Greg Oates

Meetings industry media, organizations, tech providers, and forward-thinking suppliers are all aggressively experimenting with event technology and digital content. But there are questions about how well the majority of meeting planners will be prepared for the upcoming onslaught of digital-native attendees.

U.S. Travel is pushing us to take more time off, but millennials are nervous, and middle managers aren't listening. Also, tourism bureaus are doing a better job at communicating the economic impact of travel, and Brand USA is starting to see results with a 10 percent jump in international inbound intent-to-travel.

London Tech Week shows the impact that convention bureaus can have on developing live events that shift a city's destination brand image.

IBM has come a long, long way in rebuilding its brand thanks to all of the cool factor surrounding Watson. But it could do more to showcase the consumer appeal around cognitive travel in 2017, including the benefits of machine learning to better connect us with travel destinations.

The results of the U.S. presidential election showed us unequivocally that we all tend to default into our own professional and personal bubbles in different ways. Meetings and events have always been a platform to bust out of those, and that's something the industry needs to trumpet more.

The Standard and Bunkhouse properties have developed highly engaged communities of loyal guests and local residents due to their carefully curated design and social spaces unique to their neighborhoods.

Tourism and hospitality companies have an opportunity with Mapillary to create their own ground-level, photo-based mapping platforms without having to wait for Google Street View teams to create or update them.

By segmenting the personalities of their individual neighborhoods, cities like San Francisco have more options to align their visitor experiences with different visitor profiles. That customization helps cities expand their destination image, build destination loyalty, and boost repeat visitation.

Standard and its Bunkhouse Group have the right size that allows them to both innovate and take a leadership role in the industry. It's great to see them doing both.

The multi-year "Holland: The Original Cool" tourism campaign is a lesson in modern video storytelling, incorporating long- and short-form content pushing both national and local messaging. It also shows the value of taking risks to engage audiences with branded content.