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Las Vegas trends show the city has no plans to slow down

The average age of Las Vegas visitors is younger and more diverse than it was a year ago, according to statistics release at a Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) Board of Directors meeting this week. In 2022, the average visitor age was 40.7, as compared to 44.3 in 2017 and 47.2 in 1992. Other milestones, visitation trends and plans for the city are outlined below.

Trends on Vegas Stays

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of those surveyed in the Las Vegas Visitor Profile Study said they were more likely to attend their respective event because it was held in there, a significant boost from 41% who said so in 2021, or 44% in 2019.

Pairing perfectly with more interest in events due to their location in Las Vegas, more business attendees are extending their trips for leisure time in the city, as well. In 2022, 58% of meeting attendees extended their stay, up from 44% in 2021; the average length of nights extended have increased as well at 1.7 in 2022 and 1.2 in 2021.

Vegas Loop Hits a Milestone

A digital sign in the Vegas Loop central station celebrates the 1,000,000th passenger on the transportation system Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Sam Morris, LVCVA Archive) — Vegas Loop Central Station, Photo: Sam Morris, LVCVA Archive

Las Vegas Convention Center’s (LVCC) Vegas Loop debuted in 2021 and has just moved its one millionth passenger since its inception. An exhibitor for the Con-Expo/Con-Agg tradeshow was surprised at Vegas Loop’s Central Station and given Vegas Loop and Resorts World merchandise to commemorate.

Last week, plans were finalized to sell a piece of land near UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center to The Boring Company for a Vegas Loop station in the future. This contributes to The Boring Company’s ultimate goal of building 69 stations across 65 miles from the city’s downtown to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).

Developments on the Way

LVCVA’s board of directors unanimously approved “the framework of an agreement” to sell 10 acres of land on Las Vegas Boulevard to local developers Brett Torino and Paul Kanavos for $125 million. The buyers are required to close the transaction by the middle of September.

LVCVA reported that it plans to use the proceeds of the sale for capital and renovation projects to LVCC. $600 million has been approved to fund and renovated LVCC, architectural plans for which will begin in April and construction has been set for 2024 and 2025.

The board also unanimously approved a $4.2 million investment to use this year’s inaugural Formula One race as a business opportunity to host high-profile customers and highlight the destination.

According to a press release, “Most of the investment will be used to purchase F1 race and hospitality tickets to host customers from the meetings and convention industry, airlines and travel companies that drive significant visitation to Las Vegas.” An additional $2.8 million in tickets will be purchased and reimbursed to LVCVA on behalf of resort partners who will also use the event as a business opportunity.

Event technology company Cvent announced that after going public for a second time in 2021 through a special acquisition at a valuation of $5.3 billion, it will be acquired by a New York-based private equity fund managed by Blackstone for $4.6 billion. The highly anticipated deal represents an $8.50 per share price for stockholders, a 52% premium over the 90-day running average prior to Jan. 30, the day before reports of a potential transaction were published.

A wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) will be a significant minority investor alongside Blackstone as part of the transaction. Vista Equity Partners, the technology investment firm that is the majority stockholder of Cvent, has agreed to invest a portion of its proceeds as non-convertible preferred stock in financing for the transaction.

“Day-to-day operations will remain business-as-usual and Cvent will continue to operate as a separate and independent public company until the transaction closes, which is expected mid-year 2023, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions,” according to a statement from Reggie Aggarwal, Cvent CEO and founder.

“Blackstone is a strong, deep-pockets investor and this is a statement of confidence in the power of events,” said event technology watcher Corbin Ball in the hours after the acquisition was announced. “I have watched Reggie grow the company from the garage phase through the dotcom collapse and the irrational exuberance of investments and subsequent mergers and acquisitions during the pandemic. I hope he will continue to reinvest in the company now that it is going private again.”

According to filings, at the end of last year, Cvent had approximately 22,000 customers globally in the corporate, non-profit, higher education and hospitality sectors as of December 31, 2022. Since its founding in 1999, Cvent has helped manage more than 5 million events, and lists over 302,000 hotels and venues as of Dec. 31, 2022, on the Cvent Supplier Network, an online platform with tools to search, negotiate and contract with hotels and venues for event space. In 2021, the market for in-person, virtual and hybrid events was estimated at $30 billion.

