Northstar Meetings Group

1 week ago | northstarmeetingsgroup.com | Lisa A. Grimaldi

At IMEX Frankfurt, show founder Ray Bloom and retiring industry icon Diane DiMaggio recount the origins of hosted-buyer programs and shared memories of this important event's history. In our studio on the show floor of this year's IMEX Frankfurt, two longtime collaborators and friends sat down to reflect on the industry's evolution and share fond memories.

1 week ago | northstarmeetingsgroup.com | Elise Schoening

IACC, a global association for meeting venue professionals, has published its latest Meeting Room of the Future report with insights into event industry trends and preferences. More than 205 event planners from across Europe and North America were surveyed for the research, which was conducted by IACC and Development Counsellors International. The majority of respondents work on events with 50 to 200 attendees. Just over one-third (34 percent) specialize in corporate events.

3 weeks ago | northstarmeetingsgroup.com | Elise Schoening

Northstar’s annual research has been expanded to include site-selection data for more than 60 cities and convention centers across the United States. Since launching in 2020, Northstar Meetings Group’s Convention Cities Index has served as a go-to guide to aid event planners in their site-selection process. For this latest edition, the research team has refreshed and upgraded the index to serve planners looking to host gatherings in the United States. What Is the Convention Cities Index?

3 weeks ago | northstarmeetingsgroup.com | Sarah J.F. Braley

Northstar Meetings Group has announced that the Independent Planner Education Conference, the leading conference produced exclusively for independent planners not associated with third-party organizations, will be held Feb. 4-6, 2026, at the Gila River Resorts & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass, in Chandler, Ariz.

3 weeks ago | northstarmeetingsgroup.com | Lisa A. Grimaldi

Growing uncertainty around incentive programs was a primary take-away fromthe April Northstar/Cvent Incentive PULSE survey. Our study revealed that programsare being impacted by government policies, tariffs, budgeting issues and morein 2025.  We asked six industry leaders to share their takes on the current businesslandscape, on these challenges as well as the positive trends that they andtheir members or clients are experiencing.