How accessible is your event? Meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act is not nearly enough to fully accommodate attendees with differing abilities. For this week’s episode, Rosemarie Rossetti, an accessibility expert and consultant who travels globally to discuss inclusive meetings and events and Universal Design, discusses physical space details to consider, such as height of registration desks or the direction in which a door opens, how to use “person-first” language when referencing people with disabilities and more.

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Convention and visitor bureaus have traditionally been viewed by planners as a handy resource — an organization with useful info about a destination’s latest updates or available attractions. But for those planners who know what to ask, these organizations can offer far more, helping planners elevate their events and better meet their goals in myriad ways.

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Bruce McIndoe, president and founder of WorldAware, discusses the risks that meetings planners must consider, including why monitoring social media is a key component of protecting your meetings and why it's vital to ask about every scenario and situation: "what could go wrong?"

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Melissa Majors, CEO of Melissa Majors Consulting, works with organizations to help them develop an approach to diversity that fosters genuine inclusion with creates bottom-line benefits. Sponsored by American Airlines, on this episode, we speak with Majors about how to effectively make one’s events feel more inclusive — not just in terms of race and gender, but generation, personality and numerous other areas. 

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As the big hotel brands get bigger, independent hotels are touting their freedom to be nimble and flexible to meet clients’ needs. That’s the sweet spot for Danielle Bishop, president and founder of HB Hospitality, a membership-based community of luxury independent properties and meeting planner clients. In this week’s episode, Bishop tells us about the benefits of working directly with independent hotels, why the industry should simplify the current business model so that it’s more transparent and more.

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This week, guns again commanded headlines as a pair of mass shootings took place in Texas and Ohio hours apart, resulting in the deaths of more than 30 people. Recorded before these latest incidents, this episode looks at some of these issues around how to ensure the security and safety of their guests or attendees while obeying federal and state laws around gun possession.

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Planners of international events are concerned about terrorism threats, airfare costs and local health concerns. These were among the top findings of M&C’s 15th annual Global Planner survey, which asked those who plan meetings outside the United States to share their experiences in areas such as site selection, budgeting and working with international suppliers. In this episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar Meetings Group’s destinations editor, Lisa A. Grimaldi, discusses key takeaways from this original research, as well as what she is learning about international travel from top meetings destinations.

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As Michael Dominguez moves this week from his role as chief sales officer for MGM Resorts into the CEO post at Associated Luxury Hotels International, some things won't change: his commitment to the meetings industry — and MGM — and knack for sizing up the state of the industry and looking into the future.

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Anywhere from 30 million to 40 million people in the world today are estimated to be victims of human trafficking — and there are things that meeting planners could be doing to help fight this exploitation. On the inaugural episode of Eventful: The Podcast for Meeting Professionals, Northstar Meetings Group's vice president, content director, Loren Edelstein speaks with contributing editor Cheryl-Anne Sturken about why hotel brands, industry leaders and meeting planners are sounding the alarm on human trafficking, and the steps that can be taken to fight it.

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