One of the hot topics at MPI’s WEC 2018 is sex trafficking, as it relates to the travel industry. Michelle Guelbart, director of private sector engagement for ECPAT-USA, detailed some of the signs and ways to help during her presentation “ECPAT: The Meeting and Event Industry’s Role in Combatting Sex Trafficking,” which took place on Monday, June 4, 2018. ECPAT-USA is a nonprofit organization that exists to end human trafficking.

During Meeting Professionals International’s (MPI’s) 2018 World Education Congress (WEC) in Indianapolis, we checked in with MPI President and CEO Paul Vandeventer for his take on this year’s show and how MPI is helping planners address major issues and excel professionally and personally.

Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is turning heads in Indy with its completely overhauled annual World Education Congress (WEC) 2018.

Indy knows how to woo its first-time guests. Fresh off the plane for a quick pre MPI WEC 2018 fam, I set off for an evening of art, food and creative cocktails. Our first stop was the Conrad Indianapolis.

Collective bargaining is a major component of the meetings, events and tradeshow industry. Those who are part of collective bargaining units—or unions—work in hotels, convention centers, restaurants and arenas. And in nearly every discussion about unions with industry colleagues, there is anger surrounding the many rules in working with them.

Who wants the same-old, same-old in their meetings? From presentations and breakouts to teambuilding and networking events, attendees are shaking their fists at the heavens and wailing the plaintive cry “quit boring the hell out of me with your cookie-cutter meeting components!”

UNITE HERE Gaming Research, the research arm of the hospitality workers’ union, projected that a one-month strike in Las Vegas could cost the two largest employers on the Las Vegas Strip—MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corporation—over $300 million in operating profits.

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 released the results of a study conducted by UNITE HERE’s Culinary and Bartender Unions of over 10,000 Las Vegas casino workers that reported 59% of cocktail servers and 27% of hotel housekeepers said they had been sexually harassed while on the job.

Universal Orlando Resort is maintaining its 10 percent commission rate for third-party meeting planners.

Meetings, event and hospitality tech giant Cvent closed its acquisition of mobile event app pioneer QuickMobile.