In many regards, the pandemic was a shared moment in time. We each experienced it together, but also alone. Clear skies, empty streets, Zoom bombers, toilet paper hoarders, designer masks, social distancing, friends (and romances) made remotely, and the events we attended together, but apart. What’s your takeaway from the pandemic and where do we go from here? Join Dahlia El Gazzar, Mary Ann Pierce, and Michael Hiskey for this poignant walk down memory lane about how it changed us and how quickly we forget. Register today and bring your fondest pandemic insights. 

Gianna Gaudini, one of our newest VEG members, is an event planner, book author, course creator, and master of those special touches that turn events into memories. We asked her for her favorite 10 Questions to Ask Before Planning an Event. Use them.

1. Why are you planning an event?
2. If you were writing an article about your event, what would the headline be?
3. Who are you planning the event for?
4. Is there a set date and location for the event?
5. Will it be virtual or hybrid?
6. What is the budget for your event?
7. What are the priorities for your event?
8. What do you want the attendees to do / think / feel?
9. Is this a one-time event or will it be a recurring event?
10. How will you measure success?

Company meetings are being scrutinized for their efficiencies and costs. That meeting-filled calendar of yours may start looking a bit empty. The math is somewhat straightforward. The average employee is making a little north of $50/hour, not including benefits and other costs. So, an “average” hour-long meeting with 10 people costs over $500. 

Not so bad, but look at the gestalt. A report produced by meeting note taker Otter.AI found that large companies could save as much as $100 million a year by holding fewer meetings and cutting down on their invite lists.

Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce company, is taking the memos super seriously. The company rolled out a calculator embedded in the employees’ calendar app that estimates the cost of any meeting with three or more people, using average compensation data, along with meeting length and attendee count, to place a price tag on the meeting. The company clearly pays its employees well. According to Chief Operating Officer Kaz Nejatian, a typical 30-minute meeting with three employees can run from $700 up to $1,600. In a recent Forbes article, Nejatian says, “No one at Shopify would expense a $500 dinner, but lots and lots of people spend way more than that in meetings without ever making a decision.” Meetings aren’t the devil. Just bad meetings are. The trick, we think, is to insist on meeting with outcomes. Here are some tips for how to do it.

AI Generated LinkedIn Bios
VEG member and partner in crime Jim Louderback found a way to write the perfect LinkedIn Bio. He used SimpleBio. All you do is enter your LinkedIn profile and it’ll create an opening bio for your page. You can choose a personal style including casual, quirky, or professional and adjust the length. I tried it and found it did ok with a summary of my present life but didn’t capture the gestalt of my life’s accomplishments very well. Jim, OTOH, loved the styles it created for him. See what you think. 

Actors, Writers, and Events 
If you’re looking for star power at your next event, maybe you should hold it on the picket line line, because that where the stars are now. Everyone in the events business knows that star power works miracles. Add a celebrity keynote or appearance and you’re likely to see a bump in attendance and ratings (especially if it’s the right celebrity). Last week, the 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA (actors) went on strike after talks with the studios collapsed. They joined the Writers Guild of America, whose members have been on strike since May. According to Skift, Comic Con, slated for July 23-25 in San Diego, will be one of the first events to suffer from a dearth of stars. Comic-Con has historically been a gathering spot for A-list celebs. Last year, the list included Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Rosario Dawson, Paul Rudd, Kesha, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Hugh Grant. As we head into fall events high season, we may have to forgo the star power. Our sympathies go out to all actors and writers who are the litmus test for the future of creation. (And we pine for you, Jimmy Kimmel and Steven Colbert!)

Large Language Models
Large language models are the gigantic ingested information that generative AI programs are made of. Want a crash course in the difference between one large language model and the next? Here’s Shelly Palmer’s take. 

The Sphere to Top Them All
We love virtual meetings. We detest wasteful, unsustainable events. But we’re human, aren’t we? And we can’t take our eyes off of Sphere, a new attraction in Las Vegas. Sphere is a dome with so many LEDs on the exterior that it can be seen from outer space. And so cool on the inside that it seats 17,600 with internal 16K LED screens. It displays images, video and animation on the outside and the inside, opening up entirely new concert and cinematic experiences.

The new Las Vegas Sphere showed off its exosphere for the 4th of July.
image CREDIT: Sphere Entertainment 

The Thank You Trees

Thanks to all who participated in our sustainability event. You played your part in planting a total of 800,000 trees to restore 387.90 hectares of land in the Klukus Lakes, in the Chilcotin district of British Columbia.

A reminder to join our fast growing community. Together, we’ll stay on top of all of the tech trends that are changing how we meet. New programs, new content, and new colleagues await. Join for $99.

Refer a friend for a 20% discount using the code VEGSUMMER. 

We're not publishing this newsletter next week, to give everybody a 4th of July breather. We'll be back the week of July 10th.