Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson saddled up for behind-the-scenes access to the Grand National Rodeo, held in mid-October 2018 at the Cow Palace, in Daly City, California. Like the 77-year-old venue, the multigenerational world of rodeo is a quintessential study in Americana, attracting young and old to test their mettle. Tyler interviews Cindy Rosser, the second-generation leader of Flying U Rodeo Company, and Ellen Carr, a 70-year-old former competitor whose granddaughter tested her skill at Jackpot Barrel Racing at the event.

Loews Hotels is increasing its third-party meeting planner commissions to 13 percent at select hotels in 2019. The luxury hotel company is maintaining its current 10 percent commission structure at its other properties.

Hotel worker labor union UNITE HERE and hotel company Kyo-ya, which owns several hotels operated by Marriott in Hawaii, reached an agreement on a new union contract on November 27, ending a 51-day strike. The contract was ratified by a 99.6 percent vote by members of UNITE HERE Local 5.

Washington, D.C.-based meeting planners are being offered free shuttle service to PCMA Conventing Leaders.

While security threats in the physical world understandably grab most of the headlines, cybersecurity breaches have also impacted the meetings and events world, from corporate espionage over insecure Wi-Fi networks to credit card hacks and data theft at major hotel chains.

Carol McGury, executive vice president, event and education services for association services company SmithBucklin, has been elected as chair of the PCMA Education Foundation’s Board of Trustees, which governs the organization. McGury will assume the role following PCMA’s Convening Leaders meeting January 6-9, 2019, in Pittsburgh. She will replace Maritz Global Events President David Peckinpaugh.

Dallas Johnson is an event planner with the North American Scrabble Players Association, which utilizes a number of destinations for events, including Fort Wayne, Indiana. Here she describes her experience meeting at the Grand Wayne Convention Center.

If your attendees are being sequestered within the four bland walls of a cookie-cutter hotel to suffer through endless PowerPoints punctuated by flavorless breaks and networking events that rival watching paint dry, you’re going to want to mix it up by using a special venue. Meetings Today teamed up with Chuck Salem to profile some of the top off-site options available in Indiana.

Members of the UNITE HERE labor union, which represents hotel workers across Canada and the U.S., ratified an agreement with Marriott International to end their strike in Boston.