Joan Eisenstodt

Officer Didarul Islam, 36, a Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh and a married father of two kids with a third on the way, was shot and killed in Manhattan by a suspect who carried an AR-15-style rifle. He was one of the four people killed by the suspect, Shane Tamura, 27, a U.S. citizen who drove from Las Vegas to unleash death in a midtown Manhattan skyscraper near the end of the workday.

The Corporate Event Marketing Association’s (CEMA) Summit, held August 4-6 in Seattle, set a new benchmark for intentional inclusivity, something we have not experienced at such a level in the many years we’ve been DEI thoughtleaders in the meetings and events industry. And as members of APIEventProfs, the Asian Pacific Islander Event Professionals group, we want to see more of this sense of belonging.

In the not-so-distant future, the world of meetings and events was transformed by the rise of artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT. These powerful AI systems promised to revolutionize the way events were planned, executed and attended, offering unparalleled convenience and efficiency for event organizers and attendees alike.