Thrive! Meetings & Events

08/19/2026

Sandy Bridger said something to me the other night that I haven't stopped thinking about: wine isn't the drink you serve alongside dinner — it's another ingredient in the meal. Once you hear it that way, you can't unhear it.

Sandy is the co-owner of DRINK, a Raleigh wine shop she runs with her husband Cam under the tagline "The Somm and The Mom." By day she leads a nonprofit; by night she curates small-production, family-owned wines and designs winemaker dinners people remember. Her philosophy is "intimate, not intimidating" — exactly the skill our industry needs when wine shows up on an event floor plan. And I'm glad Cam, "The Somm," is joining her on this week's Eating at a Meeting LIVE, bringing the technical read of the glass to Sandy's food-and-experience lens.

If wine is an ingredient, you cook with it. Sometimes you pair to mask a flavor — heat, bitterness, richness. Sometimes you pair to enhance a dish's best quality. And some wines are incomplete on their own — high-acid, high-tannin bottles that only come alive with food.

Why should planners AND suppliers care? At most hotels and convention centers, planners get a short, pre-selected wine list and little say. It's about making the most of it — or making the case for something with a story behind it. The right pour makes guests slow down and connect; for hotels, caterers, and venues, that's experience and revenue on your F&B line.

We'll also get into how they source what they pour — family-owned, small-production, "drink globally, source locally" — and how to deliver a "story in a glass" without a $200 bottle.

Come watch LIVE and bring your questions. What's the best — or worst — wine you've been served at an event? Let's talk in the comments.

Every meal matters. So does every pour.

08/05/2026

We keep telling caterers and guests to "be safe" and "waste less" at events — and then we act surprised when nothing changes.

Here's the truth I've learned after 30+ years in this industry: behavior doesn't shift because we hand people a rule. It shifts because of experience design — the room, the menu, and the moment shaped so the safer, more inclusive choice is the easy one. Get that right and you turn every meal into a better decision.

That's exactly why I'm sitting down with Dr. Kristin Malek. Kristin is a behavior change designer at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, author of Designing Behavior Change, and the mind behind the PATH framework — Perceive, Align & Design, Take Action, Hold. She studies how people actually make decisions, and she's obsessed with events as a place to change them.

We're going to get practical. I’m gonna ask her questions like: How does where you place a dish on the buffet quietly steer the whole room toward the lower-waste, plant-forward choice? What makes a check-in question ("Does anyone in your group have a food allergy?") stick as a habit instead of a policy nobody follows? Why do so many food safety and waste-reduction efforts work at one conference and then quietly disappear?

If you're a planner, this changes how you brief your caterer and design your floor plan. If you're a caterer, venue, or destination, this is about turning "we tried that once" into behaviors your team keeps doing under pressure — and marketing that reflects real care, not lip service.

Every meal matters. And the meals we design on purpose are the ones that keep guests safe, included, and coming back.

Come watch LIVE, bring your toughest F&B challenge, and drop it in the comments — I want to put your real-world scenarios in front of Kristin. What behavior have you struggled to make stick at your events?

07/29/2026

When you travel somewhere new, you often don't know a single soul. So how do you actually understand the place you're standing in? Kenny Dunn's answer: eat.

This week on Eating at a Meeting LIVE, I'm talking with Kenny Dunn, Founder and CEO of Eating Europe. His story is a rare one — he started his career at the United Nations working on food security and sustainable agriculture, then a chance pizza tour sparked an idea that became one of Europe's leading culinary tour companies, spanning cities across seven-plus countries and hundreds of thousands of guests.

But here's what makes Kenny essential listening for our world. He treats food as a gateway to culture, not a checklist of dishes. His guides don't just point at plates — they translate daily life, share the stories behind the people cooking, and turn a meal into genuine access to a place.

