Phillip C. Ridley, CMP is now the meetings manager for the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA).

What does high-stakes international diplomacy have to do with meeting planning? A lot, as it turns out. Meet Pamela Eyring, owner and president of The Protocol School of Washington, a nationally accredited educational institution that offers international protocol, cross-cultural awareness, business etiquette and image training for business professionals and, increasingly, meeting planners of top organizations that perform on a global stage.

With more than 12,000 acres of open expanse in Irvine and 42 miles of uninterrupted coastline, Orange County has plenty of space for attendees to move around in, making it ideal for groups that want to add health and wellness components to their meetings.

The SMERF (social, military, education, religious, fraternal) banner covers an array of groups that on the surface would seem to have little in common, pertaining to everything from weddings to military reunions and fraternal conventions. What these groups share, however, is that their gatherings bring together people who are actively choosing to get together.

Like everyone else, the staff of Meetings Today was shocked to learn of the suicide of Anthony Bourdain.

Not being afraid to push the envelope a bit will help in negotiations.

Implementing these three habit-breaking hacks will lead to success.

Thirty-nine diverse cities and towns make up the Palm Beaches, spanning more than 2,300 square miles across 47 miles of beautiful Atlantic Ocean beaches. In addition to the beach, there’s 125 miles of the Intracoastal Waterway. With so much water, swimming, boating, fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding and myriad other activities on the beach are all right there for the asking.

Arthur Bovino is a restaurant, food media and travel writer with experience writing for a variety of major publications. He is the author of Buffalo Everything: A Guide to Eating in ‘Nickel City’ with 50 Recipes. The book will be released on August 14, 2018.

Prominent in Buffalo, New York's nearly $1 billion tourism-driven redevelopment, the F&B scene is now a tastier draw than ever for the Queen City of the Great Lakes. Meanwhile in Niagara, an area rich with agricultural and culinary resources, F&B experiences are naturally one way to go.