The Events Industry Council has just published the top five trends shaping the events industry based upon findings from their most recent Council meeting of CEOs of more than 30 of the leading industry associations. Security concerns continue to be a top priority but there is also a growing awareness that the political landscape within the U.S. can have a significant impact on meeting attendance from other countries.

Proud of our relationship with The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and their Give Back a Smile (GBAS) program. The GBAS program heals some of the most devastating effects of domestic and sexual violence, by restoring the smiles of adult women and men who have suffered dental injuries from a former intimate partner or spouse, family member.

You might only get to attend one conference a year - how do you make the most of the entire experience? What does it take to be an active conference participant? By viewing each conference as an all-around opportunity to learn and to share, you can come away satisfied that you reaped the full benefit of your company's money.  Huffington Post has seven handy suggestions to make sure you have the best conference ever:

Organizations are changing their view of events away from one-time engagements to ongoing relationship building with prospects and customers before the event and after.  Integrating social tools, mobile, and virtual content before the event and to staying in touch long after the event is bringing extra value to meeting participants.

Big data is the big buzzword. But what can it do for you? Help you figure out where your attendees are coming from and what they're interested in — and better negotiate and track your expenditures.

A new study sheds light on how associations can attract a desirable new group of attendees to their exhibitions: executives—with the power to make purchasing decisions—who are actively looking to go to tradeshows they’ve never attended before.

Are you getting every dollar possible out of your meetings? Non dues revenue programs should be a component of any association’s long-term strategic plan to advance its mission and recruit and retain members.

According to Gartner, Inc., global mobile advertising spending is forecast to reach $18.0 billion in 2014, up from the estimated $13.1 billion in 2013. 

85% of Americans have a mobile subscription of some kind, with the vast majority of those reaching data speeds of 3G or higher, according to the MMA Mobile Marketing Economic Impact Study. If mobile isn’t a big part of your strategy, you might be missing on a quickly rising movement.

With an impressive setup on the trade show floor, Salesforce and the CEA are making sense of the more than 150,000 social mentions about CES each day.

More often than not, when I read or hear discussions among association professionals about member data, eventually someone utters the phrase “do a survey.”

Now consider this: When was the last time Google or Netflix sent you a lengthy survey?

The use of near field communication technology (NFC) for identification purposes and financial transactions is becoming firmly established in Europe.  Read more about developments across the pond and better understand why NFC use is growing rapidly in the U.S., including its use in event management.

From event-planning software to post-event surveys, devices and their programs have revolutionized the way meetings are planned, organized, and attended.

A new survey sheds light on how hotels and restaurants are engaging their guests through technology tools. What can associations learn from the trends, and how can they keep up?

Find out how one association implemented a photo-sharing game as part of its mobile event app to encourage greater attendee engagement.