Back Issue Magazine Archive

February 2016

Cover Story/Meetings & Your Brain

Bringing Mindfulness to Meetings

From the C-suite to the celebrity interview, mindfulness is everywhere. It’s even starting to center itself at meetings and conferences. Here’s why — and what it can do for your attendees.

Kate Mulcrone

Illustration by Irene Rinaldi.

Features

 CMP Series

The Trouble With Evals

The feedback form is such a fixture in the meetings industry that you would think it would have been perfected by now. But as a new Convene survey suggests, it's a tool that is ripe for redesign.

Michelle Russell


 Second-Tier Cities

The Evolution of Customer Advisory Boards

If it seems like planners and DMOs have a closer relationship these days, one of the reasons is the evolving role of customer advisory boards — which second-tier cities and other destinations increasingly are using to change the way they do business.

Jennifer N. Dienst

Departments

Supported Article  F&B

Breaking Bread, East to West

Planning attendee meals abroad can be tricky. These seasoned meeting professionals offer a roadmap for keeping budgets — and appetites — in check.

Corin Hirsch


 There's A Meeting for That

Inside a Phonetics Conference

This 130-year-old phonetics conference drew more than 1,000 attendees to Scotland last summer.

Michelle Russell


 Online

3 Ways to Track the ROI of Online Education

How to track the ROI of online education and events — for organizations that are content-driven, revenue-focused, or both.

Barbara Palmer


 Data

How PUMA Used Event Photos to Drive Engagement

How PUMA harnessed the power of on-site photos to turn race participants into brand ambassadors — and sources of valuable consumer data.

Corin Hirsch


 Forward Thinking

Enough With the Vanity Metrics

What is your conference data really telling you?

Dave Lutz, CMP


 CSR

One-Click Giving

Evite has introduced a free, one-click donation function to its popular online-invitation platform — and wants to use it to raise millions of dollars for charity.

Christopher Durso


Supported Article  Innovative Meetings

Jumping Into the Shark Tank

A scientific meeting creates its own kind of reality programming — and fast-tracks research funding for attendees

Barbara Palmer

Plenary

 Pre Con

AWP16 Conference & Bookfair

Calling all book-lovers! The Association of Writers and Writers’ Programs (AWP) will bring between 12,000 and 13,000 authors, editors, and publishers, as well as students and teachers, to Los Angeles for the 2016 AWP Conference & Bookfair.

Kate Mulcrone


 Post Con

SpaceCom 2015

The inaugural Space Commerce Conference and Exposition (SpaceCom) brought more than 1,500 aerospace executives, space and defense analysts, and policymakers from 25 countries and 40 states to Houston.

Kate Mulcrone


 Destinations

An Encounter With Old Florida

Now in its 34th year, Florida Encounter brings meeting planners and Florida-based suppliers together for three days of face-to-face appointments, educational sessions, and local activities. For many participants, it’s also a much-anticipated reunion with comrades and colleagues, as well as an excuse to get better acquainted with the show’s host city.

Jennifer N. Dienst


 Development

How to Master Your Emotions at the Negotiating Table

Negotiators focus too much attention on tactics, offers, and counteroffers, and don’t give enough consideration to how emotions affect what happens at the bargaining table.

Convene Editors


 Apps

Waze

Waze is a crowdsourced navigation app that uses real-time consumer data to get millions of people moving as quickly as possible.

Convene Editors


 Unconventional

What’s Awe Got to Do With It?

Awesome? That word is surely overused, but recent studies indicate that giving attendees truly awe-inspiring experiences may be the most valuable byproduct of face-to-face events.

Michelle Russell


 Destinations

Getting Down to Business in Dubai

Almost any mention of Dubai — one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates — seems to come with superlatives.

Barbara Palmer

Also In This Issue

 To the Point

Inspiration for the Year Ahead

Convening Leaders 2016 opens our eyes to huge possibilities.

Deborah Sexton


 Behind the Scenes

Cultivating Creative Feedback

We’ve just returned from PCMA’s Convening Leaders and we’ve got a few things to say.

Michelle Russell