Vince Alonzo
Fall Foliage 2025: The Best States (and Peak Weeks) for Picture-Perfect Events
According to 2025 fall foliage forecasts, vibrant autumn colors are expected across large parts of the United States – especially in New England and the Midwest, which lead the way in vivid displays. In fact, forecasters predict that 25 states will have “spectacular” fall color this year.
USTA Travel Price Index Shows Travel Costs Rising—Again
Planning budgets just got trickier. According to the U.S. Travel Association’s (USTA) latest Travel Price Index (TPI), the cost of getting people to and from your event ticked up in August — and not by a little.
Austin’s $1.6 Billion Bet: Conventions Over Culture
Shiny new exhibit halls are meaningless if they sit in cities that feel generic, underfunded, or hostile to locals. Attendees don’t just want a ballroom—they want a city they can’t wait to explore after the sessions end.
San Diego International Airport Rolls Out a New Front Door
When more than 5,000 locals lined up for a sneak peek of San Diego International Airport’s New Terminal 1 earlier this month, it wasn’t just a community event — it was a stress test for one of the largest infrastructure investments in the city’s history. Nearly 1,000 “passengers” volunteered for a simulated, check in.
Show Down in Austin: Can Convention Centers and Culture Coexist?
When Austin, Texas swung the wrecking ball at its downtown convention center this spring, it wasn’t just demolishing a building — it was igniting a debate that cities everywhere should pay attention to.
CrowdComms Makes Its U.S. Play—with a Lesson in Event-Tech Minimalism
CrowdComms, the event-tech firm behind apps, registration kiosks, and hybrid platforms, has officially entered the U.S. market with a new Georgia-based HQ and a cross-country launch tour.
Catskills Meetings: Bagels, Borscht & Breakouts
Long before beachfront mega-resorts and bucket-list travel, summer in the Northeast meant “going up to the mountains.” The ethnic enclaves in that area helped create American leisure.
Dress Codes That Work: A Practical Playbook for Planners
If you plan meetings, you already manage a hundred tiny levers that shape attendee experience—room sets, AV, flow, wayfinding, F&B. Dress codes are one more lever. Done well, they enhance professionalism, comfort, and culture; done poorly, they confuse, exclude, or clash with global expectations.
Feed the World: Why Cuisine Is the Secret Sauce of Great Meetings
When international attendees gather, cuisine becomes more than catering—global menus build bonds, spark stories, and turn mealtimes into networking gold In 2023, according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), North America hosted about 1,873 international association meetings, roughly 19% of the global total. The U.S. alone led the world with 690 international meetings, […]
Amazon Aims to Ground In-Flight Dead Zones
Dropped connections in transit can derail coordination and frustrate attendees traveling to an event. Amazon’s Project Kuiper, now preparing for commercial service, could finally change that equation.
