Long gone are the days where wellness was an afterthought at a meeting or event. Today, health and wellness sit front and center for attendees, with an ever-expanding view of what wellness at a meeting can entail. Most meeting attendees say that wellness offerings improve their overall experience at an event, with about half reporting they feel more positively about the event after a wellness experience. Those experiences can be anything from traditional stretch or yoga breaks to meditation in a quiet zone.

One of the emerging trends at meetings is offering wellness lounges for personalized care, according to Dami Kim, executive director of corporate wellness at Body and Brain Wellness. “Associations are moving beyond traditional lounges to create wellness lounges where attendees can pause, reset and recharge,” Kim says. These spaces can offer everything from quick chair massages to education sessions on wellness and mindfulness.

At a recent National Black MBA Association conference, Kim set up wellness spaces to offer personalized 5-to-10-minute sessions such as aura readings, individualized practice recommendations and mini Brain Breaks, which can be programmed before or after keynotes or between learning blocks. Kim’s Brain Breaks feature stretching exercises, mindful breathwork or neuroplasticity exercises to help prevent mid-day fatigue. According to Kim, attendees consistently shared how these moments helped them step away from overstimulation and return refreshed, focused and energized.

Elaine Richardson, vice president, conference & events for the National Black MBA Association, who plans the Annual Conference and Expo, which generally draws from 8,000 to 10,000 attendees, worked with Kim to create a wellness area using one of their show floor spaces as a quiet area for a quick meditation or to put on noise canceling headphones and sit. “Then we did a lot of work with her on having people get up and do some standing stretches, some chair stretches, things that they could do in what they were wearing to try to give them a break,” Richardson says.

Kim also incorporated a type of palm reading for their executive group. “We had an executive experience group last year that she did that for and talked through with the executives about how to manage their energy,” says Richardson.

She added that, on the show floor, for student job seekers, they scheduled neck stretches, chair stretches and other wellness options that they could do in business clothes without working up a sweat.

This year, they are offering a quiet room, says Richardson, who explains,“It’s a low sensory space with some seating and low lighting and not a lot of noise and smell.” They will also be placing Nook Pods in their lounge spaces on the show floor. “If you just need a place to sit and put your headphones on, we’ve actually incorporated those into the show for this year.”

At the recent American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2025 meeting in Washington, D.C., within the expo hall, ACS reserved a booth for its Wellness Lounge. “We offered massage chairs, hand reflexology and mini golf,” says Kimberly Wang, senior lead, meeting operations for ACS. “In the past, we’ve had activities such as mind breaks, a puppy lounge, pickleball, aura readings and an oxygen bar. We plan experiences related or inspired by the location of the meeting and time of year.” The oxygen bar was offered at a meeting in Denver, and at ACS Spring 2026 in Atlanta, they will likely offer basketball to tie in with March Madness.

According to Wang, attendees have provided positive feedback. “We enjoy seeing the Wellness and Serenity Lounge being used, whether it’s to take a quick break (nap), pray, meditate or a space for people to have some quiet during a busy meeting.  The Wellness Lounge on the expo floor has been a hit. Slots are constantly filled, and attendees enjoy the activities.”  She adds that ACS is trying to incorporate more health and wellness into events, such as meditation and sound baths.

One of the other factors contributing to the health of attendees at meetings is to not over program the event. Richardson says that they have been adjusting their program to be less strenuous for attendees. “We used to program like 20 hours of the day, and we looked at where people were and what they were doing, and they were spending a lot of time just sitting in the hallway, talking to other people as opposed to going to sessions,” she says.

Now she sets up more gaps in the program if attendees want to sit and plug in their phones or talk to someone. She says, “I think for us, it’s building a program now that builds in this idea that that wellness conceptually means not overwhelming people with three full days worth of stuff.”

Richardson adds that their big wellness push this year is going to be a couple of break activations where they talk to people about how they can manage their energy. They are also focusing on offering a comfortable safe space where attendees can relax.

Offering incentive programs like this one from Olympian Meetings is a great way to keep your team feeling refreshed and motivated. Photo credit: Joanna Salazar

Personalization of wellness opportunities is another trend, according to David T. Stevens, wellness architect at Olympian Meeting. “There’s a lot of opportunity for personalization and connecting to wellness offerings that resonate with your attendees. We have an association client that has a ton of attendees that are outdoors and work with heavy equipment all the time, so they’re offering skin cancer screenings and hearing tests.”

Cole Sales, senior manager, conference events & meeting planning for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, used a personalized touch at the association’s last annual conference, which draws some 12,000 attendees. “We have a 5k run/walk on one morning, while other attendees may want to be focused more on preventative care, which was the thought process behind our onsite skin cancer screenings.”

The association’s 2026 conference, which will be held in Orlando, will offer a wellness booth on the trade show floor. “It’s really going to serve as a location for people to stop by, to engage, to activate in whatever wellness means for them,” Sales says. “It’s essential to meet people where they are and to create some programming around that, realizing that not everybody’s the same.”

He notes that health and wellness tend to be something his audience puts off, because the audience is predominantly middle-aged men who work outside of the golf course. “It’s not necessarily something that’s top of mind for them. And I think that we try to position our health and wellness offerings to them, to meet them where they are while they’re at our trade show,” he adds.

Sales is also looking into having service dogs in the wellness center and also walking the trade show floor as well. “It’s providing not only recognition and awareness for a local charity that we’re going to partner with in what they provide as a service, but also awareness of the thought process and the idea behind having a companion,” he says.