And he takes the hard parts seriously. Safety starts with knowing every guest's allergies and dietary needs before they arrive — he'll share a Rome story that shows exactly why that communication is life-or-death. Sustainability, for him, means putting money behind the small, often family-run businesses preserving food traditions that globalization threatens to erase. Inclusion means the more diverse the table, the richer the experience — something he felt firsthand at a 100-year-old restaurant in Bogotá, seated with strangers who became a shared meal to remember.

For planners, destinations, hotels, and DMCs, this is a blueprint for off-site dining and local experiences that are safer, more meaningful, and more memorable than any banquet.

Watch LIVE and bring your questions. When has a meal given you real access to a place or a person? Tell me in the comments — I want to hear your table story.

07/21/2026

What a joy to hear speak this morning at , sharing her 10 tips for bringing soul to your business and your life.

From “be yourself” to “make someone’s day,” “do it together” versus DIY to “be a good listener and then act on it” and “elevate the everyday,” Darcy’s message are so simple to implement and on point for each and everyone of us.

You don’t know what tomorrow brings, so preserve the memories and tell someone how much they mean to you.

you’ve got this, WE’ve got this. 🩷

07/02/2026

A night watching and listening to EPCOT’s “Luminous The Symphony of US”. These pictures capture the color of the show. The music and story that went with them were even more beautiful.

I absolutely love hearing all of the different languages and accents spoken by both cast members and the guests. They’ve all come to the happiest place on earth to experience, learn and celebrate the culture, food, and stories from/about so many countries.

The show was a wonderful way to end 10 days here and be reminded that “We are united as citizens of the world.”

04/19/2026

Today I’m 58!

03/08/2026

Happy International Women’s Day!

For the past five years, Women’s HERstory Month has been one of my favorite traditions.

Each March, through thrive! meetings & events and the Eating at a Meeting Podcast, I’ve had the privilege of shining a light on incredible women who are shaping our food system — from farmers and producers to chefs, innovators, educators, and leaders across the food and hospitality world.

This image represents just a snapshot of the women we’ve celebrated so far. Different backgrounds. Different paths. One powerful common thread: their work is helping create a food system that is safer, more sustainable, and more inclusive.

Their impact shows up everywhere — on our banquet tables, in our communities, in our supply chains, and in the conversations we’re having about the future of food.

I’m grateful to each of these women for sharing their stories and for the work they continue to do every day.

And we’re just getting started.

The 2026 Women Making HERstory honorees are coming soon — and this year we’re placing a special spotlight on women farmers in recognition of the UN’s International Year of the Woman Farmer.

Stay tuned! 🎧🎙️

03/04/2026

No live Eating at a Meeting Podcast show today. Family comes first, and right now, that's where I need to be.

Wednesdays are usually my favorite day of the week because I get to go live and talk with you about the food and beverage that feed our meetings and events.

This is especially hard because I am so excited about what’s coming. 2026 is the International Year of the Woman Farmer, and I’ve been working on the next class of Women Making HERstory honorees—women farmers, fishers, cheesemakers, urban growers, and food‑system leaders who are literally feeding our meetings, conferences and events.

I can’t wait to introduce them to you properly, and I want to do that from a steadier, more grounded place.

If you’d like to support the work while I’m in the background mode:

• Share the name of a woman farmer, fisher, forager, food‑rescue leader or food entrepreneur you think should be on my radar.

• Or just drop a kind thought for all the women doing emotional labor and caregiving while also trying to change food systems.

Thank you for understanding, for showing up week after week, and for caring about how the world eats when it meets. I’ll be back live soon—with more stories, more HERstory, and more ways to make every meal matter.

02/18/2026

There's no Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE today.

I’m on-site with a client, doing the behind-the-scenes work I love—checking temperatures, reviewing processes, and making sure everyone can eat safely and confidently. 🌡️

I’ll be back next week behind the mic with more conversations about how Every Meal Matters.

02/05/2026

I recently contributed this article on vegetarian meals at events to the Northstar Meetings Group page.

How are your event vegetarian dishes?

Maybe not for every meal, but approaching F&B with a plant-forward mindset can help energize participants and save money.