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By Michiel Gen, Partner, Stakeholder Management, Exempla Management & Consulting : The recent Insight Update published by ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership highlights the growing pressures faced by U.S.-based professional societies, particularly in healthcare and education. Reductions in federal grants, changes in tax policy and tightening DEI policies are threatening the financial health and…
From Skift Meetings: Featuring Nicola Kastner, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange (ELX), and Kevin Hinton, managing director, group travel, at U.S. Travel Association, this week’s Skift Meetings webinar had one overriding theme — uncertainty. It took Skift Meetings Executive Editor Andrea Doyle several minutes just to describe the numerous repercussions of Trump administration changes so…
By Colja Dams, CEO & Owner, VOK DAMS: We’re seeing a shift: global events are now moving to Europe and Asia that were once headed to the U.S. World Dealer Conferences, Product Launches, Leadership Meetings – many of these gatherings are being relocated. Bringing together guests from around the world in the U.S.? For now,…
By Jorge Eduardo Q: In today’s 24/7 news cycle and hyper-connected feeds, event leaders are bombarded by headlines, hot takes, and trending crises every minute. Economic shifts, health emergencies, political strife, and algorithmic sensationalism form a loud backdrop that challenges clarity. Within this noise, strategic discernment becomes not just an asset, but a necessity for…
by Pádraic Gilligan, co-founder, SoolNua: As 2025 unfolds, it’s increasingly difficult to pin down exactly how incentive travel professionals feel about the short- to medium-term outlook for our industry. One thing is clear: sentiment has shifted since 2024. The Incentive Travel Index, released in November 2024, painted a nuanced picture—continued growth in the use and…
From Boardroom, by Senthil Gopinath, CEO, ICCA: It goes without saying that “wellness” goes beyond the basic idea of eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and engaging in physical activity that contributes to cardiovascular health. There’s no shortage of viral videos and social media clickbait encouraging viewers to try the latest powder, pill, detox,…
By Nicola Kastner, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange: Costs are rising. Expectations are not. That gap is one of the biggest risks event professionals face today, and it is not going away anytime soon. This is the third article in my series on the key risks facing the events industry in 2025 and how we,…
The new UFI chief executive, Chris Skeith OBE, shares his vision and mission for the global association of the international exhibitions sector. With an immediate focus on advocacy, talent acquisition, and sustainability, Skeith is on a mission to accumulate the data and storytelling that are crucially important in realising these three pillars during his tenure….
Well, if you’ve travelled through a record-breaking extratropical cyclone to get to the BestCities global craic in Dublin, hosted by Convention Bureau chief Sam Johnston, why wouldn’t you?! The 2025 edition of the BestCities Global Forum in the Irish capital did indeed feature both pubs and the greatest of craics, amid which the Director at…
By Kai Hattendorf: Good food for thought from Simon Anholt on public perception of countries this week at BI Norwegian Business School – and how countries can work to improve their global standing. For me, these points stood out from his data: Overall, the trend in global perception of countries has been positive between 2008…
By Nicola Kastner, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange: Attendance is not just a number. It reflects engagement, impact, and return on investment. And today, it is at risk. Last week, I published the first of four articles inspired by my recent LinkedIn post, which went viral. In that post, I highlighted several significant risks facing…
From Boardroom: As medical associations seek to ensure long-term engagement and professional development, the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) has successfully redefined young professional involvement. At the EANM’24 congress in Hamburg (October 2024), a series of targeted initiatives helped bridge the gap between early-career professionals and the broader nuclear medicine community, providing structured opportunities…
From Skift Meetings: As policy shifts create challenges for business events, Nicola Kastner, CEO of the Event Leaders Exchange, has voiced her concerns on LinkedIn. The industry response she has received highlights the need for advocacy to protect in-person gatherings. In a post on LinkedIn, Nicola Kastner, CEO of the Event Leaders Exchange (ELX), warns…
From PCMA: It may seem premature to sound the alarm, but here goes: Trump’s executive order directed toward transforming government spending will likely have a significant impact on meetings in the scientific, health-care, and academic sectors. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-efficiency initiative executive order includes a section for “Non-Essential Travel Justification”: “The Agency…
By Kai Hattendorf: I am an avid follower of Edelman’s Trust Barometer ever since I attended an early presentation of it in the year 2001, and this year’s presentation a few weeks ago at the WEF in Davos makes for sombre reading, stating that “political polarization and deepening fears giving rise to a widespread sense…
From TSNN, by Tommy Goodwin: Since taking office in January, one of President Donald Trump’s key initiatives has focused on making the U.S. federal government more cost efficient. One recent executive order calls for federal agencies to create a system “that centrally records approval for federally funded travel for conferences and other non-essential purposes.” While…
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