Finding the perfect meeting space for your team and your mental health

Prioritizing your mental health and the emotional health of your attendees can be tough, especially when you’re a meeting planner on the go. Offering choices for mental recovery during an intensive, high-energy event is the most effective way to empower guests. That could be in the form of a quiet room, an early morning trail hike or yoga. Giving everyone agency to choose their preferred style of down time is integral to helping sustain the overall happiness of the attendees’ experience.

Bobby Jones, founder & CEO of Purple, Rock, Scissors (PRPL), who helms a strategic creative agency of over 60 content creators, engineers, strategists and managers, knows all too well how important it is to design a positive, team-building experience.

“Work environments that support mental health are not only a fundamental right, but are most likely to improve team satisfaction, retention and work performance,” said Jones. We asked him for his secrets for sourcing and designing a program that nurtures the whole attendee.

A Superhuman Experience

When Jones was on the search for a location to host a Summit Weekend for his PRPL team, the offerings of Lake Nona Wave Hotel were hard to pass up. The newly debuted Lake Nona Wave Hotel in Orlando, Florida, features 234 guest rooms and 17,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor meeting space.

“The location and accommodations were a big draw for us. There were peaceful areas and spaces to do yoga, meditate or just take scenic walks for those that wanted to slow down and take a mental break.”

Lake Nona is also the location of Limitless Minds, a coaching method co-founded by Superbowl star Russell Wilson that gives attendees the opportunity to explore competitive thinking and mental conditioning–a must-have in the high-octane world of meetings.

“We strive for attendees to leave feeling superhuman and [we] are seeing an evolution of corporate meetings that now prioritize health and wellness,” said James Tattersall, director of sales and marketing at Lake Nona Wave Hotel.

The 130,000-square-foot Lake Nona Performance Club (LNPC) features the first-ever Chopra Mind-Body Zone and Spa in collaboration with well-being ambassador Dr. Deepak Chopra. Activities offered include aerial yoga, ayurvedic massage, rock climbing, group cycling and barre classes.

The robust menu of offerings from LNPC includes body analyses with a take-home fitness plan, cognitive strength hand training and expert-led workshops on breathwork to combat stress, sleep optimization and longevity.

Re-connecting In Person

prs summit team on ropes at lake nona's adventure park

Jones noted that Zoom fatigue played a major factor in what he sought for team relaxation. “We wanted to make sure that whatever we planned would offer time to reconnect with each other while at the same time, finding ways to disconnect and relax.”

Read More: How to Zoom Your Events Like a Pro

The feedback Jones received from his team following the event was positive and affirming. “We had new teams that were so excited to meet everyone in person for the first time and others who hadn’t been to Orlando or the office in a while and were eager to reconnect,” said Jones. “The amount of fun and bonding time is something that everyone is still talking about.”

March is National Nutrition Month, highlighting the importance of proper diet and recovery—a vital area of life that often plays second string to the incessant voice in the back of your mind pressing you to grind on. Smart Meetings sat down with Jen Scheinman, a Registered Dietician Nutritionist and Nutrition Affairs Manager for Timeline Nutrition, a Swiss cellular health products company, to discuss the dos and don’ts for maintaining healthy eating habits and energy levels to power through any strenuous event.

This year’s theme for National Nutrition Month, produced by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, is “Fueling for The Future,” reining in a sustainability component focused on helping organizations examine the types of food served during events. This includes plant-based foods versus processed foods, for example, while also finding ways to curb food waste and throw away plastic and paper goods. However, National Nutrition Month extends beyond making the healthiest options available for attendees while reducing waste. Incorporating some sort of physical activity has also moved into the spotlight recently with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommending that planners include some kind of afternoon activity like a walk or yoga session.

Building Healthy Travel Habits

One of the most important aspects of an attendee’s success when maintaining healthy habits on the road is planning ahead to face challenges aligned with an individual’s overall goals.

Simply being prepared before departing for an event is one of the simpler ways for both attendees and meeting profs to ensure they have healthy options at their disposal—eliminating the risk of derailing otherwise healthy habits. “Taking a trip to the supermarket and stocking up on things like instant oatmeal or nuts or other healthy snacks when you know you’ll be staying overnight and there’s a refrigerator and taking advantage of that,” Scheinman says. “I’ve encouraged some of my clients to bring a tiny travel cooler with an icepack that they can use to store some yogurt,” she says, adding that other food items such as protein bars can easily be packed to “fill the gaps” if there’s not really much there that an attendee wants to eat or can eat.

