CORT Events announced its top event and meeting design trends for the fall season. Art deco, mixing rustic with industrial and an homage to 80’s decor are in demand design elements for events this fall. The furniture, lighting and accessories rental company is seeing clients go for a dramatic feel and lean into fun themes for fall events.

I’m always excited when I see different ways that content is being shared with audiences. Closed captioning is one of those items that showed up on my radar when I was speaking at WordCamp Los Angeles in 2018. It was a nice turnout for my session on how to blog from your mobile phone.

Lori Luna, vice president of events with SaaStr, explains why maintaining your supplier relationships is critical for long-term success in the meetings industry. Hint: it can save you time and money, two very valuable commodities!

Sarah Soliman Daudin, president and CEO of Soliman Productions, offers actionable steps meeting planners can take to address sexual misconduct.

Wingspread Retreat & Executive Conference Center appointed Becky Melchi, CMP, as director of sales. The landmark Frank Lloyd Wright property is part of the Benchmark brand.

From September 19-24, 2018, I was immersed in the Terra Madre Salone Del Gusto slow food exhibition in Turin, Italy. As one of more than 250 U.S. delegates, I was attending local and traditional food preservation organization Slow Food’s biennial event, which brings together international food producers, communities, chefs and visitors to celebrate good, clean and fair food.

Marvel’s The Black Panther did more than smash box office records this year. It inspired Wakandacon, a three-day celebration of Afrofuturism at the Hilton Chicago that combined community building with Blerd (short for Black nerd) culture.

At the Cocktail Robotics Grand Challenge kooky inventors and their booze-slinging bots compete for $1,000 in prizes, but the whole thing starts with a mechanized cocktail party. Can these robotic bartenders keep up with their human counterparts? Bob Calhoun investigates.

Major hotel chains are introducing so-called “panic buttons” to help ensure the safety of their workers. And while the term “panic button” may indeed evoke a highly descriptive tone, Marriott International at least would like everyone to refer to them by the less alarming moniker Associate Alert Devices. The technology is also referred to as Employee Safety Devices (ESD) and it is being rolled out at hotels across North America.