Labor day weekend seems a long ways off, but planning an event this huge every five years takes a lot of detail and logistics.   The 115th Anniversary will be held in Milwaukee Wednesday, August 29th through Sunday, September 2, 2018.  The focus this anniversary will be on bikes and not on the big name acts that Harley-Davidson had in years prior.  More information can be found on Harley-Davidson's website here.  

I had the pleasure of meeting with the sales and services team at #VisitMadison today to tell them about my company, Destination Management Connection.   I also had the opportunity to tour Best Western Premier Park hotel on the Square and took advantage of the wonderful backdrop in downtown Madison.   #LoveMadison

With the new Milwaukee Bucks Arena on schedule to open in September 2018, the Milwaukee Bucks along with other tourism entities in Milwaukee have expressed interest in submitting a bid to host the NBA All-Star Game.   NBA Officials met in Milwaukee recently and discussed the use of the Bucks new Arena along with other venues close by.    This event would be great for the Greater Milwaukee area and estimates for economic impact are roughly $100 million. 
You can read the entire article here  

Another hotel is coming to downtown Milwaukee, a historic building is being renovated and a tower added converting the building to a 220 room hotel with meeting space.   The project is expected to cost $60 million dollars and will take two years to complete.   An artist rendering of the project is shown below.   
 The two projects are the most notable of more than 100 real estate projects that have either opened or are currently under construction in Milwaukee's burgeoning city center, according to The New York Times. Last year the city came in at number two on Conde Nast’s “6 U.S. Cities to Watch in 2017” list, recognized alongside other urban hotspots such as Indianapolis, Baltimore and St. Louis.
​Read the entire article here.  

Trade Show News Network recently featured an article that speaks to many in the events industry:   a meeting professional, hotelier or service professional like a DMC.   The article features opportunities to deliver an experience that hits across all generations.   The article quoted some interested statistics:  
*The average millennial has 7-8 connected devices.
*Gen Z makes up 26% of the market and by 2020, 40% will be consumers.   They also have an eight second attention span which is predicted to go down to four seconds. 
*Millennial's prefer technology and social media while Gen Z expect their environment to deliver a 'wow' experience.  
As a meeting professional planning events or meetings with multi-generations, you have to offer different learning styles to each generation to stay relevant.   The article provided several ways to make this happen while engaging everyone and delivering a 'wow' experience for your attendees.    
DMC's are delivering unique experiences in their cities by engaging attendees at all levels and delivering that 'wow' factor at a unique off-site venue or by creating an engaging social event, something that attendees will post about on their social media accounts.   
Whether it is in a meeting setting or at an evening social event, everyone needs to understand how to deliver a great experience to all generations.  You can read the entire article here.    

I am thrilled to be part of an Association for Destination Management Professionals that provides excellent educational opportunities to their members in addition to celebrating their successes.  I attending the ADMEI Conference in Chicago last week and met many amazing DMC members from around the world.   Several traits that we have in common are:  we are passionate about our destinations and continued education to learn and grow in our organizations.  Here is a recap of an article that was recently published in Successful Meetings magazine about the conference.   #ADMEI18

As the saying going goes, either a keynote speaker or an event entrance unit (or both) makes a great first impression at a meeting.  Here is an article that was recently featured in Event MB that showcases 19 event entrances that will make a great first impression.  If you're traveling to a city, consider looking up a local DMC to create this for your next event!   You can read the entire article here.  

A recent Meeting Today Trends Survey, found an alarming number of meeting planner respondents who were not concerned about security issues and natural disasters (31%)  and  (70%) did not have a written security/natural disaster preparedness plan in place.   

Writing an emergency response plan is not something we like to think about but it needs to be a priority.  I worked at an Association that had several different natural disasters that occurred around  large meetings.  Because we had a plan, we kept everyone safe and staff knew their roles during an emergency.    Your responsibility as a planner is to mitigate risk and have a written plan.   This is a great article and resource to get started writing a plan here.   

Association of Destination Management Executives International (ADMEI) was the first Association to create a Emergency Preparedness Certificate Program within the meetings industry.   You can find more information on ADMEI's website. about the certificate program.  

Both are great resources, so why wait, start your emergency plan today for your Organization/Association and be prepared. 
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This article was very interesting because how many times do you have too much space and are trying to make the room more intimate or inviting (besides doing the obvious and finding a smaller room)?  A recent article in Event MB provides 21 Design ideas to make a big space more inviting, warm and make people attendees feel comfortable and not lost in a big meeting room or off-site venue.   I've been to meetings before where there was floating furniture and encouraged the attendees to sit on the furniture and take photos (great social media moment).   Read the entire article here.