• The fight between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and Walt Disney World appears to be over. A major new Disney development has received its initial approval, which “opens the door to a fifth major theme park at Walt Disney World” in the next decade or so, reported AP. Developments could also “raise the number of hotel rooms on its property from almost 40,000 rooms to more than 53,000 rooms.”
Katie Toth, event manager at FCM Meetings & Events Americas, took home the Cvent Superstar award at Cvent Connect 2024, the conference for users of Cvent’s business-event technology. Among the other award winners at the conference in San Antonio June 10 to 13 were The Institute of Internal Auditors, Cvent New User of the Year; MCI USA, Cvent Partner of the Year; Stanford Alumni Association, Best Use of the Cvent Platform for a Single Event; and Wells Fargo, Best Use of the Cvent Platform across a Total Event Program. View the full list. In other news, Gabriella Antoniotti was promoted to head of operations for FCM’s Americas region this spring.
• Corporate-event planning company GoGather has added two London-based team members to work with U.S. clients in the EMEA region. With this expansion, GoGather now brings local resources to events for medical, biotech, and other industries. Last year, the Escondido, Calif.-based company—launched in 2008 by Brian Kellerman and Dave Wagner—added a staff position in Latin America.
• For its January 2024 Convening Leaders conference in San Diego, the Professional Convention Management Association made its first attempt at meeting the Event Industry Council’s Sustainable Event Standards. Those efforts paid off, earning the conference silver-level certification from EIC.
“PCMA has a unique opportunity—and responsibility—to contribute to the global efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change,” said Sherrif Karamat, CAE, president and CEO of PCMA. “EIC’s Standards provide us with a framework to measure our event impact while guiding us to rethink how we plan and produce our work collectively. We now have the necessary baseline to create platforms and environments to drive sustainability leadership, and advocate for the importance of a sustainability by design approach.”
PCMA worked with Honeycomb Strategies to implement its sustainability plan for the conference, and the Alliance for Audited Media performed a third-party certification of compliance with the standards.
• Boston-based Tripleseat, a sales and event-management platform for restaurants, hotels, and unique venues, has acquired Merri, a 3D floor-plan and event-design application. The tool will help Tripleseat in its goal to be an all-in-one solution for the event-planning process. Merri’s interactive tools allow planners to preview draping, stages, hanging lights, uplights, and other features in their room design.
