Podcasts about visitors authority

ProFootballTalk NFL Insider, Myles Simmons joins Cofield & Company to discuss Michael Jordan joining the NBC's NBA broadcast, review Micah Parsons showing up to Dallas Cowboys' training camp despite not having a new contract, and give his thoughts on the lack of hype around Tennessee Titans' Cam Ward, despite being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Las Vegas Review-Journal Sports Columnist, Adam Hill joins Cofield & Co. to talk about SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey's threats of the SEC forming it's own conference, preview the start of the Las Vegas Raiders' mandatory mini-camp, and give his thoughts on the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority continuing to sponsor the Las Vegas Aces by paying each player on the roster $100,000.

Two men face charges in connection to the disappearance of a teenager from Utah… why it's making news in Las Vegas. Plus, a family sues the City of North Las Vegas and two officers involved in the fatal shooting a woman who they claim was mentally ill. And, the budget is in for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority…why they're concerned but not panicking. You can watch 7@7 during the week at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on any of your favorite streaming platforms.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority released some sobering stats this week: At a time when tourism tends to uptick, we're seeing visitorship to Vegas on the decline. What does this forebode? Co-host Sarah Lohman talks with education advocate Patricia Haddad Bennett and Hey Las Vegas newsletter editor Rob Kachelriess about whether Las Vegas has nickel and dimed its customers past the brink. They also discuss two omnibus education bills moving through the legislative session and where these two visions for our schools diverge, and last but not least … sperm racing could be coming to Vegas soon. Yes, that's a thing, and we Googled it so you don't have to. Get more from City Cast Las Vegas when you become a City Cast Las Vegas Neighbor. You'll enjoy perks like ad-free listening, invitations to members only events and more. Join now at membership.citycast.fm  Learn more about the sponsors of this May 2nd episode: Aura Frames - Get $35-off plus free shipping on the Carver Mat frame with Promo Code CITYCAST Cozy Earth - Use code COZYLASVEGAS for 40% off best-selling sheets, towels, pajamas, and more. Slater's 50/50 Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Messina, senior director of leisure sales for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report about the very first Spotlight Nevada, a new trade event designed to promote resorts and attractions in Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada. On April 13-15, nearly 80 travel advisors gathered with roughly 100 suppliers to meet and experience all the state has to offer. And Spotlight Nevada will return next year. For more information, visit www.spotlightnevada.com or www.visitlasvegas.com.  All our Insider Travel Report video interviews are archived and available on our Youtube channel  (youtube.com/insidertravelreport), and as podcasts with the same title on: Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, TuneIn + Alexa, Podbean,  iHeartRadio,  Google, Amazon Music/Audible, Deezer, Podcast Addict, and iTunes Apple Podcasts, which supports Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro and Castbox.  

This episode is a combination of two mini-episodes from 3/12/25 and 3/14/25. Another one will follow soon.... Topic begins at (0:12:34) mark: Notice: Skype will be dead on May 5 -- how does this affect PFA Radio?.... (0:26:37): Bovada VIP player stiffed out of $87k in TikTok ban bet, PFA helps him.... (1:22:03): Bovada/Ignition tournament system glitch over weekend of March 8 leaves hundreds or thousands of players underpaid or no-paid their winnings.... (1:50:00): Texas / Canadian poker player Mark Toulouse passed away during tournament at Texas Card House Dallas.... (2:03:25): Founders Card again kills Caesars Diamond benefit, this time permanently.... (2:17:04): Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority agrees to pay $8.25 million to A's to wear Las Vegas patch while they play in Sacramento.... (2:30:21): YouTube makes new policy against videos promoting illegal online gambling sites.

On the March 8 edition of A's Cast Live, our daily baseball talk show, Chris Townsend was live from Downtown Summerlin and was joined by: Jose Canseco - A's Hall of Famer & 1988 AL MVP (8:30) Mick Akers - Sports Business & Transportation journalist at Las Vegas Review Journal (27:30) Steve Hill - Chief Executive Officer and President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (1:11:50) Steve Fanelli - VP of Sales and Business Operations for the Athletics (1:23:53) Brent Rooker - A's Outfielder/DH (1:39:10) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

