Venue News
Caribe Royale Orlando resort, the only AAA Four Diamond all-suite meetings resort in Orlando located just minutes from Walt Disney World® Resort, announced the grand opening of Stadium Club®, the resort’s high-tech and immersive experiential sports and dining destination. Guests have the opportunity to experience premium viewing of their favorite teams, with all of the best games from top sports showing on a 110-foot-long, ribbon display television allowing for 360-degree game time viewing. Stadium Club is immersive, emulating the same energy and aspects found at a live sporting event. The high-energy, two-floor venue spans over 9,000 square feet, with an audio and visual experience that provides immersive viewing no matter where you are. A host will interact with fans during commercial breaks, with everything from birthday spotlights to “kiss cams.” Day will transition into night with a more lively atmosphere after the sun goes down, including a live DJ.
Stadium Club. Photo courtesy Allied Global Marketing
People on the Move
GlobalMeet, a leader in virtual event technology, announced the appointment of visionary leader Kim Niederman as CEO. GlobalMeet enables live and fully interactive events to audiences as large as 100,000+ people. Niederman has a formidable track record in steering tech companies to record success and will drive GlobalMeet's event technology into an epoch of extraordinary expansion, seizing market opportunities in the digital events space like never before. Niederman is a highly respected CEO and industry veteran, having been president at 8x8 and held CEO roles at FreeWave Technologies, Anagran and LongBoard, along with senior executive positions at Polycom and Cisco. He is known as a growth accelerator, adept at refining products and go-to-market strategies to expand influence by delivering exceptional products that resonate with customers. Before joining GlobalMeet, Niederman scaled five companies (public and private) bringing several of them to a $1B+ market capitalization. As GlobalMeet continues to grow in size and impact, Pivotal Group, the company’s private equity sponsor, remains dedicated to finding qualified and passionate leaders to assist in this journey.
RWS Global, world leaders in live moments, appointed Neil Palomba as their new Advisory Board Member heading the growth of their sea division. Palomba has over 25 years of experience leading global operations and cross-functional teams, driving innovative strategies and transformational change. In his new role at RWS Global, Palomba will collaborate closely with the team to expand their design models and entertainment experiences into their sea division. As a member of the advisory board, he will identify opportunities for sustained growth and work to enhance the guest experience. Palomba comes to RWS Global with more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles at MSC, Costa Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line.
Hot off the Press
In April 2023, InteleTravel, the leisure-focused travel agency with a network of more than 90,000 independent agents, bought the corporate-travel-focused agency consortium Hickory Global Partners. Now, less than a year later, the company is branching into the meetings business with the acquisition of New York-based events agency MGME (formerly McVeigh Global Meetings & Events).
Global creative communications agency DRPG today announced a significant milestone in its expansion with the successful acquisition of The Special Event Company, a distinguished live and virtual event agency based in North Carolina. The Special Event Company (TSEC) was originally founded by Sally Webb, CSEP, and has been a prominent player in the event industry for over 35 years. The acquisition of TSEC not only brings a wealth of experience and expertise into the DRPG family, but also positions Apex, N.C.-based company for substantial growth in both the global and North American markets with the expanded creative services that DRPG offers. TSEC will continue to operate as its own brand but now with an extended set of services being offered between both companies. The president and vice president of TSEC will continue to lead the business and the brand will remain unchanged. Founder Sally Webb will become a Non-Executive Director and Matt Franks, DRPG’s Group Director of Events, will assume the role of CEO, splitting his time between the UK and U.S.
