All posts by Maura Keller

As companies continue looking for ways to maximize budgets while creating experiences that strengthen engagement and reward performance, planners say cruise-based meetings deserve serious consideration.

Contracts are where the real work of corporate event planning happens, even though they rarely get the attention that floor plans, menus and keynote speakers do.

For corporate meeting planners, that versatility is one of the biggest reasons Texas continues to rise on the meetings map. The state doesn’t just offer convention centers and hotel ballrooms across its diverse cities and towns — it offers experiences.

Florida’s year-round warm weather, strong air connectivity, extensive hotel inventory, sophisticated resorts and wide range of meeting venues allow planners to create programs that serve very different objectives.

For many associations, booking meetings three, four, even five years out is simply the reality of the job. The question isn’t whether to do it — it’s how to do it well.

Ask most association meeting planners what they think of when someone mentions a casino resort and gaming is probably the last thing on their minds. It is certainly something attendees look forward to, but what draws planners to book again and again, conference after conference, is everything else.

For association meeting planners, site visits have evolved far beyond a simple walkthrough of guestrooms and ballrooms.

Every destination claims to offer culture, cuisine and unique experiences. Louisiana genuinely delivers them. That distinction matters because attendees have become increasingly sophisticated about the difference between an experience manufactured for tourists and one rooted in the actual identity of a place.

Not long ago, selecting a destination for an association’s annual conference or meeting followed a well-established formula.

Walk into any major convention center today and you’ll notice something different — something subtle, but unmistakable. It’s not just the soaring exhibit halls or the high-tech screens, but the way the entire space feels from the moment you arrive.