“One of the main things for people to remember in terms of energy is blood sugar stabilization,” she says. “So, pairing a protein with some sort of carbohydrate and some sort of fat is really going to help keep blood sugar levels stable,” she says. This combination of macronutrients will ultimately lead to stable energy levels throughout the day. “That really keeps our energy levels from spiking and then dropping.”

Choose Wisely

Scheinman also shared a short list of foods that specifically support healthy energy levels and are commonly found at buffets and other concessions that offer attendees and event professionals meals and quick snacks including oatmeal, chicken, walnuts, berries and eggs. “Oatmeal and berries are both very high in fiber, which in addition to pairing with protein and fat, helps to stabilize blood sugar,” she says. They are also being high in micronutrients such as vitamins that help support energy levels.

Berries contain what are known as polyphenols, Scheinman says. These polyphenols “help to drive how our mitochondria produce energy as well,” noting that berries contain a specific polyphenol that the GI tract can “convert into something called Urolithin A that helps to drive our mitochondria to be healthier and produce more energy.” In a nutshell, berries improve gut health, which in turn make the tiny mitochondria that energize the body’s trillions of cells happy, adding a little pep in your step.

Staying light on one’s toes is definitely preferable when darting around an event because inhaling a massive burrito or sandwich, for example, will likely result in the beckoning urge to slink off to some deserted area for an impromptu nap. Chicken and eggs, Scheinman says, are “really great protein foods that aren’t going to weigh you down and will also help keep blood sugar levels at a stable level.” And not all proteins are created equal, Scheinman points out, explaining that eggs and chicken are very lean without a lot of saturated fat, especially when compared to beef or heavier fattier types of protein. Most importantly, chicken and eggs are “easily accessible,” she says.

Scheinman also had a list of foods that she says can lead to degradation of energy, which attendees should be wary of. “One food worth calling out is sugar,” she says. While that seems like common knowledge, Scheinman says that the sweet substance “often sneaks its way into places like caffeinated beverage that you might be drinking throughout the day or in the cookies and deserts that are constantly around at events.” The villainy of sugar relates back to blood sugar management, she explains. “We’re just spiking our blood sugar to give us this false sense of energy and then having that crash.”

Showcase unites CVBs, PCMA Visionary winners announced, DI’s new collaboration with Groups360

In a show of strength, the joint Power of Purpose Business Industry Week 2023 produced by Destinations International and PCMA in partnership with IACC, EIC, ASAE, National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals and the LGBT Meeting Professionals Organization brought the industry together at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland this week.

Celebrating Excellence

Winners of the PCMA Visionary Award were announced on Thursday, March 8^th and included: Jodi VanWoerkom, senior event manager, Association for Talent Development for Digital Experience Strategist of the Year; Tim Mathy, senior partner, SpeakInc. for Supplier of the Year; Gary Murakami, GTP, GLP, CMP-Fellow, CMM, DES vice president of sales and industry relations, Teneo Hospitality Group for Groundbreaker of the Year; Lakshmee Lachhman-Persad, accessibility advocate & consultant, Accessible Travel NYC for Community Advocate of the Year: Megan Finnell CMP, director, meetings & conferences, MGMA for Event Designer of the Year; Leah Lewis, director of meetings, American Gear Manufacturers Association, (Capital Chapter) for Outstanding Service to a Chapter or Region and Kristi Casale, vice president for meetings and continuing education, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry for Business Event Strategist of the Year.

Booking Insights

Destinations International presented its 2023 Showcase and also made an announcement that it would be forming a “strategic alliance” with Groups360, the technology company that offers online booking strategies for meeting planners and connects group travel organizations and hoteliers.

In a release, Destinations International said that “the partnership will drive a more efficient group process by aligning destinations with their planner customers and their meeting attendees quickly and easily using innovative booking technology powered by transparent data insights.”

“Streamlined solutions for destination organizations are here to stay,” said Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International, in the statement. “This new partnership provides our destination organization members with unparalleled, streamlined solutions to meet the evolving needs of their stakeholders. We are excited to offer our members access to the GroupSync platform with advanced data insights and technology.”

