< PreviousD ealing with the aftermath of a blunder can be painful. Mistakes are messy, embarrassing, costly — and above all — they prove that we are not perfect. But perfection should not be what we are striving for in our careers anyway. In fact, that’s a fallacy. If we’re taking risks, as we should, we will make mistakes … the key is to make them the right way. First, forget the idea that mistakes are “bad.” Actually, they are crucial. If there are no mistakes in a company, then no one is taking a risk, and innovation will atrophy. Many of the most successful companies can all be traced back to a career-risk failure. However, if that failure hadn’t been handled the right way, the outcome would have been very different. It’s what we do after making a mistake — how we deal with the consequences — that ultimately leads us to the victory. When managing the fallout of our own failure, it can feel like we’re picking through the rubble to see what’s salvage- able. It would be all too easy to seal yourself away in your office and ignore the ensuing problems. However, what hap- pens after a mistake is made can provide a valuable, unique opportunity if it’s handled properly. Below are six insights on making mistakes the right way: First, know the risk of NOT taking risks. Dr. Robert Cade, armed with his new creation — a sports drink called Gato- rade — went with me to the project managers of Stokely-Van Camp, a canned soup company, to pitch the product. They said no. So, we went to Executive Vice President Hank War- ren’s office instead. He loved the idea, and the rest is history — Gatorade put sports drinks on the map. The only ones who made a mistake in this instance were the project managers who weren’t willing to take the risk. No one actually likes to make a mistake. But mistakes will happen if you take risks. Or, in the case of the Stokely-Van Camp product managers, if you don’t. When you make a mistake, accept the responsibility. In the wake of a career mistake, it does no good to point fin- gers. Not only does it look childish and desperate, but it does not pay off to pin the blame on someone else. Sometimes, we have to bow our heads and accept the responsibility. Renowned architect I.M. Pei is a good example. While he was striving for originality and innovation in designing Boston’s John Hancock Tower, it took only some heavy winds to reveal the flaw in his firm’s design. Several 500 lb. windows crashed to the streets below. The result was a $75-million project that ballooned to $175 million and took an extra five years to complete. While Pei had not designed the tower himself, his firm’s name was on the plans — so he took responsibility for everything. With humility and perseverance, we move forward and improve. Pei had integrity, the kind that engenders respect. People make mistakes, but the biggest mistake is failing to learn from them. Check your attitude … and look for the lessons. To extract the most learning from your mistakes, first con- sider how you talk to yourself about them. Do you wallow The Right Way to Make Mistakes: How to Manage the Fallout of a Career Risk Gone Wrong BY ROBERT L. DILENSCHNEIDER PERSPECTIVE // It’s what we do after making a mistake — how we deal with the consequences — that ultimately leads us to the victory. 10 December 2023 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.comin self-recrimination? Do you amplify the negativity? That can be self-defeating and make you too cautious to stretch again. When it comes to your mistakes, look realistically at what went wrong. Could it have been anticipated? Could it have been prevented? What could you or your team or your company have done differently? Oprah is a good example of what can be gained from a healthy approach to mistakes. My book, “The Ultimate Guide to Power & Influence,” quotes her on what hap- pened when the Oprah Winfrey Network was losing money back in 2011: “Now, when you’re down there in the hole, it looks like failure,” she said in her commencement speech at Harvard University in 2013. “When that moment comes, it’s really okay to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost — but then, here’s the key: learn from every mistake, because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes, are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are.” Others are watching, so set the right example. It’s com- mon for your career risks to affect more people than just you, especially when it comes to your team. Always remember that your behavior in the wake of a mistake will affect how others view or perceive you. Staff will watch how you handle a mistake. If you ignore it, your staff won’t say anything but will harbor the view that you won’t come to grips with it. I’ve had many top executives tell me they’re not going to talk about a mistake, and I always tell them it will hurt them, and their company, to not speak out. By owning up and handling a situation with humility, energy, and positivity, you are setting the best example for your company or organization. Don’t stop at prototype 5,126 (i.e., persevere!). These days, Dyson is a household name, making vacuum cleaners, commercial hand dryers, bladeless fans and air purifiers, but it all started with James Dyson, 5,127 prototypes and 15 years of mistakes. Finally, when he pitched a suitable product to English retailers, none took the bite. So, he launched it in Japanese catalogues, where it became a quick success. With calculated risk-taking, you also need perseverance. Good thing James Dyson believed in what he was attempt- ing, persevered and didn’t stop at prototype number 5,126. Keep