Meeting planners in the Meetings Today Market Trends Survey give their opinions on how the U.S. economy will impact the meetings industry.

Meeting planner respondents from the 2019 Meetings Today Trends Survey respond as to what activities they're incorporating.

Meeting planners respond to whether contract attrition clauses are being enforced more strictly.

The Washington State Court of Appeals blocked a so-called “panic button” law for hotels in Seattle on Monday, December 24, 2018. According to the unanimous ruling, Seattle Initiative Measure 124 violated the “single subject condition,” which stops disparate rules being combined into a single law.

Although heat mapping visual representations have been around for a century or more in various forms, the digital revolution and data analytics have made this tool extremely useful and utilized in the last decade. A frequent use of heat maps in the events industry is to track attendee behavior.

Even the best laid plans for a meeting or event can be thrown asunder in the blink of an eye, or the pop of a circuit, if the on-site internet or power source suddenly goes bust. The December 27, 2018 report that internet and phone service from CenturyLink suddenly went out throughout much of its system undoubtedly caught many unawares. What should meeting and event planners do on-site if the internet goes out?

Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson discusses the “what-ifs” regarding internet connectivity and audiovisual services following reports that CenturyLink suffered severe outages across its network. Also, Jon Trask fills meeting planners in on his tips for saving money on AV at events.

Meeting and event planners could be hard-pressed to find  a destination that offers as many arts and activity options as Asheville, N.C., in such a tight package. A center of arts and culture, the Blue Ridge Mountains town located a couple hours’ drive from Charlotte, N.C., also boasts a bounty of culinary and brewery options, all set in one of the most scenic areas in the U.S.

The issue of cybersecurity came back to the fore in November 2018 with the revelation of a massive data breach of Marriott’s Starwood-branded hotels. The information of up to 500 million guests was compromised in the data breach. And let's not forget the whole 2018 Facebook data fiasco.