Groups360 and Destinations International will work with its over 650 member organizations across 23 countries and territories to research, develop and deploy technology to allow more efficient distribution of hotel room blocks and meeting spaces to meet the needs of event organizers, bringing groups to member destinations. The groups jointly said that the alliance will “empower destination organizations to better serve other destination-specific hospitality and entertainment providers with more effective means to fulfill the needs of event attendees.”

All Together

Along with game-changing technological solutions for meeting planners and award presentations, the POP event also included a PCMA Foundation Fashion Show, the IAEE Women’s Leadership Forum and Reception, and Destination International’s Convention Sales and Services Summit.

The mood among participants at the Showcase was decidedly upbeat with Showcase presenters like Alex Hurd, CMP, director of sales with Visit Newport, anticipating a new groundswell of interest in his historic venues this year on the debut of the second season of HBO’s “The Gilded Age” which is largely set in Newport.

Tracy Stuckrath, president and founder of thrive! meetings & events and Juanita Metzler, CMP, CGMP, SEPC, senior director of conventions at Travel Lane County-Eugene, Cascades & Coast were proud to display their Smart Women in Meetings Award winner status on laptops at their presentation booths while heralding the fact that meetings were indeed thriving in our post-post-Covid climate.

How combining business and pleasure at a meeting creates a win-win

Just because California boasts a $3.83 trillion economy—the largest of any state in the union and all but four countries—doesn’t mean we can’t have fun while getting business done. In fact, the state’s celebrated spirit of adventure—along with diverse geography for shipping, farming and outdoor activities—is part of the reason meeting there are so successful. Visit California’s annual conference, California Outlook Forum at SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento this week embodied the upbeat, fun and adventurous spirit the organization’s research showed as core attributes believed about the state.

safe credit union convention center sign — Safe Credit Union Convention Center

“California has always been a famously playful place. Its free-spirited, you-do-you attitude is contagious, inspiring people from near and far to lighten up, explore, try new things and follow their fun through its vast playground of beaches, mountains, deserts, canyons, Redwood forests, charming towns and urban wonders,” the group’s marketing positioning paper read, citing the invention there of Barbie in 1959, skateboarding in the 1940s, the martini in the 1800s, the gaming industry in the 1970s and Disneyland in 1955 as proof points of the state’s abundantly diverse, fun mindset.

Visit California President and CEO Caroline Beteta highlighted the diverse resources, experiences and intellectual capital that makes the Golden State such a popular place to meet.

Native California

The state is home to more Native American tribes on their ancestral lands than any other state. Beteta asked Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary of Natural Resources; Reid Milanovich, chairman of Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians; and Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association about the appropriate ways visitors can respectfully partner with Native communities to create vibrant experiences in their ancestral homes while practicing responsible tourism.

Read More: California: Golden Moments

Rupert said the first step is a phone call. Her organization regularly connects groups with local representatives to find ways to add cultural elements to any program. “Tribes are everywhere,” she said.

Chairman Milanovich pointed to The Spa at Séc-he, which will be opening in Palm Springs in April. It will feature private mineral baths, a cryotherapy chamber, float pod suites, a grounding room, an acoustic wellness lounge, a tranquility garden, a menthol dry sauna, a eucalyptus steam room, two halotherapy salt caves, a resort-style pool with a waterfall and grotto, a zero-edge mineral pool, four whirlpools, luxury cabanas, full-service salon with scalp treatment beds, a cafe and a poolside bar.

Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza, museum and Oasis Trail will follow soon after to tell the story of the connections of water, the land, animals and people in the valley at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains. This will be a vivid and convenient way for groups to share the voices of the people who populated the land where their ballroom now sits.

Reinventing Gathering

“The way we build arenas hadn’t really changed since the days of the Roman coliseum,” said Vivek Ranadive, co-owner of the NBA Sacramento Kings, and more recently, MLB farm team Sacramento River Cats, prefacing his approach to building Golden 1 Center for the Sacramento Kings.

He worked with IDEO U Design Thinking to eliminate friction in the event experience by controlling traffic, streamlining queues and making attending as easy as watching from home while entertaining at the highest levels and being the most sustainable operation possible.

“I am a big believer in the power sports can bring to a community—and it is a great investment,” he said.

Addressing his reason for stepping in to keep the team in Sacramento, this non-sports guy explained his love of his adopted home state. “California has a sense of opportunity; it is forever young. Sacramento is the capital of that state. The landscape and the people are beautiful,” he said.