on striving for imperfection. A company that believes they’re perfect will die out. If you already think you’re always right — well, you’re wrong. And you close yourself off from good ideas and discourage employees from suggesting them. For Jeff Bezos, perfection has never outweighed the importance of innovation. His online auction site, zShops, fizzled out, as did Amazon’s Fire smartphone, which ended in a quarterly loss of $170 million. “If you think that’s a big failure, we’re working on much bigger failures right now. And I am not kidding,” Bezos told the Washington Post. “Some of them are going to make the Fire Phone look like a tiny little blip.” On another occasion, he told shareholders, “Failure and invention are inseparable twins.” Of course, there is no guarantee that your mistakes will lead to huge successes like a household-name sports drink, a great vacuum cleaner or a successful TV network. The art of mistake-making is a tricky business. When you cal- culate a risk, you must decide when to take a leap of faith and when to step back from one. That is not easy — but it is worth doing. From the clear-eyed examination of a mistake can come the kernel of another idea. The original idea may have failed, but from it can spring something even better. If not, the les- sons learned can pay off in other ways in your life. Some- times, the lesson from getting something wrong is stronger than having the right answer in the first place. C&IT ROBERT L. DILENSCHNEIDER, author of The Ultimate Guide to Power & Influence: Everything You Need to Know, formed The Dilenschneider Group in Oct. 1991. Headquartered in New York, Miami and Chicago, the firm provides strategic advice and counsel to Fortune 500 companies and leading families and individuals around the world, with experience in fields ranging from mergers, acquisitions and crisis communications to marketing, government affairs and international media. DepositPhotos.com “Failure and invention are inseparable twins.” — Jeff Bezos, Executive Chairman, Amazon TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | December 2023 11I n modern society, building an inclusive employer brand should be considered mission critical for businesses large and small. The most successful companies are the ones that see challenges and opportunities from many different angles, and having a diverse employee popula- tion allows you to do just that. An inclusive employer brand lets you engage, recruit and hire a wonderful spectrum of people who can bring their var- ied backgrounds to bear for your business. Simply put, build- ing an inclusive employer brand brings a diverse set of experiences and perspectives to the table, which in turn allows your com- pany to be smarter, more thought- ful, and ultimately more successful. One way to keep your business stuck where it is today is to keep hiring the people who look like your current employees. Embrac- ing diversity is an opportunity to embrace new perspectives that can help your business grow in new and meaningful ways. When you build your employer brand, it’s your chance to take control of the narrative and have a real impact on how talent views your business. If your employer brand isn’t inclusive and doesn’t show underrepresented tal- ent that you value them and are excited to work with them, then they’re going to choose another place to work and your business isn’t going to benefit from their perspective. It’s really important when creating an employer brand that people can see themselves working in your organization. And by ‘see themselves,’ I mean literally see people who look like them, who share a similar background and bring simi- lar skills and experiences to the job. Sharing the stories of diverse peoples — especially in their own words — in your employer brand, sends a strong signal to candidates: ‘We see you, we value you, and you’ll be able to be yourself here and thrive.’ If that part is missing, then you’re likely going to miss out on engaging with and hiring the variety of people your business needs to be truly successful. You need to meet prospective employees where they are and make it easy for them to imagine being successful in your organi- zation. One way to do this is by creating a toolkit that allows for localized activation, giving your recruiters and HR people the power to customize their out- reach materials and recruitment collateral to match the moment. This can be things like creating an easy-to-update Canva library for them to use, supplying social media templates that they can dial in for specific talent groups, and even customizing your employer brand messaging framework to resonate with different groups you’re trying to engage. Because, while it’s important to highlight an authentic variety of people and experiences in your employer brand, it’s critical that you build in the flex- ibility for your boots-on-the-ground recruiters to customize it to their needs, especially if you’re a multinational company engaging people from a number of cultures. Mindful Employer Branding Key to Successful Staff, HR Recruitment BY MARTHA MARCHESI AND JIM GALLIGAN PERSPECTIVE // Can a Company “Fake it ‘til it Makes it” When Crafting its Employee Value Proposition (EVP)? JK Design 12 December 2023 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.comCan a company “fake it ‘til it makes it” when crafting its Employee Value Proposition (EVP)? When a company works to create an EVP, it’s often a part of a larger set of initiatives focused on enhancing the employee experience. You might be working to boost total benefits, or to enhance work-life balance, or to improve in a number of other areas to increase employee satisfaction. No matter what area you are working to improve, here are a few insights that can foster a more effective EVP. Balancing promise and progress: What to include (or not include) in your EVP usually can be evaluated by looking at two things — the timing of what you’re creating and the language you use when talking about initiatives that aren’t quite fully baked. Consider your timing: If you’re close to launching a really great initiative that you know needs to be part of your EVP to attract the right people, you can include it … as long as it’s going to be implemented by the time your EVP starts gaining traction. For instance, let’s say you’re creating a really excellent rewards program, something you know your people and future talent will value. It’s set to launch next quarter — the vendor is set, the program mapped out, the budget locked in, and you have a standout name, visual identity and messaging. The rocket is rumbling on the pad — this thing is definitely going to launch. So, do you mention rewards in your EVP? Of course, because you’ve fully committed to delivering and it’s going to happen soon enough. Use the right language: But what about other initiatives that aren’t quite this far along? How do you decide if you want to include these in your EVP? Well, that boils down to how you talk about it. If you still have work to do, but you know your organization has good intentions and ambitions, you can capture the spirit of your intentions in an EVP. The key is to use the right language to characterize your work- in-progress initiatives. Fully-baked versus work-in-progress: You can look at your initiatives like chocolate chip cookies versus cookie dough. People find value in fully-baked cookies, but they also love cookie dough — although it is not yet baked, it still holds value in the hearts of those with a sweet tooth. Both can be very attractive, it’s just a matter of how you talk about them. Let’s look at how we talk about a program that’s fully baked. A company that has a mature and robust leadership development offering might say that “we offer a compre- hensive training and development process to keep you chal- lenged, engaged, and growing as a leader and as a profes- sional.” It’s very specific. But what if you’re still at the cookie dough stage? Here we’d say you can include leadership development in your EVP if you use the right language and highlight your pas- sion and your commitment, which are valuable to prospects in their own right. So instead of saying, “We offer a comprehensive training and development program,” you might say, “We are com- mitted to creating the leaders of tomorrow through an ever- growing foundation of training and support.” It’s a little softer, but still meaningful, especially when it reflects your true commitment and beliefs as an organiza- tion. As long as you can support it with some tangible assets today and you’re confident more great stuff is coming, it really comes down to how you say it. Striking the right balance: When it comes to balanc- ing today’s realities with tomorrow’s ambitions, we say if improvements are imminent, you can be specific. If they are not quite baked but reflect a true commit- ment of your organization, lean into your excitement for them and include them in your EVP using broader, but still motivating language. In the end, you should always work to be authentic and honest about the value you’re providing. It matters, espe- cially to young talent who respect transparency. They don’t need you to be perfect, they just need you to be honest. C&IT One way to keep your business stuck where it is today is to keep hiring the people who look like your current employees. TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | December 2023 13 MARTHA MARCHESI is CEO and JIM GALLIGAN is Director of Creative Strategy at JK Design, a full-service creative agency with a powerhouse roster that includes Johnson & Johnson, Philips, Priceline, Prudential, ADP, Tiffany & Co. and more. A veteran of Madison Avenue, Martha is a master brand storyteller, strategic and creative expert and accomplished thought leader. The firm’s mission is to measurably favorably impact clients’ brands, businesses and bottom lines. Connect with her at JKDesign.com. S tress is undermining workplace well-being. This unequivocal and stark finding was just reported by the World Economic Forum amid Gallup’s annual State of the Global Workplace report. Given the apparent stress-compro- mised mental health of the collective substan- tiating “workers around the world are feeling stressed and disengaged” and “stress and worry are on the rise, and the work-life balance is becoming blurred,” the findings further reinforce calls for employers to “rethink their approach to workers’ well-being. On the heels of its artificial intelligence (AI), Metaverse and interactive 3D virtual employee training and simula- tion deployments, global leadership development and train- ing company Fierce, Inc. is again changing the way people communicate with each other and address workplace stress. This time, it’s via the visionary company’s new “Pulse” app poised to refine — and redefine — workplace culture, while also notably boosting bottom lines. With the ability to demonstrate double-digit reductions in stress and anxiety, as well as improved resilience levels, Pulse is designed to address the stressors today’s pressure-laden business cli- mate is causing on industry’s collective staff psyche. The Problem “Beyond the increasingly tumultuous economic, politi- cal supply chain, and other macro, issues companies and its employees are grappling with, handheld technologies and better equipped home, remote and on-site offices have made people more readily accessible — all resulting in greater demands for work participation and productivity,” noted Dr. Gabe De La Rosa, chief behavioral science officer for Fierce Inc. “Uptime or ‘on time’ expectations are contributing to higher stress levels as downtime — that is the time to relax, enjoy family and friends and explore hobbies that might help to moderate those stress levels — continues to shrink. The toll for that is being paid on multiple fronts — emotional, psychological, physical, operational and fiscal.” It has been well-proven that workplace stress severely undermines productivity, efficiency and morale. Now, in the post-pandemic era, employees are struggling that much more as are companies striving to adapt to, and aptly address, employees’ changing needs. In this vicious cycle, hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue is being lost — a situation that’s avoidable if duly addressed. One notable cost-of-illness study estimated that “the cost of work-related stress ranged from U.S. $221 million to upward of U.S. $187 billion...” A more inclusive analysis conducted by the American Institute of Stress found that, after including factors such as absenteeism, turnover, dimin- ished productivity, increased medical costs and increased legal costs, the total economic impact of stress to U.S. employers was estimated at $300 billion. The Solution For 20 years, Fierce has been challenging companies and those who lead them to have the kind of dialogue that drives cultures of transparency — a philosophy that prompted Fierce founder Susan Scott’s first book, “Fierce Conversa- tions,” to sell more than 800,000 copies while propelling her second book, “Fierce Leadership,” to become a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal best seller. Today, Fierce, Inc. CEO Ed Beltran and Dr. De La Rosa have parlayed the idea that “the conversation is the culture” to develop the ground-breaking Pulse app — a technologi- cal solution affectionately coined “The Fitbit of Corporate America.” It’s in that spirit that Pulse strives to build a men- tally fit workforce and shore up financial fitness in kind. Early data from the Pulse app, which is now available for early registration ahead of its official September launch, has demonstrated multiple staggering results, including: • 14% decrease in anxiety • 10% decrease in stress • 8% decrease in burnout • 11% increase in resilience New ‘Pulse’ App Aims to Amend Workplace Angst, Halt Revenue Erosion BY MERILEE A. KERN, MBA PERSPECTIVE // 14 December 2023 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.comPulse uses Stress and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to objectively measure stress. It categorizes stress and ties it to specific times and events, which allows the user to deci- pher and identify their true causes. Beltran underscores the value of this approach. “The app pinpoints stressors and can help both the indi- vidual and the company identify if it was triggered due to something in the employee’s personal life, a temporary intense workplace assignment or more macro company issues like identifying signs of a toxic workplace culture. “The critical piece is going beyond just managing stress through meditation, exercise, diet and being aware of the root cause of your stress and tackling it head-on,” Beltran contin- ued. “This is what Fierce has been teaching for over 20 years — how to engage your environment through conversations with the goal of enriching relationships and driving to your desired results. This is what Pulse does at your fingertips.” The Features • Specific Meditation to your stressors • Biometric analysis to increase self-awareness • Interactive AI Bot to guide you through your stressor • Optional coach support • Integration with today’s top wearable devices • Integration with calendar and GPS to pinpoint stress origin The Benefits • Enables users to pinpoint and eliminate stress through patented technology, breakthrough research and interactive content and coaching • Links self-awareness, identifying people’s toughest challenge and moving to action • Quicker determination of issues and moves toward resolution • Eliminates open-ended coaching that is hard to tie to results • Determines organizational issues/themes for broader virtual or live L&D/wellness engagements • Connects users directly to wellness and employee assistance programs • Connects users to relevant and applicable OnDemand L&D content • Develops and increases resilience that drives eco- nomic impacts on the organization, supporting a thriving culture • Supports EAS Compliance • Delivers results in as little as two weeks and one coaching session “A leader’s best friend is visibility, and Pulse is perhaps the biggest innovation in employee engagement in many years, one that helps leaders see and address what otherwise would be difficult to detect,” Beltran said. One of Fierce’s more compelling findings from its own research is that a lack of self-awareness decreases effec- tiveness of traditional coaching, leading to longer engage- ments with lower impact. Studies have shown that, while 95% of people think they are self-aware, only 10-15% truly are. No matter how difficult the situation, demonstrating resilience is possible. The Pulse app fosters an increase in self-awareness and gives leaders valuable insights that help build a more positive culture, one that can make staff resil- iency commonplace. Overall, this first-of-its-kind workplace wellness app designed by Dr. De La Rosa and his Fierce cohorts is a welcome tool to help stem staff stress, combat toxic work- place culture and improve employee wellbeing, all while helping companies thwart revenue erosion, a staggering $300 Billion lost annually, avoidably caused by work- place angst. C&IT Forbes Business Council, Newsweek Expert Forum and Rolling Stone Culture Council member MERILEE KERN, MBA, is founder, executive editor and producer of “The Luxe List,” as well as host of both the “Savvy Living” lifestyle and travel and “Savvy Ventures” business TV shows. Connect with her at TheLuxeList. com, SavvyLiving.tv, at LuxeListReports on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and on LinkedIn at MerileeKern. Pulse is designed to address the stressors today’s pressure- laden business climate is causing on industry’s collective staff psyche. TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | December 2023 15COMPILED BY MARITZA COSANO A s year’s end approaches, the meeting indus- try celebrates a year of incredible growth, while it casts its gaze on 2024, and its opti- mistic take on the future. With that in mind, we have asked a few meeting professionals to share insights on the evolving landscape of meetings and events, with a focus on the latest trends, technology and evolutions. Some industry trends include cultural curiosity and event technology. Top concerns range from shifting demographics, travel bans, political influences, labor shortages, rising costs, to the evolution of AI and its disruptive or powerful potential, brands’ business models and the growing movement around inclusivity, safety and sustainability. As meetings and events professionals created a picture of what the industry will look like in 2024, we gathered some of their questions: • What one event technology trend will have a big impact on business events? • Corporations like Maritz Holdings, one of the largest event companies, consolidated all of its brands into a singular entity for the first time in nearly 130 years — all while forging ahead with new technology and an expanded workforce. So, will brand simplicity be the new business model? • AI adoption is inevitable as the topic of AI continues to sweep over the events industry. This emerging technology is top-of-mind for company directors and owners, but will companies move forward by embracing it fully — and if yes, will it ultimately have a positive impact? • Event designers are recognizing that audiences are getting younger and reimagining their approach to creating engaging and immersive experiences. Gen- erational Shift Drives Innovation in Event Design Data from the U.S. Department of Labor suggests that the average age of attendees has dropped to 45 from the pre-pandemic average of 51. Why the shift? Also, over half of white-collar workers in North America over age 55 are now claiming retirement. How can event designers cater to the sensibili- ties and values of the younger generation and help boost engagement? • Sustainability progress requires big-picture thinking. As the event industry is responsible for roughly 10% of all C02 emissions produced annually, what should leaders from all sectors of the industry do to build a strategy for a more sustainable future? Here’s what these industry experts had to say on some of the subjects outlined above. INDUSTRY INSIGHT Inside the Industry’s Upward Trajectory 2024 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY 16 December 2023 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.comSTEVE O’MALLEY COO, Maritz W e are seeing a great deal of positivity in the events industry as we move into 2024, with a few key trends: Accelerated Movement in Innovation and Technology AI has exploded and will continue to be a huge game- changer in 2024. It provides so many opportunities for the industry, from both efficiency and creative standpoints. We believe the uses of AI reach far past our industry and will impact clients, guests, suppliers and exhibitors in numer- ous ways, and how quickly we adapt to this technology will be crucial. Rethinking Event Design We’ve entered an era of customized experiences and pur- pose, with attendees wanting to be more immersed in indi- vidualized content and learning. Pre-pandemic, we spent so much time designing meetings as we always had. Event design was only about content, agendas and execution, but once we went through the pandemic, it was about getting people back face-to-face. The next phase is about personalization and pro- viding customized experiences for attendees to take back and apply to their individual growth and careers. Climate Change This is only going to get more important. Sustainability practices used to be “nice to have,” but now we are seeing more regulations coming in, and if we don’t change the way in which we supply and support the planning of meetings in a more sustainable manner, we could see some real challenges facing our industry in the future. Using Data Efficiently The challenge is how to best use data to make better deci- sions around all aspects of events. Measuring the impact is important, because we’re seeing attendees and exhibi- tors wanting to see return on their investment AND return on experience. Generational Shifts One of the biggest considerations moving forward is inclu- sivity — the understanding of multiple generations attending and how they each have a different way of engaging and con- suming content. We know Gen Z does not want to consume content in the same way as other generations, so we must consider this shift and meet expectations. In summary, I believe it will be a constant influx of innova- tion and technology, but we can’t forget the most important common element — human beings. Helping people unleash their potential and being open to taking a few risks with tech- nology and event design is of the utmost importance. DAN SURETTE Chief Sales Officer, Omni Hotels & Resorts T he year 2023 was a “normalizing” period for travel in a lot of ways. In the two previous years, as companies were coming out of COVID, the industry saw a sig- nificant rebound in group and leisure as there was a pent-up need for meetings and events for revenge travel. This year, we saw leisure demand stabilize and shift from domestic to more international destinations and cruises. At Omni Hotels & Resorts, the corporate meetings seg- ment remained strong, and new association meetings are now being booked further out. The association planner has a bet- ter handle on attendance after a year or two of “new” history. Business travel is not yet back to 2019 levels but continues to gain momentum. The economic uncertainty and more inter- national unrest are playing into sourcing, buying and travel decisions through the second half of this year. As we look ahead to 2024, our outlook is that group will continue to be a bright spot in the year and beyond. We are finding that planners are looking for less traditional meeting layouts and want to gather in more uniquely designed spaces Steve O’Malley Dan Surette TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | December 2023 17that can be better customized for the groups’ needs. This really aligns with what Omni has to offer across our portfolio and it is our goal when designing new meeting and event spaces. Our feeling on business travel is that the small and medium-sized accounts will continue to trend up, while the larger accounts will gain strength through the year as the eco- nomic factors improve. The leisure travel space will be very competitive with travelers looking for unique and personal- ized experiences. Omni is very well positioned to grow here as we have been making sizeable investments in service and programming throughout this year. Leveraging new and existing digital and technology plat- forms is a must with B2C and B2B strategies, which Omni takes into consideration when investing in AV, booking tools, etc. Social media continues to evolve, and AI is the new hot topic which will no doubt have an impact on our industry, from new content that will be created to how people search and are influenced when considering meetings and events travel. While it may have a slower start, we believe 2024 will pick up steam throughout the year with strong group performance, improving leisure and steady business travel. MICHELLE MASON ASAE President and CEO, FASAE, CAE A SAE is very optimistic about the health of association meetings in 2024. While virtual and hybrid meetings have become a permanent channel for content deliv- ery, there continues to be high demand for in-person meet- ings that are experience-based and deliver on attendees’ expectations for connection and collaboration. Rapidly advancing meeting technology is helping associations personalize the experience for meeting attendees and boost engagement. AI, in particular, has limitless potential for associa- tions seeking to enhance their meeting attendees’ experience. Ethical and responsible use of AI will continue to be a focal point for association meeting planners moving forward. Asso- ciations are also increasingly turning to data and analytics to measure the success of their meetings and identify trends in attendee behavior that can help them plan their next suc- cessful meeting. One highly positive trend we expect to continue in 2024 is the prioritization of diversity, equity and inclusion in associa- tion event planning. More organizations are actively striving to ensure that all attendees at their meetings feel like there’s been thought given to their experience and they can make the connections they need and engage with the content that is most relevant to them. FRANK PASSANANTE Senior Vice President and Global Head of Sales, Hilton H ilton’s recent trends report spotlighted that, in 2024, travelers will be looking for innovative and seamless digital solutions to simplify their overall travel expe- rience and personalize their stays — regardless of their travel purpose. This expectation begins with the booking process and continues through the guest’s entire hotel stay. To create a more seamless travel experience for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which is roughly 85% of Hil- ton’s business transient guests, in January, we’ll be launching Hilton for Business, a new multi-faceted program, currently in test with select customers. The program will feature a new booking website, along with targeted benefits. At Hilton, we are embracing the fact that we have entered a new golden age of travel where innovations are accelerat- ing rapidly alongside customer demand. The digitization of travel is propelling industry innovations forward, impacting the inspiration and booking experience for travelers and fur- ther removing the tension points of travel. Companies, like us, will continue to explore ways that big data and AI can enable team members to meet the specific needs of customers. This includes how to improve the customer experience through increased booking options, messaging platforms to provide guests with what they need quickly and more. C&IT Frank Passanante Michelle Mason 18 December 2023 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.com Next >