Canada Sees More Relocated U.S. Meetings, While Canadians Stay Away From the U.S.

A turbulent year for U.S.-Canada relations has seen Canadian cities come out ahead as conferences move north. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

TED Conference Heads to San Diego in 2027, Ending 12-Year Vancouver Run

Vancouver’s loss is undeniably San Diego’s gain. After 12 years hosting TED, Vancouver will hand the baton to a city with a growing life sciences community and cross-border innovation that gives it room to grow. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Human Trafficking Awareness: There’s Still More Work to Be Done

As human trafficking advocacy leader Sandy Biback steps away from her role at MPAHT, the number of victims internationally is more than the entire population of her home country of Canada. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

5 Deals in 24 Hours: What’s Behind the Surge in Events M&A?

A flurry of late-year dealmaking shows growing confidence in the events sector, even as geopolitical and economic uncertainty lingers. Investors see a fragmented industry ripe for consolidation. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

8 Tips for More Inclusive Holiday Events

Today’s multi-ethnic, multi-generational workforce requires you to rethink the traditional Christmas party to make sure that everyone feels welcome. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Bending Spoons to Acquire Eventbrite in $500 Million Cash Deal

Eventbrite’s sale to Bending Spoons removes a long-struggling ticketing platform from Wall Street pressure. Could the Italian tech company, known for overhauling tech companies, revive this event tech pioneer? | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Encore Acquires Global Brand Experience Agency FIRST

Encore’s second acquisition in less than two weeks expands its international reach, but this time focuses on event planning services. It sees FIRST’s embedded corporate campus model as complementary to its own strong hotel partnerships. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Unbridled Merges With UK OrangeDoor to Create Transatlantic Events Agency

The merger underscores how mid-size agencies are joining forces to build global footprints. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

European Exhibition Organizer Acquires Major U.S. Energy Projects Show

Easyfairs, one of Europe’s largest privately-owned event companies, has made its first North American acquisition: the fast-growing Energy Projects Conference & Expo (EPC). With AI driving the need for energy-intensive data centers, this strategic move puts Easyfairs directly int … | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Saudi Trade Show Boom Tests Riyadh's Venue Capacity

Global exhibition organizers have announced more new shows along with office openings in Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh’s limited convention capacity remains a barrier to growth. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

6 Creative Ways to Thank Your Event Attendees

Attendees may travel thousands of miles and spend hundreds of dollars just to show up at your event. Finding a way to show appreciation for their attendance is not only required, it is expected. Yet, often we forget this very crucial element of planning successful events. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

No-Shows Create Stress, Wreak Havoc on Events

Planners grapple with the reasons why many attendees don’t honor their RSVPs — and try to keep it from happening again. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

5 Ways Meeting in Ireland Balances the Best of Both Worlds

All too often, choosing a destination for incentive travel forces meeting planners to prioritize either a busy city or rural country, business or wellness, modern developments or rich cultural experiences. Here’s how planners get to have it all on the island of Ireland. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Persistent Event Scam Reemerges With Yet Another Alias

A long-running fraud scheme is cycling through new identities to stay ahead of detection, and independent planners remain the primary targets. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Persistent Event Scam Reemerges With Yet Another Alias

A long-running fraud scheme is cycling through new identities to stay ahead of detection, and independent planners remain the primary targets. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

10 Ways to Prevent Event No-Shows

Building attendees’ commitment to your event and educating them on the implications of canceling feeds their “meeting-decline guilt” and keeps them from canceling. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Inside Caesars Entertainment’s Push for Smarter, Greener Events

Many meeting professionals struggle to plan more sustainable events. Caesars Entertainment’s company-wide waste reduction initiatives, along with its comprehensive event tracking tools, help planners address these challenges and build effective sustainability strategies for green … | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Allegra Roccato: How Surviving Cancer Taught Her to Lead with Clarity and Perspective

Allegra Roccato's leadership journey has been shaped by personal resilience and a deep commitment to inclusion. She is living proof of the value of empathy, trust, and creative problem-solving. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Encore Buys Eclipse to Boost UK Presence

Encore is using its new line of credit to expand internationally. With the acquisition of production company Eclipse, it expands its London footprint and gains a home advantage at some of the city’s top venues. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Planners’ Favorite Contract Clauses for Avoiding Surprise Costs

Contracts are a planner’s first line of defense against extra costs on everything from rates to F&B — and those annoying hidden fees. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Accessible Travel Conference Showcases True Inclusion

Accessibility is often treated as a compliance task. A recent conference demonstrates what it looks like when inclusion becomes the operating system, not an afterthought. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

The Great Rebalancing: Safe and Easy Incentive Destinations Prevail

here’s been a redrawing of the incentive travel map as companies wrestle with higher costs and shifting sentiments about international travel. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Meetings Innovators: Elyse Dawson

This power user of AI feels that the next wave of innovation will come from making meetings more human. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

New Research Maps the Future Trade Show Revenue Mix

Trade shows have long relied on floor space as their financial backbone, but that foundation is changing faster than most executives admit. A new framework provides a consistent way to quantify that shift. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

TED Unveils Data-Driven Approach to Event Sustainability as Accountability Rises

Growing scrutiny and increased expectations are forcing event organizers to go beyond token gestures and embed sustainability in every aspect of event design. TED has responded with a measurable, verifiable, and deeply integrated climate action plan. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

How Planners Are Maximizing Group Travel With Choice Hotels International

With rising costs and tighter budgets, Choice Hotels International offers smart solutions for planners to maximize their spend and enhance the guest experience. The company’s expansive portfolio includes over 7,500 properties across 22 brands, offering the breadth, flexibility, a … | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

10 Strategies to Delight Attendees' Senses at Your Event

Adding thoughtful touches that stimulate the senses can transform an event experience. Here are 10 ideas. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 1 month ago

Dopamine-driven Event Design: When Is It Too Much?