His vision is to build a city that ushers in Civilization 3.0. “I want to do something bigger and better that supports everyone,” he said. On many nights, that starts with a call to “light the beam,” the purple laser that can be seen from passing airplanes when the Kings win.

“The beam has become a beacon of hope for the community,” Ranadive said. “We all have our journeys, and we have to celebrate each step along the way.”

The Future of Live

“You have to give people a reason to come to the event,” said Kevin Carr, vice president of Cvent, who joined a panel about the future of live events. “The natural beauty of the state attracts attendees interested in bleisure and plus-one opportunities and results in higher attendance,” he said.

California’s reputation as a destination drenched in food and fun is legendary. Darren Green, chief sales officer, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, moderated the panel and stressed the importance of sharing the message that California is also a place to do business because of its robust intellectual capital, the number of headquarters companies and the thought leaders who live here.

Carr shared that the data he is seeing from meeting professionals looking for destination shows that, while they may say price is the most important variable they consider, price is actually lower on the list than security and safety.

Mindy Gunn, global head of event marketing with Amazon Business who was also on the panel, agreed that having the destination work with the organizer to secure the area needs to be done thoughtfully rather than as security theater. “The worst thing is to pretend it isn’t a problem,” she said.

Green suggested working with the destination early to access free resources available, something that can be accomplished easily by using the tag the CVB feature through Cvent.

How to mix business and pleasure at Margaritaville

When you have the choice of giving up or going on, what do you choose? Luckily, enough meeting professionals chose perseverance that the industry came back from an unprecedented disruption stronger. Attendees at Smart Meetings Extraordinary Experience at Margaritaville Palm Springs this week learned from inspirational “model of diversity” and disability warrior Bean Gill how to reframe setbacks to be grateful for what you have.

bean gill wearing leopard print shirt and brown leather pants on stage — Bean Gill

“I had to learn how to love myself disability and all,” said the entrepreneur after explaining that a virus left her unable to walk at the age of 30. “I had to dismantle my biases and rebuild what disability means to me after growing up in a culture where differences were not valued,” she said.

Gill has spent the last 10 years working on herself and having a lot of random conversations with family and strangers to instill basic etiquette. 1. Make eye contact and let people with visible disabilities feel heard and seen. 2. Don’t use accessible bathroom stalls because they may be needed in a hurry, or, better yet, advocate for universal design so every body can have the room to do their business. 3. Never park in accessible parking spots, even just for a minute.”

Meeting professionals can go beyond these basics by providing a voice to let people with different life experiences tell their stories. “You provide hope,” she said.

Bean also advocated for meeting professionals to be kind to themselves, physically and mentally. “We only have one meat sack; we have to take care of it,” she said.

Bean suggested thinking about what brought joy in the past (perhaps producing in-person events) and doing that again. “Fill yourself up. Without joy, we aren’t living. We are just existing,’ she warned.

License to Chill

Margaritaville Palm Springs redesigned the historic Riviera Hotel to bring joy, whether that means lounging in a cabana at one of the two pool decks with a drink by the firepit at the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar, relaxing on the patio in one of 398 light, bright, recently renovated guest rooms or taking a loaner cruiser bike into downtown Palm Springs for some shopping.

A dedicated conference center with 40,000 sq. ft. of meeting space surrounded by outdoor spots for meals, receptions and fun team-building options mixes business with pleasure seamlessly.

Beware Confirmation Bias

For those looking for certainty, ALHI CEO Mike Dominguez warned that there is a lot of conflicting news out there about everything from whether remote work is a passing fad or a permanent shift to a possible recession and continued inflation “My advice for overthinkers is to just focus on the next step,” he said.

Smart tip from @M_Dominguez @SmartMeetings Extraordinary Experience in Palm Springs. “We aren’t in digital society or physical society. We are in blended society.” pic.twitter.com/ePIDhUq3xb

— JT Long (@SmartMtgsJT) March 6, 2023

Your reality may depend as much on what news media you pay attention to or your preconceived notions as it does on what is happening on the ground. “Affective forecasting says the way you see the future is affected by how you feel and the newspaper you read has an impact on that,” he said.

