GatherGeeks by BizBash: The Event Industry Podcast BizBash Media

Host: David Adler
Guests: Carla Ruben, Chap Gage, Dawn Penfold, Vanessa Cominsky
In this episode of GatherGeeks, along with the main interviews, BizBash chairman and founder David Adler has added two new “Ask the Expert” features. One is with career and hiring pro Dawn Penfold, president of Meetingjobs, who will discuss salary transparency and where the job market is today. Our second expert is Vanessa Cominsky, wine and spirits specialist for Prestige-Ledroit Distributing Co., who will touch on how the wine and beverage industry has changed because of the pandemic. In the main interviews, our two speakers give us a sense of the state of the catering industry. Carla Ruben, owner of Creative Edge Parties, dishes on a new generation of guests at events, and how clients are moving away from comfort food and leaning into clean, luxurious offerings. Then, Chap Gage, CEO of Susan Gage Caterers, discusses how the building blocks of a great company include taking care of coworkers and building meaningful relationships with clients and the community, and how aspects of his military training have become a benchmark for service.

In this episode of GatherGeeks, BizBash chairman and founder David Adler sits down with BizBash’s editorial team—interim editorial director Shannon Thaler, managing editor Sarah Kloepple, and senior contributing editor Claire Hoffman—to discuss how events fared in 2022. The trio answer questions about what gave them “goosebump moments” this year, their favorite BizBash stories they worked on in 2022, and what they predict is in store for the industry in 2023. 

Host: David Adler
Guest: Deesha Dyer
Imagine orchestrating a visit from the pope and a Chinese state dinner… within days of each other. In this episode of GatherGeeks, recorded live at Connect Winter Marketplace in Washington, D.C, BizBash chairman and founder David Adler sits down with Deesha Dyer, who served as the White House social secretary—the person responsible for planning and coordinating official social events at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.—for the last two years of the Obama administration. Dyer is also the founder and CEO of Hook & Fasten, a social impact agency that specializes in transformational relationships between corporations and communities, diversity and inclusion, and executive operations. In this conversation, Dyers gets candid on navigating stressful moments in a high-stakes environment, working with Michelle Obama, how she started as an intern at the White House, lessons she’s learned, and insights on serving the country.

Host: David Adler
Guests: Tony Wagner, Sara Meyer
Meeting professionals are constantly multitasking. The last thing they want to do is spend time on manual, tedious processes that should just be easy—including cross-checking spreadsheets to track down commissions and payments. This is where Onyx CenterSource’s GroupPay™ can help. This holistic solution is an industry-first payments automation platform that provides hotels and meeting professionals with unparalleled transparency and efficiency to track and proactively manage their event commissions—which, in turn, enables easy reconciliation and faster payments. In this special sponsored episode of GatherGeeks, BizBash chairman and founder David Adler sits down with Onyx’s Tony Wagner and Sara Meyer to discuss the company’s expansion into the meetings and events payments sector of the hospitality industry, how GroupPay™ can help when planners feel like they’re “flying blind,” and what fast, easy commissions can look like with the right technology in place.
Do you manage the meetings and events commission payments process? Tell us your thoughts on how we can streamline and simplify this process for a chance to win an Apple Watch Series 8! Take the survey here.
Sponsored by Onyx CenterSource.

Host: David Adler
Guest: Amy Calvert
In this episode of GatherGeeks, BizBash chairman and founder David Adler sits down with Amy Calvert, CEO of the Events Industry Council (EIC), which oversees more than 30 member organizations in the events industry. The EIC is a global champion of event profs and event industry excellence, offering professional standards and recognition and certification programs that take the industry to new heights. In this podcast, Calvert divulges what keeps her up at night representing this industry, discusses why inspiring young people to enter the industry is more important than ever, and how the CMP—considered the gold standard for planners—is changing as a result of the pandemic.

Host: David Adler
Guest: Doug Emslie
In this episode of GatherGeeks, BizBash chairman and founder David Adler sits down with Doug Emslie, CEO of Tarsus Group (one of the largest exhibition companies in the world), to get a global perspective on trade shows and exhibitions. How have things changed since the pandemic? How do they differ culturally between markets like Europe, the Middle East, and North America? Emslie also discusses how to bring back attendees each year, how the global structure of events is becoming more regional, the rise of bleisure travel, and why technology and sustainability will be positive disruptors to the industry.