Markey's Rental & Staging provides five essential questions for meeting planners to ask their audiovisual suppliers.

Total U.S. government conference spending for fiscal year 2017 decreased 15.7% after three consecutive years of growth, according to an analysis by STR’s Market Insights team. Total conference spend in 2017 was $140 million after the government spent $166 million in 2016. Previous yearly totals were $121 million in 2015, $120 million in 2014, $100 million in 2013 and $276 million in 2012.

AccorHotels signed an agreement to acquire 85 percent of 21c Museum Hotels, an award-winning hospitality management company that melds the hotel world with a museum experience. The 21c company features a multi-venue contemporary art museum, boutique hotels and chef-driven restaurants, with 11 properties currently open and under development across the U.S.

Sue Wigston, COO of Eagles Flight, outlines five ways meeting planners can make their meetings more interactive and build attendee engagement.

ASAE provides five tips for meeting planners to battle room poachers for their meetings.

Marriott International is merging its three customer loyalty programs August 18, 2018, according to the company. On that date, Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programs will be combined into one program.

“The Power of Live” was the theme of Cvent Connect 2018 in Las Vegas, and by the record-breaking attendance of the show, delegates seemed to take that as the importance of meeting face to face for four days of innovative content, several new product unveilings and inspiring keynotes.

Cvent released its annual lists of the top cities for meetings and events worldwide. Three new regions were highlighted this year: Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), Canada and Europe.

Former Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) CEO Kevin Hinton was hired as vice president of strategy for Minding Your Business (MYB), an agency focused on creating business opportunities and engaging target audiences for associations, DMOS and other hospitality industry partners.

Companies are planning more meetings and larger meetings, and spending more in the process, according to a new study by Cvent, which is holding its four-day Cvent Connect show in Las Vegas through July 26, 2018, with more than 4,000 hospitality professionals in attendance at the event.