For a lot of us, it is difficult to imagine any deviation from the status quo. When it is light for a long time, it is hard to prepare for darker days. When it is dark hard, it is difficult to adjust to the light. “The reality is that the challenge of performing while transforming has become the leadership test of our time,” he said.

Dominguez’ sources are predicting a recovery in luxury travel, continued inflation, a return to regular seasonal trends, continued mergers and acquisitions in the hotel space and “an aching desire to be around people.”

He concluded, “We aren’t living in a digital society or a physical society. We are living in blended society,” he said.

Mix It Up

To help everyone adapt to the rapid pace of change, Smart Meetings National Southern California Extraordinary Experience brought together meeting planners and suppliers across the country to share news, explore the destination through the lens of local performances (including a surprise serenading from Modern Men, Coachella Valley Men’s Chorus with excerpts from their production of MANILOW! Songs that Make the Whole World Sing.), Palm Springs Art Museum and an epic treasure hunt that tested their knowledge of mid-century pop and each other.

Everyone left challenged to do one thing to advance their professional and person career: make a new friend and move out of their comfort zone by considering a place beyond the usual suspects when sourcing the next event.

Some extended novel exercise to the abundant gifting. They could try a new snack in the gifting marketplace, opt for sustainable, wood sunglasses from Joycoast, the softest leisurewear from Essential Bodywear, a hip new timepiece from Citizen Watch or adopting a succulent to take home from Halo Branded Solutions.

“We want you to leave inspired and empowered,” said Smart Meetings founder and CEO Marin Bright, the host for the occasion. That sense of awe even extended to the skies where at the opening reception, a light experience from Go Drone Shows had everyone ahhhing from the pool deck.

Annette Gregg, CEO, SITE

Smart Women in Meetings: Industry Leader winner and CEO of SITE Annette Gregg sat down with Smart Meetings on the brink of SITE’s 50th anniversary. Gregg gained experience during her more than 3 years at Meeting Professionals International (MPI), moving from senior vice president of the experience team to chief revenue officer.

Gregg discusses trends in incentive travel, the importance of mentorship, being a woman in the industry and what the future holds as we enter the new era of the post-pandemic meetings industry.

“Whether it’s millennials or Gen Z, they’re looking for authentic and purpose-driven experiences.”

Q: What made you commit to the meetings and events industry?

A: I went to a fairly large association, my first job in our industry, and I was on the conferences and exhibits team for Food Marketing Institute. It was just amazing—the booths were so creative and clever, from live entertainment to unveiling a new type of product and the booth activation side.

I loved every bit of it, I loved the complexity and the creativity of it. And of course, the travel. And I thought boy, that’s another thing I want in my career, the global lens of being able to be exposed to all these different cultures. It was just addictive to me.

Q: What is trending in incentives right now?

A: Right now, especially where we are coming out of the pandemic and so many people are still working remotely or working in a hybrid fashion, it is rewards that get people together in community. And it’s usually in a very unique and exciting destination. The way good incentive programming is working is that you’re getting these people immersed in the destination.

These programs now are really as much outside the property as inside. These participants want to experience the local flavor. They’re really looking for authentic and participatory parts they get to do with their team. And I think that’s what the world needs right now—more community. When you have shared experiences, it creates those powerful bonds.

Q: What is the future for incentive travel?

A: I think it’s underscored by the age that’s coming into the workplace now. By 2025, 75% of our workforce will be under the age of 35. Those are the people that are going on these incentive programs. Those are the top achievers.

And those generations, whether it’s millennials or Gen Z, are looking for authentic and purpose-driven experiences. They want a hands-on activity where they can leave the community better than they found it. They want ethical practices and sustainability. Our members that are planning these programs create immersive, participatory and purpose-driven programming.

You’re looking at a lot of emerging destinations. You have a lot of buyers and planners that are kind of falling back on the safe destinations right now, because it’s just still that post pandemic haze. But you are starting to see a little bit more venturing further out. You’re going to see these destinations that you wouldn’t have considered before. But now, they’re here, like Slovenia. They’re also seeing that Saudi Arabia is pouring a lot of their investment into incentive travel.

Q: You mentioned you were mentored by female supervisors in the first 10 years of your career. How did that shape you as an industry leader?

A: I didn’t really have anything to compare it to until I started getting a little bit more aware of unconscious bias in the workplace, how women are still 25% behind in salary and how we still have to fight for our seat.

