Whether you cancel or postpone an event should be "based on the information you have today. You have to look to your customers," said Alicia Evanko, executive vice president, Travel Group Global Events, Northstar Travel Group, during a webinar Thursday on Coronavirus and Your Events: How to Make Decisions that Protect Your Business and the Safety of Your Staff. (Members can watch the webinar or download a written transcript here.)   "For us our final decision to postpone our May event was customer feedback. You want to plan these things now. Because come the fall, everyone is moving their events. You want to get out ahead. Any event in May or June, it's a tough call... You have to consider who your audience is, how big your event is and if you want to keep it in the same calendar year. The sooner you get there the better."   Even in the couple days since that webinar, May events seem more fleeting. Evanko offered an example of an event that they wanted to m ...

A recent study titled The Decision to Attend for Conventions & Exhibitions said that we should entice people with ways to extend their stay. It's time for new thinking, the report says. "For decades, our industry has viewed attendees as people who 'come in and out' of the destination for meetings, conventions or exhibitions with success measured by final attendance, filling the block, and overall economic impact. But today, over 50% of attendees are likely to extend their stay."

Walking into the theater the other night for the play Translations by the great Irish playwright Brian Friel, we were greeted by the liveliest of Irish music. It transported me back to County Clare or Galway where I've been fortunate enough to visit. Another woman started step dancing in tune. In fact, everyone seemed to enter the theater with an extra lilt in their gait.

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