City Cast's new investigation, co-published with ProPublica, reveals new details about the so-called "Tesla tunnels" running under our city: When Elon Musk's Boring Company came to Las Vegas in 2019, its tunneling projects in other cities had already fizzled out after environmental reviews and public outcry. But here, with the backing of the powerful Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Boring Co. won a bid to build the Vegas Loop, a tunnel system for ferrying convention-goers around in underground Teslas — and it's since won approval from local government entities for 68 miles of tunnels. City Cast Las Vegas co-host Dayvid Figler and journalist Daniel Rothberg co-authored a new investigation for ProPublica about how the Boring Co. has advanced a sprawling transit system with little public oversight and input, despite the fines and environmental incidents it's racked up since the project began. City Cast Las Vegas co-host Sarah Lohman interviews Dayvid and Daniel in today's episode. Make sure to read the investigation in full here. ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas made multiple attempts to reach the Boring Company for comment on this investigation, but have received no response as of the publication date. Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Messina, senior director of leisure travel for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report on the eve of the second Formula 1 Grand Prix, an event that was a major success for the entertainment capital Messina details how Vegas has become a center for sports, previews new and updated resorts coming online and new forms of entertainment and shows opening around the city. For more information, visit www.TrackMyLasVegasBookings.com, www.visitlasvegas.com, www.lasvegasmeansbusiness.com or www.taconnect.net/rewards/lvcva. All our Insider Travel Report video interviews are available on our Youtube channel  (youtube.com/insidertravelreport), and as podcasts with the same title on Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, TuneIn + Alexa, Podbean, iHeartRadio, Google,Amazon Music/Audible, Deezer, Podcast Addict, and iTunes Apple Podcasts, which supports Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro and Castbox.  

Send us a textWe are on location as the iconic Tropicana Las Vegas took its final bow with a breathtaking spectacle. What a show! The Las Vegas skyline was illuminated with an impressive drone and fireworks show, followed by the 22-second-long implosion of the Tropicana at 2:30 a.m. PT on Wednesday, Oct. 9. According to officials... the momentous event marks the next chapter in Las Vegas' legacy of reinvention: the A's state-of-the-art ballpark and a world-class entertainment resort destination in partnership with Bally's Corporation. We chat with Steve Hill, the President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. We asked him about Las Vegas implosions and why they are so special and we also asked him to confirm that the A's are really moving here. Listen and see what he has to say! Call LevelUp Law at 855-LevelUp or visit  LevelUpLaw.comVegasNearMe AppIf it's fun to do or see, it's on VegasNearMe. The only app you'll need to navigate Las Vegas. Support the showFollow us on Instagram: @vegas.revealedFollow us on Twitter: @vegasrevealedFollow us on TikTok: @vegas.revealedWebsite: Vegas-Revealed.com

Episode Notes Airbnb aims to focus on a lot more than short-term rentals. The company has plans to consistently launch new lines of business going forward, including those that may not be geared toward travel, writes Travel Technology Reporter Justin Dawes. CEO Brian Chesky said at the Skift Global Forum on Wednesday he anticipates launching two or three ventures annually that could eventually generate a billion dollars a year in revenue. He acknowledged not all of those ventures will be successful, but added now is the right time for the company to grow beyond the core business.  Chesky also said that stays between 30 and 90 days could represent a huge area of growth for Airbnb, noting that online travel agencies wouldn't likely provide travelers that opportunity. Next, Las Vegas officials believe the city needs to host more big sporting events to help maintain tourism growth, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam.   Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said at the Skift Global Forum the city aims to have a marquee event in the first or second quarter of each year in addition to the annual Formula 1 race. Las Vegas hosted the Super Bowl this February, which generated $1 billion in incremental economic impact.  Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, said the city wouldn't be the same if it stopped hosting large sporting events. Las Vegas is scheduled to host Wrestlemania and the College Football Playoff National Championship next year. Finally, Dubai is synonymous with luxury tourism. But the city is looking to rely less on its famous landmarks and celebrity campaigns in favor of what it considers a more authentic tourism experience, writes Middle East Reporter Josh Corder.  Dubai Tourism CEO Issam Kazim said the city needed landmark projects and luxury hotels to attract tourists in the beginning. But he said Dubai Tourism is working to showcase the city's residents and hidden gems, citing its arts and culture.  For more travel stories and deep dives into the latest trends, head to skift.com.  Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ X: https://twitter.com/skift Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.

Football trivia on Jeopardy! goes wrong; how do more celebrities fair with the LOCPOD Creepiness test; did The Times local newspaper give Tom the shaft after some of his remarks on the last episode; Speros Batistatos sued by his former employer, the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, for fraud and unjust enrichment.