I look back at those women bosses, and I was so appreciative because I felt that I could see the differences in how they approached mentorship – how they were including me in conversations, bringing me in to develop me, supportive of hiring a more diverse workplace, more collaborative and diplomatic in finding solutions. They weren’t jealous of my ambition or threatened by that.

Q: What advice would you give for professionals mentoring the new generation of women in the meetings industry?

A: Women need to find their voice. Women need to have an opinion about things. Don’t feel that hard work alone is enough. There’s a lot of hard-working people out there. It’s okay if not everyone agrees with you. I think women still struggle with wanting to be liked. Secondly, embrace office politics. If you’re not networking, intentionally creating strategic relationships with people of influence, you’re really missing out and you’re going to get passed up.

Q: SITE is celebrating its 50th anniversary. What can you share about what is to come?

A: It’s really critical, because there’s an homage and a deference to what got you where you are. There’s also a real realistic knowledge that what got you here is not going to get you there. So, what does the next generation of SITE members want and need from their association? It’s a real opportunity for us to look forward. We are spending some time looking at that value proposition for the new event professional.

Q: In a post-pandemic world, are meeting professionals still joining associations? Are membership levels returning to that of pre-pandemic numbers? If not, are they expected to?

A: I think associations have an opportunity in the post-pandemic world to be the community that people are lacking when working in a remote environment. We can fill that gap. Most of the association’s memberships in our space did drop during Covid but we’re seeing numbers coming back to pre-pandemic levels.

One woman’s approach to bringing other technicians on the AV career track

“I have been referred to for years as ‘the AV guy,’” Anca Platon Trifan, CMP, DES, founder, creator and event producer of Tree-fan Events, shared within minutes of jumping on our Zoom call. “Words matter and we need to change the vernacular. Otherwise, we are assigning that position to a certain type of person and it makes it difficult for a woman to picture herself in that role.”

It turns out, Trifan has trunks full of ideas for broadening the definition of who can be an event producer. Let’s learn more about her journey and what she thinks it will take to bring different points of view to the industry.

A Long Journey

Trifan started in radio in high school in Romania and taught herself about equipment and programming all through college. In order to grow in her chosen profession, she found ways to make money to come to the United States to learn about audiovisual production and attend training in New Jersey on a scholarship, working multiple odd jobs.

Anca Platon Trifan

She found her way to the West Coast and took a job repairing computers to get her toes in at a production company. She worked hard to learn everything she could by organizing the warehouse and creating a system for checking equipment in and out and quality testing it. “I learned about the gear before I ever had a chance to use it in a production setting,” she said. In the process, she found mentors in the husband-wife team that owned the company.

Few and Far Between

“I would like to think things are changing, but last week I was in Las Vegas for a show with 330 technicians working a major event and only eight were women,” said Trifan. Many times, she is still the only woman on a crew.

The biggest barrier to entry is training, she reported. “There is still a stigma to a man and a woman working one-on-one,” she said. She has also heard, “You are too pretty to worry about these things,” an especially upsetting comment for a woman who takes her wellness and strength training seriously.

Another wall is simple logistics. “It is difficult to juggle a family and the long days,” she admits. She was traveling for three weeks on back-to-back shows and her husband, a man she described as “a huge supporter,” carried the household chores and the family obligations with two children on his shoulders.

“Not every woman has that support system, and many carry the load themselves,” she said. People who have to be home to pick up the kids miss opportunities and are not top of the list when jobs come up, she observed.

Passion Project

“If I were a young woman again, if I weren’t as resilient, passionate and strong headed enough to go through or over walls, I would probably consider something else,” Trifan reflected. “It is tiring because you have to prove yourself every time.”

Some men, particularly older men, still have to be convinced to take orders from a small woman, she reported, even if she knows her stuff. “I am here because I am confident in my skill set,” she said.

Those skills didn’t come easily or by accident. “I had to teach myself a lot of things because no one else would teach me. Having that support and another woman to talk to is so powerful. It is a completely different type of energy,” she said.

Trifan approached her job as a lone wolf in the beginning, but eventually realized there are other women feeling lonely, so she started reaching out on LinkedIn and Instagram to build community. “My male friends hadn’t experienced what I had seen and heard. I wanted to create opportunities for women to share their experiences in camaraderie.”

“I would be so much more advanced in my career and what I want to achieve if I had more support along the way. I have so much I want to do, but I also feel like I am behind all the time,” she said.

