In the age of ever-evolving gender diversity acceptance and recognition, creating warm and welcoming experiences for all attendees is becoming increasingly important as meeting professionals. At MPI's WEC 2018, Bernadette Smith offered the following action steps for designing LGBTQIA-inclusive meetings and events.

MPI is collaborating with NYU to develop a four-hour course on how to make meetings and events more inclusive for attendees.

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.