Event planners continue to seek out innovative ways to ensure their meetings are sustainably run. That’s particularly important for a destination like Monterey, Calif. With beloved sites including Big Sur, Carmel by the Sea and Pebble Beach, protecting natural surroundings is a vital part of any gathering held here.

To understand these efforts, we spoke with Teresa Savage, senior vice president of business operations for See Monterey, the destination’s marketing organization. She discusses how sustainability has been a priority for the organization for decades, but so has evolving with new developments and demands from event planners — ensuring the destination is working with groups to put the most effective eco-friendly efforts into practice.

We discuss what’s next for sustainable events and, as Savage puts it, planners can “ensure that all travel paths contribute to a better quality of place and leaving the destination better than it was before.”

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Like almost every business sector, the events industry has been abuzz about AI for months. And the more widely these tools are adopted, the more rapidly they seem to evolve to better meet the needs of meeting planners.

At this exciting but uncertain moment in event tech, we spoke with Huong Nguyen, CEO and president of Shiloh Events who will be moderating a panel at this year’s IMEX on “Leading in the AI Era: Insights and Best Practices.” Here she shares a preview of what will be discussed during the session and shares her own perspective on where AI technology best serves event planners — and where it still may be falling short.

To this last point, Nguyen breaks some news about her own efforts to develop an AI program to better meet planners’ needs when it comes to on-site event execution. She also discusses how being based in California’s Bay Area, a hotbed of innovation, has helped fuel these efforts and inspired her and her entrepreneurial efforts.

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Kyle Jordan, chair of LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, discusses inclusivity goals and best practices for business events

Join Northstar's Loren Edelstein in a conversation with Kyle Jordan, chair of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, for an update on the nonprofit's efforts and the current state of inclusivity in the business events industry. Planners can do more to create safe spaces and accommodations for underrepresented groups, says Jordan, particularly the LGBTQ+ community. There's a lot of discussion in June for Pride Month, but this issue requires collective action year-round, he adds.

Topics covered:

• New leadership and brand identity for LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (1:00)
• The need for more inclusive event planning to welcome LGBTQ+ attendees (4:00)
• Considering discriminatory laws and practices as an important factor in destination selection (6:00)
• What planners can do to create more inclusive events (7:00)
• How the travel industry at large needs to be more accommodating (12:00)
• LGBT MPA's long-term goals (13:45)

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When it comes to developing creative, out-of-the-box meeting experiences, independent hotels provide a number of appealing options for event planners. In this episode of Eventful, created in partnership with the Caribe Royale Orlando, we delve into the advantages of working with independent properties, by looking in depth at Caribe Royale’s approach to events. We speak with the property’s managing director, Amaury Piedra about how he and his team works with meeting planners to create exceptional events—and how input from meeting planners has shaped new, major upgrades to the property.

For a bigger-picture perspective on the value of independent hotels, we also spoke with Michael Dominguez, president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International, which serves as a global sales arm for independent hotels for meetings, incentives and conventions. He shared what he thinks sets independents apart and how planners can leverage their offerings.

Listen to the in-depth conversation in our latest episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, and remember to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.

This episode was created in partnership with Caribe Royale Orlando.

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Attorney Joshua Grimes provides a legal perspective on duty of care, cancellation clauses and more when planning events in states with controversial legislation.

Many meeting professionals believe controversial issues like abortion rights are political concerns that have no bearing on their jobs. But that isn't true, says industry attorney Joshua Grimes, Esq., president of Grimes Law Offices, LLC. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Grimes talks with Northstar's Loren Edelstein about the potential risks legislation could pose to meeting organizers and attendees.

This timely and important discussion covers:

• Why controversial legislation shouldn't be dismissed as "politics" (0.15)

• How laws regarding bathroom use, prenatal health care, undocumented immigrants and other concerns can directly affect meetings and attendees (1.00)

• Possible workarounds for meeting successfully where such laws exist (3:30)

• The effectiveness of nondiscrimination clauses in meeting contracts (5:00)

• Duty of care, liability and other legal concerns (9:15)

• Weighing the decision to cancel an event (12:00)

• Why planners, suppliers and industry associations should be having candid conversations about legislative issues (14:15)

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What does the future hold for our business and personal lives? Risk-management expert Bruce McIndoe, president of McIndoe Risk Advisory, LLC, tackles that topic in this enlightening discussion with Northstar’s Loren Edelstein. From weather disasters to robotic companions, here’s what to expect in the years ahead.

1:20 Why meeting planners should anticipate more frequent and intense weather events
5:00 How hybrid events provide a number of benefits, among them a good resiliency strategy
7:00 Why human resources should be collaborating with meeting and event planners
9:20 The growing need for internal meetings as more organizations have remote workforces
11:20 Strategies for recognizing and supporting employees with mental health issues
15:20 Where and when robots will replace humans in the hospitality industry
18:05 How automation will solve the problem of staff shortages
21:20 When to expect flying taxis and personal drones to be in wide use
22:20 How education will be geared toward gig workers vs. career professionals
23:50 The role of companion robots that will support humanoid units

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Creating an emergency response plan is one of the many responsibilities that fall on an event planner's plate. While they hope to never need to execute it, sometimes disaster strikes mid-meeting.

On this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Senior Associate Editor Elise Schoening spoke with LaToya Williams, manager of global accounts for HelmsBrice, who was on Turks and Caicos with an incentive group when Hurricane Fiona tore through the Caribbean. The storm cut short the incentive program and forced the group to shelter in place while the worst of the hurricane passed through.

The podcast was recorded while Williams was still on the island. In it, she shares her experience of real-time crisis management and offers advice for other meeting planners who find themselves in the midst of an emergency. Since recording, Williams and all 83 attendees have made it home safely.

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Salaries have recovered, but the pay gap between women and men has widened.

In conjunction with the publications of the 2022 Northstar Meetings Group/Meetingjobs-Cadre Salary Survey, we discuss the findings with Dawn Penfold, president of Meetingjobs.com, in this episode of Eventful, the Podcast for Meeting Professionals.

Salaries for planners have recovered from the pandemic, but the pay gap between men and women widened over the past two years. Contemplating this and other statistics from the survey, Penfold adds thoughts on what’s currently happening in the job market and which industry segments are looking for planners.
In this episode, we discuss:

• The rise in base pay for meeting planners
• The pay gap between women and men
• How certification affects planner salaries
• Planners’ stress levels
• How the pandemic affected planners’ jobs
• What would make planners happier in their jobs
• How hiring continues to shift in the meetings industry

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