The U.S. is just two years out from when Vivek Murthy, former U.S. surgeon general, published “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” in 2023. As the country emerged from the Covid era, Murthy’s “advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community” considered that re-establishing human connection would become a national health priority.
In the event arena, where face-to-face meetings are particularly valued, professionals are taking note of how a new enthusiasm for networking is changing the shape of agendas.
“We’re seeing a shift in what attendees value most, with people looking for meaningful experiences and high-quality networking opportunities rather than traditional, content-heavy programming,” said Nick Aldinger, CEO of IBL Events, one of Idaho’s largest producers of consumer tradeshows. “This change in expectations has prompted planners to rethink formats and deliver more personalized, interactive events.
“The events industry in the Treasure Valley remains strong heading into 2026, continuing the momentum from record-breaking years in 2023 and 2024 as we emerged from the Covid era,” continued Aldinger, who produced 48 events in 2024 and is on track to produce slightly more in 2025.
The main challenge Aldinger is facing for meetings in Boise is venue capacity.
“Demand continues to outpace availability, making it difficult to secure space for events, especially those requiring larger or more flexible layouts,” he said, but having a small-town footprint is what attracts many attendees in the first place.
“It feels very much like a salt-of-the-earth place,” said Leslie Rosa, partnerships manager for Reality Capture Network (RCN), an event services company and community offering cutting-edge technology. “You’re not surrounded by fast-paced energy, like New York City or Las Vegas.”
Andrew Heidt, vice president of sales at Visit Boise, enthusiastically agrees.
“Meetings continue to favor tier-two and tier-three cities for fresh experiences and budget-friendly options,” he offered.
There are also many opportunities for outdoor recreation in the area, including walking, biking or scootering along the Boise River Greenbelt, Heidt noted.
[Related: Technology Meetings Are Changing Perceptions of Boise, Idaho]
“Fishing or floating the Boise River [seasonal], city parks, Bogus Basin’s year-round activities and extensive hiking and biking trails start right at your hotel,” he added. “Attendees are seeking unique meeting spaces outside of the hotel, a desire to get outside and additional networking opportunities beyond typical happy hour socials.”
Here’s how planners can create a new kind of networking experience in Boise.
Party Animals
Networking may look different, but that doesn’t mean planners should eschew happy hours—just that they should make them spectacular! In the case of RCN’s annual conference in Boise, which took place September 30-October 2, 2025, its four happy-hour mixers were some of the key attractions of the gathering.
“Happy hours are always extremely busy,” Rosa said. “Nobody wants to leave. They’re there until the very, very end.”
RCN had one happy hour set in Boise State University’s Albertsons Stadium and a casino night in one of the stadium’s four patio-style Sideline Boxes.
“[The football field] was just nominated for the second year in a row by USA Today as the best sports attraction in the nation,” Rosa explained. “It’s famous for having blue turf.”
For its casino night, RCN used the top-floor, 5,000-square-foot Skyline Box at the Stueckle Sky Center at Albertsons Stadium, which has a 360-degree view comprising the football field and a panorama of Boise. RCN also organized and hosted a karaoke happy hour on the stage of its main venue, the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, also located at Boise State University.
“All of that is to make people feel comfortable, excited to be here,” Rosa said.
Boise’s Tech Milieu Is a Bonus
The brainchild of surveyor/scanner Matthew Byrd, who launched RCN in 2020, “reality capture” refers to processes that non-invasively draft infrastructure and property for study or implementation. (Recent examples feature a 3D map of Alcatraz by Pete Kelsey, owner and founder of Seattle-based VCTO Labs, who actually slept in a cell and used a variety of modern tools such as scanners, drones, etc., to draft every inch of the former prison island.)
RCN’s audience comprises built-environment professionals, including “anyone within the architecture, engineering and construction space,” Rosa said. “The community is quite broad. In our fifth edition, we’re continuing to elevate the content and the types of exhibitors. We’re making sure we not only provide relevant content and relevant ways, but we continue conversations and help people think outside of the box.”
[Related: How Pacific Northwest Convention Centers Are Agents of Positive Change]
The techy attendees blended quite nicely into Boise’s tech-rich business environment. Organizations like the Idaho Tech Council, Innovate Boise, Boise State University and Visit Boise, as well as local tech industries, assist with the conference. Boise has a large semiconductor company, Micron, that RCN partners with as well.
New Opportunities
While 2025 has been a year of unpredictability for most, Boise is looking at the bright side of things, contemplating how to find ways around unexpected obstacles to turn them into unexpected opportunities.
“In 2025, there has been a slight decrease in RFP demand, due to prevailing uncertainty,” Heidt said. “Attendance levels are a concern, prompting groups to adopt a more conservative approach to blocking hotel rooms and managing attrition.”
RCN, however, took that attendance-level concern and flipped it on its head.
“For years, we’ve had attendance from 19 different countries and about 44 states,” Rosa said. But for the 2025 conference, RCN reached out locally throughout the state and, as a result, grew its attendance to about 600, which was “slightly higher than usual.”
Boise Meetings and Infrastructure News
The growth doesn’t stop at RCN’s attendance numbers, though. It’s happening throughout Boise as a destination, too, in the form of airport upgrades, hotel rooms and more.
“Domestically, the Boise Airport currently offers nonstop flights to 26 destinations in the U.S., making it convenient for meeting attendees to travel here,” Heidt said.
The airport itself is getting major upgrades, including a new concourse, rental car facility, parking garages and retail and dining options.
More hotel rooms are coming online, too, as renovations at the 250-room Grove Hotel concluded last month. (The Grove is attached to the city’s main meeting venue, Boise Centre.)
In addition, a new AC/Element by Westin concept is scheduled to open downtown in spring 2026 with 296 guest rooms and 9,000 square feet of meeting space.
New restaurants added to Boise’s growing dining scene include Hemlock, Oldspeak, Belmont Brewing, Bardenay and Corsio Italian.
A Passion for Penthouses
Sun Valley’s Ketchum, located about two hours and 45 minutes from Boise, is experiencing a spurt of private penthouse development within its hotel inventory.
This past August, a plan to convert the 11 top-floor rooms of the currently 99-room Limelight Ketchum into two condominium units was approved. The new condos will bring the current number of residences at the property to 16 while decreasing the property’s general room inventory to 90. (Residence owners may choose but are not obligated to participate in the rental program.)
Meanwhile, West Hollywood-based Viceroy Hotels & Resorts plans to open the 73-room The Harriman, a Viceroy Resort in 2026, along with 12 private penthouses and a full-service spa, fitness center, outdoor swimming pool, observatory and fine dining. At press time, The Harriman hotel is set to feature 3,000 square feet and seating for 140 for banquets and 260 theater-style. Small meeting facilities are available for up to 20.
Originally envisioned as the Appellation Sun Valley, the hotel is now named for railroad baron and Sun Valley developer W. Averell Harriman, as is the 18.9-mile Harriman Trail, located eight miles outside of Ketchum at the Sawtooth National Recreation Area Headquarters.
The penthouse passion derives from humans’ natural desire to take in beautiful vistas from a height, but there are a few other reasons. Sun Valley is home to the nation’s first designated Dark Sky Reserve, a place where visitors can best see the constellations of the Milky Way. (The Harriman plans to open a working observatory on its rooftop.)
Sun Valley is also the home and meeting place of the world’s wealthiest individuals—and their constellations.
One of the area’s most famous meetings takes place at the 120-room Sun Valley Lodge & Spa. Also known as “Billionaires’ Summer Camp,” investment bank Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference has drawn a TED-talk-style audience full of movers and shakers every summer since 1983.
