Like many who have taken a fairly circuitous route before landing in the meetings and events business, Oakland, Calif.’s Mike McAllen entered the industry after a previous life as a fireman, with an injury forcing him into a career change. And now, as leader of Grass Shack Events & Media, his work life is changing once again. After being solely a purveyor of meetings and events production—it’s still his bread and butter—he’s now involved in broadcasting event content via podcasts. According to McAllen, this growing content channel is but one more tool that speaks to the trend getting attendees fully engaged before, during and after an event.

The momentum of the marijuana legalization movement has created huge opportunities for entrepreneurs such as George Jage, president and publisher of Marijuana Business Media, who is using his background in trade publishing as the founder and president of World Tea News and the World Tea Expo—bridging the gap between buyers (readers) and industry suppliers—to gain leverage in the booming new industry of legal cannabis.

Working in the City of Denver’s Office of Marijuana Policy, Dan Rowland recently planned the Mile High City’s first-ever Marijuana Management Symposium, held Nov. 5-6 at the Colorado Convention Center and described as the “first cannabis event of its kind organized by a government agency.”

PCMA’s annual Convening Leaders event identified five disruptive industry trends.

As the guy who controls messaging for a “meeting planning” company that’s more than 100 years old, Scott Kellner knows a thing or two about the industry. But the very term “meetings industry” sells it short, as the “experience” is rapidly becoming the marketing vehicle of choice for some of the most powerful, and emerging, brands.

With a flair for blending Modern American cuisine with locally sourced Southwestern ingredients, and informed by frequent food travels abroad, Smith is well-suited to New Mexico, a U.S. state that is the epitome of the cultural melting pot.