Hannah Buchholz, director, meeting services for Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), which hosts a yearly Women Veterans Empowerment Retreat that focuses on the holistic well-being of women, also offers a personalized approach. The attendees include veterans with spinal cord injuries and diseases, like MS and ALS. “In addition to hosting leadership sessions, we incorporate wellness activities such as seated yoga, adaptive fitness and meditation throughout the program. We also host journaling workshops, art therapy and peer-to-peer support groups,” she says.

PVA actively secures instructors in the local community who can provide adaptive programs for their attendees. “Morning Meditation has been a focus at PVA’s Retreat for several years to help calm the mind before learning,” Buchholz says.

PVA events cover a variety of formats from board meetings to education conferences, retreats and recreation events. “Each year, we find more and more attendees want healthier choices incorporated into their PVA experiences, from their food choices and how they spend their time to the activities they take part in,” Buchholz says.

The Caesars Entertainment Wellness Summit showcased options such as this sound bath at Caesars Palace. Photo courtesy of Caesars Entertainment

She adds that she discovered new programming options at the recent Caesars Entertainment Wellness Roadshow such as somatic breathing and aromatherapy devices that they hope to incorporate into future PVA events.

Caesars Entertainment’s six-city wellness roadshow earlier this year was designed to educate meeting professionals about the value of wellness at events and demonstrate its new wellness menus, which allow planners to tailor wellness offerings to their attendees, whether it be a group hike in the Las Vegas Valley of Fire, a somatic breathwork session for attendees or wellness talks during an event.

Caesars also offers wellness-focused catering options, including the Detox Break, which can include anything from immunity shots to house made ancient grain bars, and the Spa Rejuvenation Break, which features fresh fruits and an assortment of veggies with hummus and cucumber-mint water.

According to Caesars, more than 50% of post event survey respondents now plan on incorporating wellness elements or activations at their upcoming events.

Food and beverage is a centerpiece topic for wellness. When it comes to F&B options with wellness in mind, Richardson says her meetings have shifted to more diverse, healthier choices, including incorporating black-owned food trucks. The next annual conference and expo will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

“We’re really working through with the building on how we can offer not only lighter food options, but options that give real choices to people who are dining — vegetarian or vegan or gluten free, or dairy free, or something along those lines,” Richardson says. “Then what we’re going to try to do this year, which we haven’t done before, is to make some maps that say, if you’re looking for this, here’s where it is.”

For the next Golf Association meeting, Sales says the association will partner with the Orange County Convention Center, which grows fresh produce onsite, to incorporate healthier food options.

Stevens says the biggest trend in wellness at meetings is the data showing that people are not drinking. “We have figures like the Gallup Poll they just did that something like 46% of the adult population in the U.S. doesn’t drink anymore at all,” he says. “Every single demographic is down by way of the percentage of people that drink, and the perception of drinking being bad for you is up across the board as well.”

He recalls a conversation with some attendees who didn’t drink at last year’s IMEX America and they said they tend to skip out on after-hour networking events because they don’t think there is going to be anything for them. “They have been ‘othered’ for so long, so I think a communication plan of being proactive and promoting that you’ll have a sober, inclusive happy hour or something of that nature, so that people understand that there’s going to be something for them. That is a huge step of getting people back to the conversation.”

Stevens also notes that the word mocktail is no longer being used. He says, “For the people who don’t drink, they’re like, well, I don’t need a fake drink. I just want something different. And the people in recovery, they want to know, is there fake alcohol in it, or is there not fake alcohol? A lot of people in recovery don’t want anything to do with that flavor profile.”

Other trends include wellness gifting with a purpose, according to Kim, especially for VIPs.

“Conference giveaways are evolving into experiential wellness gifting — keepsakes that nurture both body and mind,” Kim says. Some popular options she offers include an experience that combines aura imaging with chakra crystal bracelet matching, where attendees discover their stress/relaxation levels and energy flow. Using personalized kinesiological testing, they receive a handmade bracelet to strengthen their weakest chakra and bring harmony to their whole system.

“We’ve also introduced meditation gifting experiences, pairing guided resets with meditation balm and calming candy — gifts attendees take home to extend the wellness experience,” Kim says. She notes that the activations consistently receive great feedback, especially from VIPs and special guests. “Many describe them as the most memorable and thoughtful gift they’ve ever received at an event — a blend of science, wellness and personalization that makes them feel truly valued.”

Some groups are also incorporating technology into their wellness offerings, which can be options such as projection mapping a calming scene using immersive visuals, such as a nature setting, to using VR for a meditation session in a natural backdrop. Stevens says Olympian Meetings now partners with a virtual reality company that has a seven-minute session that completely reset your brain. It triggers both alpha and beta waves over the course of seven minutes.

“The idea is that it resets you, almost like you took a nap, but you never actually went to sleep. So your attention span is back, you feel different. Your stress is gone. It brings you fully present into the moment like a meditation session would, and then you’re able to return back to your probably unrealistic pace that at the conference,” says Stevens

For planners, the number of options continues to expand on how to incorporate wellness in meetings and events.

“From wellness lounges to purposeful gifting, associations are discovering that wellness isn’t just an add-on — it’s a driver of engagement and connection. Attendees return to sessions more alert, satisfied and open to networking, which strengthens both learning outcomes and community bonds,” Kim says.  AC&F