Despite how far we’ve come, there’s a reluctance in many workplaces to meet gender diversity head on. People often feel awkward and uncertain about using pronouns outside the gender binary of he/his or she/hers.  

Last week my colleague Shane Whalley joined me for conversation about nonbinary pronouns and etiquette, and shared simple ways you can make your actions and workplace more inclusive. Here’s what you need to know:

(45) Wanna be inclusive? Correct pronoun use is NOT negotiable | LinkedIn

ARLINGTON, Va. - Knowland, the leader in AI-powered meetings and events data for hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, conference centers and other venues, today released its monthly meetings and events data for May. The numbers reveal that May U.S. group meetings volume increased 28.4 percent over last month.

To access the full article & data - U.S. Meetings and Events Volume Shows Double Digit Growth for Fourth Consecutive Month According to Knowland (hospitalitynet.org)

As in-person event restrictions ease up and parties begin to grow in size, caterers are cooking up creative serving options as well as strategic setups that discourage guest congestion. From mobile food moments to smart buffet service, here’s how some caterers are keeping guests safe and bellies full.

To learn the service suggestions, click on the link to access the full article - Buffets Didn’t Die: The New Rules of Catering for Post-COVID Events | BizBash

CDC: Vaccinated Americans Now May Go Without Masks in Most Places

The New York Times

In a sharp turnabout, federal health officials on Thursday advised that Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus may stop wearing masks or maintaining social distance in most indoor and outdoor settings, regardless of size.

Full article - Covid-19: C.D.C. Guidance Prompts Caution in Some States - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The name AVIXA may not ring a bell with you, but you’re likely familiar with InfoComm, the largest professional audiovisual trade show in North America. InfoComm became the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association (AVIXA) in 2017, to reflect a more diverse membership and the creative outcomes that are a result of AV.

Sean Wargo joined the nonprofit organization as senior director of market intelligence just as it was in the process of rebranding. “The idea was we were recognizing — and I think this is relevant to a lot of events in many other parts of the industry — that the center of our industry’s efforts is designing, building, augmenting, enhancing experiences and so we built that into the name with ‘Integrated Experiences,’” Wargo said. “But we also felt that reaffirming our technological roots in audiovisual was important, even though the lines between AV, IT, security, signage — all that’s really blurring.”

AVIXA’s members, Wargo said, include “integrators, live events producers, some IT companies, manufacturers, distributors, the full value chain of what we call the pro AV market, which is really traditional AV with live events and other things thrown in. We also have a lot of members that actually come from the end user community. To us, what that means is, technology managers for higher ed, for corporate, for hospitality, anybody whose job it is to manage the AV assets for their company. Oftentimes they also have an IT title associated with that.”

Convene sat down with Wargo to hear how AVIXA has retooled its own trade shows — international versions of InfoComm, and Integrated Systems trade shows in Europe and Russia — and its organizational model in the wake of the pandemic.

To read the full article - An AV Perspective on the Evolution of Trade Shows (pcma.org)

RPFC_GBAC-STAR-Announcement_PR.pdf

• Paid tickets grew 18% in February vs. January, driven by a 23% increase in tickets to in-person events
• Australia reached new pandemic-era highs
• Ticketing trends began to accelerate in the United Kingdom

Eventbrite, Inc., a global self-service ticketing and experience technology platform, today provided an update on the company’s event ticketing trends.

Paid ticket volume increased by 18% in February compared to January 2021, primarily driven by growth in paid tickets to in-person events, which increased 23% in February compared to January. Notably, paid ticket volume in Australia rose 26% month over month and reached a new pandemic-era high in February. Paid tickets also accelerated sharply in the United Kingdom after the Prime Minister unveiled the reopening plan for England, which sparked a 50% week-over-week increase. Paid tickets grew by 23% outside the United States and by 15% within the United States in February compared to January. Compared to a year ago, February paid ticket volume declined 67%, improving from a 69% year-to-year decline in January.

For full article -  https://www.eventindustrynews.com/news/eventbrite-sees-10-x-increase-in-ticket-sales-after-government-announcement

Construction of the $420-million expansion of the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, the state’s largest convention center, is moving forward nearly a year after issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic put it on hold.

The project nearly doubles the size of the center by adding 112,000 sq ft and it came to a halt in April 2020 due to uncertainty in the bond market and the loss of sales tax revenue in the pandemic-devastated travel and hospitality industries. Now, with hopes that the convention and travel industry will return in the not-too-distant future, the expansion has received the green light to proceed from the Wisconsin Center District, a state-created agency that operates the convention center, and which is selling the bonds financing it.

“The bond sale closed in mid-December 2020, and the funds were transferred to the trustee. The transaction is complete and repayment begins in 2028,” said Sarah Maio, vice president of marketing and communications for the WCD.

The WCD’s board relied on information provided by HVS Global Hospitality Services, a consulting firm based in Westbury, NY, to make the decision to move forward.

For full article - https://www.enr.com/articles/51227-postponed-by-pandemic-milwaukees-wisconsin-center-expansion-is-back-on-the-schedule

Anew report from UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, predicts that a comeback is in the offing for trade shows.

Having polled 457 companies in 64 countries and 29 different regions, UFI lays claim to its research being the industry’s gold standard. Exhibitors as well as planners and organizers can only hope the association’s report is right on target.

According to the bi-annual UFI Global Barometer:

• Industry revenues will double in 2021, compared to 2020
• 64% of respondents say last year’s loss of events due to COVID-19 has only reinforced the importance of face-to-face gatherings
• 57% of North American companies say virtual events will not replace in-person events.

 The news comes as the pandemic has kept trade shows on the sidelines while some convention centers and exhibit halls have been transformed into vaccination centers.

For Full article - https://www.tsnn.com/news/ufi-report-projects-growth-trade-shows-2021 

The COVID-era has devastated business at all types of meeting venues, leaving many convention centers, offsite venues and others with little foot traffic. One type of venue, however, may have the ingredients needed to thrive early as attendees tentatively step back into face-to-face meeting environments in 2021: large resorts.

Thanks to their many amenities, onsite leisure activities and an abundance of space, the buildings originally envisioned to hosts hundreds of attendees for a multiday conference or retreat may find themselves busy catering to a smattering of small groups that utilize their properties in different ways.

For full article - https://meetingstoday.com/articles/142554/large-resorts-social-distancing-success