The Smart Monday educational day at IMEX America kicked off at full stride on Monday, October 15, with Event Manager Blog Founder & Editor Julius Solaris revving up the crowd with an inspirational address that illustrated the powerful tool for change that meetings and events provide on a global scale.

MPI announced Kevin Kirby as the new executive director of the MPI Foundation. He replaced Christine Roberts who resigned from the executive director position on October 4, 2018, in the wake of gross misconduct allegations of steering over a quarter million dollars in contracts to her boyfriend’s event company.

The mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival on October 1, 2017, tragically underscored the challenges of securing one of the world’s most active leisure and business destinations. In Las Vegas, built on tourism and meetings, security monitoring is a formidable task, with metrics to match.

IMEX America 2018 opens in Las Vegas on Tuesday, October 16, highlighting destinations, venues, hotels, technology specialists and service suppliers from 150 countries. The more than 3,500 exhibitors will set a new milestone for IMEX America, making it the largest ever in the history of the event.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s GO Cedar Rapids CVB ceased operations after incurring $2.3 million in debts from producing the “newbo evolve” festival, according to a report in The Gazette, a local area newspaper.

The flu and cold season wreaks havoc on the workforce each year. Beyond the office environment, the flu and cold season also greatly affects those who travel for business or the meeting and event planners and attendees who travel to and network at meetings and events. Fortunately, there are measures that can be taken to protect meeting and event planners and attendees from catching and spreading germs and illnesses. According to the CDC, the simple act of handwashing can prevent 20 percent of respiratory infections such as the common cold and the flu.

Event management firm AlliedPRA and its brands DSC, Briggs and Destination Nashville integrated into PRA. In addition, the unified PRA brand also launched a new website designed to enhance user experience for the clients as well as convey the company’s new brand and evolving vision.

In the ever-escalating #MeToo climate, MPI is standing by its commitment to establish harassment-free, safe environments that foster healthy exchanges, professional growth and collaboration. The association just rolled out MPICares, a reporting system for harassment complaints and concerns that can be completely confidential at the reporter’s request.

Peak hurricane season may be drawing to a close, but not before potentially dealing the U.S. its biggest hit of the year. Hurricane Michael strengthened to a Category 2 storm Tuesday morning, October 9 as it charged toward Florida's northeast Gulf Coast, predicted to make landfall in Florida’s Panhandle Wednesday afternoon, October 10, as a Category 4 storm, according to the National Weather Service.

MGM Resorts International was denied a motion to centralize lawsuits filed by victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting.