Are You Sure About That

Raising 3 kids - two little gentleman and baby girl. What have I done? I have brought three people into this crazy world. . . . and now I need to teach them some mommy stuff. To see the family adventures live, watch our YOUTUBE Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2m As our blog grows so do we, our family hobby is insect collecting, and travels. These blogs are about mommy observations in our day to day lives, in real life photos showing us as we grow.

Monday, September 7, 2026

Two weeks to Skift Meetings Forum. Here's the RFP read.

Hi there,

Skift Meetings Forum is September 22 in New York City, and it is the clearest read you will get on what senior planners are sourcing before year end.

The day runs on the three decisions those planners are working through right now: where they can still hold events as geopolitics reshapes destination risk, how they run programs when budgets and staffing are stretched, and which parts of their workflow to hand to artificial intelligence. You hear it directly, in session and over lunch, from the people managing those budgets.

Planners from PepsiCo, Mastercard, Marriott International, Cisco, and dozens more attend.
There is no expo floor, so supplier access is direct and the conversations are real. You walk out with concrete signals on upcoming RFPs, which makes your follow-up timely instead of cold.

Supplier passes are $895 and the supplier count stays small by design. September 22 is two weeks out.
Claim a supplier pass before they run out.

Best,

Camille
Event Marketing Lead, Skift

PS: Are you a senior meeting planner? You could qualify for a complimentary pass. Apply here.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Will I see you?

Hi there,

I keep coming back to your name on the list of people who haven't registered yet.

Pricing for Skift Global Forum closes tonight at 11:59pm ET. Tomorrow it goes up for good. This is the actual last call, not a soft one.

I'm not going to run through the agenda again. You've seen it. What I'll say instead: the room this year has more CEOs and fewer spectators than any Forum we've run. That's not a sales line. It's just what happens when the industry's under enough pressure that people want to be in the conversation, not reading about it after.

[SAVE $600 HERE]

Hope to see you there,

Rafat Ali

Founder & CEO, Skift

The Best $100 Attendees Didn't Have to Spend

Read online

The Best $100 Attendees Didn't Have to Spend

What a free event's test shows about value and commitment for attendees.

David McMillin, Skift Meetings Head of Content

September 3rd, 2026

Ask attendees to pay in advance. Then, give them their money back once they actually show up. That may sound a bit odd, but it’s the strategy Basecamp used at a recent event in Chicago to try to solve the age-old headache of the no-show. When Barbara Scofidio examined the problem earlier this summer, planners told her they’re stuck between two bad options: penalize the crowd for skipping out, or take the friendly route and hope they show up next time.

In today’s edition of The Stand-Up, Andrea Doyle digs into Basecamp’s pay-and-refund model, and the results are a fascinating window into how we define value. The company’s no-show rate dipped from 55% to just 10% of registered attendees. I guess I would be less likely to use the “something suddenly came up” line if I knew I was about to lose my cash.

Also today: 50 new and newly-renovated hotels worth knowing about for your next meeting. Barbara Scofidio has the definitive list. Head below. — David McMillin

A Sneak Peek at Who’s Coming to Skift Meetings Forum

The fastest read on any event is who else shows up. By that measure, Skift Meetings Forum 2026 is already one of the strongest rooms on the fall calendar.HE

SEE WHO WILL BE IN THE ROOM

FEATURED STORIES

The 50 New Hotels Meeting Planners Should Know About

By Barbara Scofidio

Planners have never had more new hotels to choose from, with the South leading the way in 2026 U.S. openings and future projects.

GET THE STORY

8 Things You Need to Know to Plan a Drone Show

By Barbara Scofidio

Drone shows just keep growing in popularity, but wind and weather can be more of a factor than they are with fireworks.

GET THE STORY

The $100 Experiment That Slashed No-Show Rates to Just 10%

By Andrea Doyle

Event no-shows are a persistent problem. Basecamp tried an unusual solution: Charge attendees $100 and give it back when they walk through the door.

GET THE STORY

Informa's Wellness Acquisition Adds a B2B Event and a Nonprofit Question

By Andrea Doyle

Informa is buying its way into the $6.8 trillion wellness economy with two respected but nonprofit-linked brands. The bigger story may not be the wellness bet itself, but what happens when a public events giant absorbs an organization built as a 501(c)(3) — a structural wrinkle the companies haven't yet explained.

GET THE STORY

Skift Meetings Forum

The events with the lowest no-show rates share one trait: everyone in the room decided it was worth being there. That is the room at Skift Meetings Forum on September 22.

Sarah Gannon of MathWorks, Shannon Watson of Rotary, and Time Magazine's Dan Macsai join 300+ event leaders at the Javits Center, with sessions on doing more with a flat budget and moving from running events to running the company.

APPLY TO ATTEND

WORTH YOUR TIME

Five things worth your time today.

Connect the dots between six years of job postings in the meetings industry.
Learn how Scottish celebrations during the World Cup made a difference in one incentive group’s site selection.
See how a city of firsts is telling a compelling story that motivates more attendees to register.**
Find out why more business meetings are happening at major events, not in ballrooms.
Avoid these 10 mistakes the next time you’re sourcing entertainers for your meeting.

** A sponsored message from Visit Atlantic City.

SKIFT PICK: TRANSLATING TRAVEL TRENDS FOR MEETINGS

The $1.55 Billion Marriott Gap

The biggest hotel company in the world has a big gap to fill. Skift’s Sean O’Neill got a look at an internal presentation to Marriott’s group sales team with a tall order: Find $1.55 billion in group revenue for 2027. The shortfall comes on the heels of the company’s second-quarter earnings call, which included a “flattish” pace for 2027 group business in comments from Marriott CFO Jen Mason.

For planners, the news translates to bargaining power. Whatever you’ve been hoping for — lower room rates, F&B concessions, wiggle room on attrition terms — this is the moment to bump that request up to the top of your sales rep’s inbox.

Skift Meetings Toolkit

Great events are built on strategy, innovation, and the right resources. The Skift Meetings Toolkit is your go-to hub for best practices in managing meetings and events.

EXPLORE THE TOOLKIT

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