From the Louisiana Office of Tourism throwing in free seafood receptions in Shreveport-Bossier and beyond to new group offerings in Lake Charles and outdoor venues in New Orleans, the Pelican State is showing its trademark resilience to weather the pandemic tourism downturn.

Ashley Lawson, VP of business partnerships for Achieve Incentives & Meetings, is a third-generation meeting prof who’s been traveling out of a backpack full-time since 2020, serving as a safe travel ambassador for the MICE industry. Read our Q&A with her to get the lay of the land.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a tiered reopening timeline for business and activities that is scheduled to be put into effect February 15.

Meetings industry fixture Cleo Battle, currently chief operating officer for Louisville Tourism, is about to attain the highest notch in the DMO career ladder when he takes on the mantle of president and CEO of the organization July 1. But his leadership role goes far beyond destination marketing. 

Florida maintains its growth across the state, with new hotels and renovations happening at a breakneck speed—in just the first two months of 2021, 29 hotels opened. Here’s a sampling of what’s new.

Geoteaming’s John Chen provides six easy steps for virtual meetings organizers to defeat the dreaded “Zoom Fatigue,” no matter what platform your meeting is on.

Pharmaceutical and medical meetings have had to pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic to virtual and hybrid formats. Here are five experts in the pharma meetings segment that have weathered the changes successfully.

Here are five “rules” from futurist speaker Scott Steinberg that you can incorporate into your virtual meetings to ensure your attendees are engaged, and not wither under the meetings malady of our times—Zoom fatigue!

This spring, we took a FAM tour of Maui, rediscovering this tropical paradise for meeting and incentive groups. See what we learned.