The dopamine culture, built on short-burst stimulation and positive reinforcement, has infiltrated B2B events, especially trade shows. But has it gone too far? | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Panama Bets on Free Convention Center Access and U.S. Tax Perks to Attract More Events

Despite significant infrastructure investment, Panama remains under the radar for meetings and conventions. A new incentive program combined with a U.S. tax advantage may give the country the competitive edge it has been seeking. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Volunteers Step Up to Fill Void Left by Government Cuts

Hospitality businesses and meeting industry charities have jumped in to help unemployed government workers and families whose SNAP benefits are on hold — including some in their own industries. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

PGA TOUR to Return to Asheville, Symbolizing Post-Hurricane Recovery

A year after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, the region has secured a new PGA TOUR tournament event on a four-year agreement. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Getting Better at Giving Back: How to Design a More Meaningful CSR Experience

Attendees want to do more than see an organization write a check. From repairing books for school children to harvesting pears in someone’s backyard, Portland sets the gold standard for what it means to incorporate a more meaningful CSR component into a meeting. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

These Planners Brought Unreasonable Hospitality to Life

Treating every interaction as an opportunity to make people feel seen and valued, a tenet of the bestselling book by Will Guidara, applies as much to meetings and incentives as it does to restaurants and hotels. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Thoughtful, Personalized, Strategic: Incentives With Impact

The IRF’s annual survey of top-performing companies was full of surprises, like the discovery that the perceived value of an incentive reward is more important than the cost. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Event Tech & AI News Roundup: November 2025

AI continues to reshape event technology, with innovation now focused less on novelty and more on meaningful automation. The latest wave of launches points to a maturing ecosystem where smarter tools are becoming standard, not optional. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Questex Expands Life Sciences Portfolio With Acquisitons

Questex’s latest deal sees it considerably expand its reach into life sciences, both in terms of content-led events and a database of qualified attendees. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Experiential Event Marketing on a Budget: Creative Wins that Work

Experiential marketing is often associated with jaw-dropping installations, celebrity appearances, and multimillion-dollar budgets. But what if you’re a mid-sized brand, a destination marketing team, or an independent event producer with a fraction of that funding? | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Industry Leaders Urge Congress to End Government Shutdown

The losses to the meetings business and broader travel and industry keep mounting — and have industry leaders speaking up. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

MCI Partner Event Puts Relationships Before Deals

One of the world's largest event businesses invited preferred hotel partners to meet with its top buyers. But rather than make the experience transactional, it banned sales pitches altogether. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Scammer Takes on a New Name and Targets Another Planner

A relentless scammer continues to prey on planners, this time under a new alias. Tens of thousands of dollars have already been stolen as the scheme evolves. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

It’s Up to Women Leaders to Change the Story

Hannah DeMaio, vice president of Skift’s Women Leading Travel, says that women in our industry have made incredible strides — but some critical challenges still exist. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Event Cancellations Mount as Government Shutdown Continues

The ongoing U.S. government shutdown is disrupting conferences and trade shows nationwide. Attendance is dropping, travel is delayed, and events, especially those involving government participation, are being canceled or scaled back. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

HR Conference Sparks Dialogue Across Divides

At a time when DEI is increasingly politicized, HR association SHRM’s live debate between ideological opposites demonstrates how conferences are the ideal platform for essential, and sometimes uncomfortable, dialogue that digital platforms cannot replicate. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Ruud Janssen Turns Complexity Into Clarity Through Collaborative Event Design

Ruud Janssen wants the tool he co-created to be so impactful it becomes anonymous, and synonyms with encoding great event design. He believes true innovation is about simplifying complexity and getting people to work together and urges all event designers to leave their ego at th … | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

New Marriott Event Space Opens in Downtown Detroit, But Without the Hotel

This boutique event venue in Detroit is a unique arrangement for Marriott which, until now, has focused on combined convention space-hotel room bookings. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Blending AI With Human Insight for Strategic Gains

AI is everywhere in events, but the smart move is human-led. Use AI to automate the admin, not the judgment — and stay well clear of the creepy line. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Demolition of White House’s East Wing Paves Way for Trump’s New Ballroom

The new  ballroom being constructed at the White House has ignited widespread controversy over historical preservation, private funding, and the project's escalating costs amid a government shutdown. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago

Women Leaders in Meetings: Morgan Crain

As head of global rewards & recognition at Rubrik and a long-time leader at the Incentive Research Foundation, Morgan Crain has learned that one of her strongest assets is her authenticity. | Continue reading


@meetings.skift.com | 2 months ago