IMEX America, the largest meetings industry trade show in the U.S., will be bigger than ever September 10-12 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center at The Venetian® | The Palazzo® in Las Vegas.

You already have a job as a meeting/event planner. It’s even possible to move up in your company over the coming months and years if you work hard.

Asking planners what their biggest challenges are is like asking a firefighter what’s the most difficult part of responding to and extinguishing a multiple-alarm office building fire.

Before the economic crash of 2008, team-building events were often passed over in favor of conferences or fun-filled parties, according to Sharon E. Sullivan, president of Sullivan Custom Planning Inc., a full-service destination management company that serves New England and is based in Providence, Rhode Island.

There are many reasons for planners to consider all-inclusive resorts as a setting for meetings, events and incentives. Today’s all-inclusives are not the typically downscale properties of yesteryear.

Emerging destinations aren’t necessarily undiscovered places. Savannah, Georgia, one of our selected destinations, was founded in 1733 and Columbia, South Carolina, in 1786.

Companies are invited to different conferences and incentive travel opportunities all the time, and must choose which events make sense to attend and which to skip

Attractive destination? Check. Great venues, a solid lineup of sponsors? Check, and check.

Establishing and maintaining good relationships with suppliers and vendors is crucial because they implement so many visible and behind-the-scenes details that can make or break meetings.

One thing Amanda Armstrong, CMP, assistant vice president at Enterprise Holdings Inc., as learned in her career is to “Become an expert in areas that excite you on a daily basis.”