:10)
 
Why the events sector needs to take initiative to frame the policies that will impact us (9:20)
 
The imperative to move from pledging to action in the Race to Zero (10:00)
 
How to make a net-zero commitment (11:00)
 
What a commitment means and how to take action (14:10)
 
The reality that most in our sector who have made the pledge haven’t done anything further (18:10)
 
An open invitation to share your sustainability journey with Northstar (18:55)

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Kevin Iwamoto of Bizly talks about what event planners should be doing differently right now.

As pandemic concerns ease and gathering restrictions are lifted, how has the business of in-person meetings and events changed? What should we be doing differently now? What’s the outlook for the near future? In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar’s vice president and content director, Loren Edelstein, talks with Kevin Iwamoto, chief customer officer for Bizly, about new realities and how planners can avoid troublesome surprises.

Among topics addressed:

How to justify the value of large in-person events as a necessity for business growth and opportunities (3:14)

Why in-person audiences will be smaller, and why we’ll still need to offer virtual options to participants (4:15)

Emerging meeting formats, such as holding smaller events in geographic regions rather than one national meeting, or holding one conference with digitized content for remote audiences (6:10)

How compression and labor shortages are affecting negotiations and service levels. (6:10)

The important questions planners should be asking in their RFPs and RFI’s about staffing and on-site services (7:00)

What happens if an attendee gets sick during the event? Can they stay in the hotel, or do they need to leave? (9:07)

Who covers the cost of travelers who fall ill and need to quarantine in a hotel — the host organization, the person’s employer, or the attendees themselves? (10:15)

Why we should be patient and empathize with hotels doing their best to run a property that isn’t fully staffed (14:20)

How meeting professionals learned to cope with the pandemic and are well positioned to move forward with confidence (16:50)

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In 2022, incentive planners and program owners continue to grapple with the pandemic and other challenges.
 
Following the Incentive Research Foundation’s first board meeting of the year, president Stephanie Harris shared these concerns with Lisa Grimaldi, NMG’s editor of incentives and destinations, and discussed the findings from the 2022 Trends Report, among other recent studies from the IRF.
 
In our conversation, we cover:
• How the disaggregated workforce is creating new challenges (2:15)
• Findings show travel is still a huge priority and a top noncash reward (5:10)
• Program budgets are increasing (7:00)
• Hybrid incentive travel programs are difficult to do well (9:50)
• How cash incentives are being used to pay bills and standard expenses (12:30)
• Gifts and points rewards that bring pleasure are popular now (13:30)

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In this episode of Eventful, The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we're talking with Brett Sterenson, president of Hotel Lobbyists, a 15-year-old site-selection firm that mostly focuses on government events. In the past couple of weeks, Sterenson has heard from clients far and wide — including many he hadn't spoken with during the pandemic — and his level of business on the books has ticked way up. But there are many Covid restrictions still in place for these meetings, and plenty of changes that need to be incorporated in event contracts going forward.
 
In our conversation, we cover:
 
• How the GSA's per-diem rate is helping government meetings stay competitive (6:20)
 
• Where government meetings are being placed (7:00)
 
• Which Covid protocols government meetings are paying the most attention to (9:30)
 
• Event contract changes that are here to stay (11:30) 
 
• What the meetings volume for the rest of the year will be (17:30)
 
• The challenges of working with state governments (20:50)

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Marriott International's Dana Pellicano discusses how the brand adjusted for the pandemic, how event food and beverage has changed for good.
 
In the early days of the pandemic, Marriott International put in place a comprehensive set of protocols that balanced safety with a positive guest experience. The company has adjusted the policies continually to stay a step ahead of shifting circumstances. In particular, Marriott has paid attention to groups meals — and nobody has been closer to these issues than Dana Pellicano, vice president of U.S. and Canada food and beverage.
 
On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, we speak with Pellicano about how Marriott has struck this difficult balance and how it has impacted attendees' expectations for food and beverage at events. She offers up the specific trends she is seeing, many of which were shaped by safety protocols, as well as what's next for group dining.
 
On this episode, we discuss:
 
• Marriott's approach to food safety and pandemic protocols (3:50)
 
• Will the buffet ever come back? (6:05)
 
• The central role of outdoor dining spaces (7:35)
 
• The evolution of the ready-to-drink cocktail (11:50)
 
• How attendees are looking for a higher level of experience when meeting in person (12:35)
 
• Mobile dining as a valuable offering (14:15)
 
• The ongoing appeal and increasing quality of mocktails and nonalcoholic spirits (14:35)
 
• Healthy and alternative foods and beverages (15:15)

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Omicron will subside soon, believes Gregg Talley, but organizations should prepare for longer-term effects of the pandemic

For associations worldwide, the new year started with an unexpected wave of cancellations and postponements, but Gregg Talley, president and CEO of Talley Management Group, believes membership organizations are facing greater challenges to the live-event business model. In this episode of Eventful, the podcast for meeting professionals, Talley talks with Northstar’s Loren Edelstein about other factors hampering in-person events — and possible solutions.

Among the topics discussed are:

• Current realities for association meetings and unknowns about the longer-term impact of the pandemic (1:20)

• How the lack of critical services such as childcare directly impacts in-person attendance (3:00)

• The effect of staff shortages in service industries, and the imperative to pay front-line workers a living wage (5:00)

• What international meetings industry associations can and should be doing to support business events (6:00)

• The elusive goal of monetizing a digital meeting (7:30)

• How some associations obtained IATA numbers to receive commissions from airlines and hotels (8:20)

• The opportunity — and imperative — to reconsider the varied needs of members, and find new ways to engage and serve them (12:20)

• Why collaborating with sister organizations and other creative ideas are essential (13:45)

• How consolidation of meetings industry associations would serve planners and suppliers better (15:45)

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