Learn how meeting planners can create more welcoming events with these tips from an IMEX America expert session. From rethinking promotional images to site revisits and privacy concerns, this is a great checklist to get you started. It also features ESPA’s Accessibility Toolkit.
Education and networking meetings are the lifeblood of any association. We put meticulous thought into choosing the right city, the right hotel and the right educational offerings. What we may overlook in this process is accessibility.
The Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA) has installed a new president as well as new board members, the organization announced.
Amy Cabe, director of convention and visitor services at Visit Spokane, is ESPA’s president for 2018.
Read more in Associations, Conventions & Facilities.
The Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA) bestowed Doris Sims, Vice President of Destination Services, Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, the 2017 Executive Excellence Award for her commitment and dedication to the profession of event services. The event took place during “Rockin’ Nashville,” the association’s annual conference at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown.
Read more at Meetings + Events
Fans of the Golden Globes and the Oscars know that it’s peak awards season in Hollywood. The entertainment industry isn’t the only sector that recognizes its superstars at this time of year, however. The meetings and events industry also applaud top talent in January, according to the Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA), which announced its 2017 award recipients, who were recognized at ESPA’s annual conference in Nashville.
Meet the honorees in Successful Meetings.
For commitment and dedication to the profession of event services, Doris Sims, vice president of Destination Services, Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, has been named the recipient of the 2017 Executive Excellence Award.
ESPA recognized Sims and other industry leaders during “Rockin’ Nashville,” the association’s annual conference, earlier this month at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown.
Read more in Corporate & Incentive Travel.
Recognizing our impact on executing successful events and being true partners to meeting planners, we created a week to celebrate all that our colleagues across the U.S. and Canada do to keep the hospitality industry thriving! We are members of the Event Services Professionals Association (ESPA), representing services in convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), convention centers, hotels, resorts and conference centers.
Read more in Corporate & Incentive Travel
How do you make your meeting or event accessible to all? As an informative resource for planners, the Event Service Professionals Association created Project Access: Accessible Meetings FAQs. According to ESPA President Paul Ruby, CMP, the full package is a downloadable resource that hotels, convention centers, CVBs and others can customize with their accessibility information and branding, and provide to planners.
Read more at M&C
Meeting planners often possess a superhuman command of details. Even so, they rely on others. A major assist can come from event services managers.
A venue’s event manager—either through brilliance or blunder—can dictate whether a planner’s event succeeds or fails. A recent survey of meeting planners found that 71 percent said event services “greatly affected” their decision to rebook a city or property.
So what makes an event manager great?
Paul Ruby, CMP and president of Event Services Professionals Association in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, tried to find the answer. He listened to award-winning event managers to find out what they think. You can check out the full story on the group’s website, but we’ve pulled together the highlight reel.
Here’s what three of the industry’s top managers had to say in their own words.
Read more at Smart Meetings.
Convention service managers (CSMs) wear a lot of hats– mentors, on-site experts, sympathizers, to name a few. But some CSMs go beyond the call of duty to fix a problem, and a resource, or just make sure the planner looks good. Successful Meetings, in conjunction with the Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA), honors the top CSMs at resorts and hotels, convention and visitors bureaus, and convention centers.
Here are the 2017 honorees.
Read more in Successful Meetings.
