As the Founder and CEO of American Meetings, Inc. (or AMI,) Andy McNeill was invited to speak on the Destination Marketing Podcast. Overall, this podcast supports tourism marketers in staying up to date on industry trends, technologies, and strategies to be the most effective they can be despite being typically understaffed and overworked.

Involved closely with the events and meetings industry for over 30 years, Andy has successfully navigated industry fluxes through the September 11th terrorist attacks, subsequent recession, and the recent 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic. His company, AMI, focuses on large corporate events across 60 countries worldwide and will be celebrating 20 years in business in January 2022.

In this Destination Marketing Podcast episode, Andy shares why hybrid events are so attractive in the face of recent pandemic and work-from-home challenges, and how we can leverage these changes to grow. There is nothing better than face-to-face meetings in beautiful destinations, but hybrid events make sense, and they aren’t going away.

“We just went through a global pandemic and some people are just not wanting to get on an airplane. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a great event; it just means we may want to plan on offering it virtually (as well).”

Andy McNeill, AMI Founder

Check out the podcast for tips on how to incorporate virtual elements into live events and why. And hear how one corporation got creative to build value and connection with a multi-location event.