Event Boss

After years of working for someone else, Trifan realized she could be benefitting from all that work. “Sometimes I say that I am the worst boss ever. I had to learn work-life balance and had to be dragged out of my home office. I had to figure out a plan for myself to keep myself mentally healthy.” Even pregnant she was working physical jobs until the very last minute and only during her second pregnancy did she realize the need to cherish the time with her young children. “I don’t want to burn myself out again,” she said.

A Chorus of Voices

Trifan’s hope is that now that more people are talking about diversity and inclusion in the industry as a whole and event production in particular, it will be more difficult to ignore the calls for change. “The more voices are added to the fire, the louder it gets. That is a process. It isn’t going to happen overnight,” she cautioned.

“It’s just a matter of time, but I have faith, given enough choir of voices, people can have a home life and a work life.” And maybe on the next job, she will be hailed as an “AV tech” instead of an “AV guy”. Maybe.

Flexible event space gives broadcast convention more with less

The pandemic forced cinephiles to wait two years to reunite in Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB Show in 2022. The conference is slated to return to Vegas in April for its 100th anniversary with an expected 65,000 people.

Smart Meetings spoke with Chris Brown, executive vice president and managing director of global connections and events, about the process of coming back into the event space, what will stay the same and what will be different.

A Euphoric Return

Like so many other events, NAB had to do a lot of “twisting and turning” to find the right approach to coming back. By the time the 2022 show was approaching, Brown and his team noted a drop in Covid cases linked to improved weather conditions.

“We developed policies,” Brown says. “We changed them 64 times, and then we tried to whittle things down to where we thought it was logical,” he said. The policy initially required proof of vaccination to attend, but eventually was changed to only requiring proof of a negative test.

Those who have gone to the NAB Show know how interactive it is. Pre-Covid, attendees probably remember rows and rows of cameras from Sony to Canon that allowed them to test out the products in real time.

To minimize issues, Brown’s team recommended putting up partitions and scheduling attendees to interact with the products to limit the amount of people in an area and made sure there were sanitation products available to sanitize after using.

“We used a communication campaign around our guidelines for exhibitors to just keep reminding them to be cognizant of these kinds of things,” said Brown.

Despite their efforts to create social distance cushions, they were no match for attendees need to reconnect after the two-year pause.

“None of us were sure what to expect there. People were hugging people and were definitely shaking hands—people were touching each other,” Brown said. “People were just so ready to get out and be with other people. The overwhelming sort of feeling around the event was just almost a type of euphoria. It was the most feel-good event that I can remember in that in that regard.”

A Matter of Space

For the 2023 event, Brown and his team luckily had a lot of space to work with to give exhibitors and attendees enough room to move and interact within the Las Vegas Convention Center after the expansion. With a total of 2,934,153 sq. ft. to utilize, Brown’s team organized the aisles in the convention space to be slightly wider.

“To the naked eye, I don’t think it was readily noticeable,” Brown said. “That is something we will continue doing into this year’s show, mostly because we can.”

Create, Connect and Capitalize

side view of attendees at event

A major change to NAB in 2022 was the creation of three content spaces to better organize the event around the themes of “create,” “connect” and “capitalize”. These areas were meant to reflect the organization of the industry as well as provide a more simplified, organized way for attendees to navigate the event.

Brown also shared the creation of a fourth additional element in the show’s organization. “We also added a fourth destination, which we feel is something that kind of cuts across all three of the pillars and that’s intelligent content, which is all about data and how data is affecting how content was created and distributed.”

Within each of the areas, NAB created experiential zones that allow attendees to learn about featured categories. “Because we’ve never done this before and it was somewhat ambitious. We debated a lot about whether we should just try one or two.”

Brown’s team eventually settled on launching five zones, each containing multiple facets that included special demo zones and a peer-to-peer networking area.

“We wanted to give attendees a place where they can kind of go use it as almost a home base,” said Brown. “It would give them information on what they should be looking for out on the show floor, what trends are happening and what companies are showing.”

A Healthy, Strong Industry

After being away for a few years, Brown is hopeful that this year’s attendees will feel empowered. “We want to reinforce and make sure people walk away thinking, ‘wow, that is clearly the most important, top annual gathering for this industry, and it’s healthy and it’s coming back strong.’”