Meetings and Conventions just released the 2017 Meeting Spend Survey conducted in July, 2017.  Who answered the survey?  37% where Association planners, 34% corporate planners and the remaining, third party planners.  What item topped the list for total expenditures allocated for their budgets?   Food and Beverage - 31% and Hotels at 22.5%    You can read the entire report here.  

If you are looking for something fun to do (most tours are no charge) be a Tourist in your own Town and consider attending Doors Open Milwaukee.  It will be held Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, September 24.  My family is taking a behind the scenes tour at Pabst Brewery and will be visiting different buildings downtown.    What tours will you take?   Here is a link to the Tour information through Historic Milwaukee.  Enjoy!

As an event planner, the registration check-in process can be a pain point during an event.   You never want your attendees to experience a long wait and you have to staff for peak registration times.   Well, all of that could be a thing of the past with new facial recognition software, the check in time for attendees is down to .06 of a second vs. one minute per person for a standard check-in process according to a recent article published in Skift.   Technology like this could change the way we handle registration in the future. Read the entire article    

A recent article published in MeetingsNet addresses GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) the European Union released an even tougher regulation.   If any of your attendees are coming from Europe then the GDPR standards will apply to your company.   This new change gives individuals more control over their data and it will be enforced starting May 25, 2018.    Read the full article here

Meeting professionals are looking for new ways to engage the meeting attendee.   This recent article from Skift talks about the rise of Chatbots and AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the meetings industry.  The article explains how AI is being used with Chatbots to help answer attendee questions in advance of the meeting and once on-site if a crisis arises, such as a fire in the hotel or an urgent need to get a message out to everyone, the Chatbot can deliver.   This is a developing trend in the meetings industry that could help you in the future.   Read the full article

MPI recently named four emerging cities for Meeting and Event Destinations.  I am proud to be representing one of them, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, my hometown and the reason why I decided to start my own business, Destination Management Connection.   There is so much to see and do in this city and the article hits on the highlights, but there is so much more.   I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the other cities topping the list:   Greenville, South Carolina, Mobile, Alabama and Reykjavik, Iceland.   If you haven't thought of booking business in Milwaukee, you should come and take a look at what the city can offer your meeting or corporate outing, I would be happy to help you discover Milwaukee!   Read the full article