On Friday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced an unprecedented new sponsorship program: $100k to each of the Las Vegas Aces players, from superstars to rookies. On the heels of that announcement, however, the WNBA confirmed that it would be investigating this sponsorship deal for possible violation of league rules. But why? Today, executive producer Sonja Cho Swanson talks with professor Nancy Lough, co-director of the UNLV Sports Innovation Institute, about the complicated rules of endorsements, sponsorships, and pay-to-play in pro sports — and how we can get to pay parity for female athletes. Don't forget: We're doing our annual survey to learn more about our listeners. We'd be grateful if you took the survey at citycast.fm/survey — it's only 7 minutes long. You'll be doing us a big favor. Plus, anyone who takes the survey will be eligible to win a $250 Visa gift card — and City Cast City swag! Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. Want some more Las Vegas news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From 'Queens of the Court' (Subscribe Here): On this episode of Queens of the Court, co-hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Jordan Robinson break down the first week of the 2024 WNBA Season, from the Indiana Fever's 0-4 start to the New York Liberty's four-game win streak. Plus, they discuss the unveiling of the name and logo for the Golden State Valkyries, and the news that the Las Vegas Aces are under investigation after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced it was sponsoring each player on the team.If you have any questions want Sheryl and Jordan to answer, you can send them to queensofthecourt@audacy.com. Please also rate and review "Queens of the Court" so more women's basketball fans can find us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Queens of the Court' (Subscribe Here): On this episode of Queens of the Court, co-hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Jordan Robinson break down the first week of the 2024 WNBA Season, from the Indiana Fever's 0-4 start to the New York Liberty's four-game win streak. Plus, they discuss the unveiling of the name and logo for the Golden State Valkyries, and the news that the Las Vegas Aces are under investigation after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced it was sponsoring each player on the team.If you have any questions want Sheryl and Jordan to answer, you can send them to queensofthecourt@audacy.com. Please also rate and review "Queens of the Court" so more women's basketball fans can find us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of Queens of the Court, co-hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Jordan Robinson break down the first week of the 2024 WNBA Season, from the Indiana Fever's 0-4 start to the New York Liberty's four-game win streak. Plus, they discuss the unveiling of the name and logo for the Golden State Valkyries, and the news that the Las Vegas Aces are under investigation after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced it was sponsoring each player on the team. If you have any questions want Sheryl and Jordan to answer, you can send them to queensofthecourt@audacy.com. Please also rate and review "Queens of the Court" so more women's basketball fans can find us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Queens of the Court' (Subscribe Here): On this episode of Queens of the Court, co-hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Jordan Robinson break down the first week of the 2024 WNBA Season, from the Indiana Fever's 0-4 start to the New York Liberty's four-game win streak. Plus, they discuss the unveiling of the name and logo for the Golden State Valkyries, and the news that the Las Vegas Aces are under investigation after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced it was sponsoring each player on the team.If you have any questions want Sheryl and Jordan to answer, you can send them to queensofthecourt@audacy.com. Please also rate and review "Queens of the Court" so more women's basketball fans can find us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Queens of the Court' (Subscribe Here): On this episode of Queens of the Court, co-hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Jordan Robinson break down the first week of the 2024 WNBA Season, from the Indiana Fever's 0-4 start to the New York Liberty's four-game win streak. Plus, they discuss the unveiling of the name and logo for the Golden State Valkyries, and the news that the Las Vegas Aces are under investigation after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced it was sponsoring each player on the team.If you have any questions want Sheryl and Jordan to answer, you can send them to queensofthecourt@audacy.com. Please also rate and review "Queens of the Court" so more women's basketball fans can find us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Queens of the Court' (Subscribe Here): On this episode of Queens of the Court, co-hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Jordan Robinson break down the first week of the 2024 WNBA Season, from the Indiana Fever's 0-4 start to the New York Liberty's four-game win streak. Plus, they discuss the unveiling of the name and logo for the Golden State Valkyries, and the news that the Las Vegas Aces are under investigation after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced it was sponsoring each player on the team.If you have any questions want Sheryl and Jordan to answer, you can send them to queensofthecourt@audacy.com. Please also rate and review "Queens of the Court" so more women's basketball fans can find us! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A $12 billion passenger bullet train linking Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area was dubbed the first true high-speed rail line in the nation, with a private company called Brightline West building it, and predicting millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, cited Biden administration support for the project that he said will bring thousands of union jobs, boost local economies, and cut traffic and air pollution. Company officials say the goal is to have trains exceeding speeds of 186 mph (300 kph)—comparable to Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains—operating in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. Brightline West, whose sister company already operates a fast train between Miami and Orlando in Florida, aims to link U.S. cities that are too near each other for air travel to make sense and too far for people to drive. Las Vegas has no Amtrak service. The idea of a bullet train to Los Angeles dates back decades under various names including DesertXpress. Brightline West acquired the project in 2019, and company and public officials say it has all required right-of-way and environmental approvals, along with labor agreements. Brightline received Biden administration backing including a $3 billion grant from federal infrastructure funds and recent approval to sell another $2.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds. The company won federal authorization in 2020 to sell $1 billion in similar bonds. Brightline West says electric-powered trains will cut the four-hour trip across the Mojave Desert to a little more than two hours. It projects 11 million one-way passengers per year, with fares that Wes Eden, Brightline founder, said will be comparable to airline ticket costs. The trains will offer restrooms, Wi-Fi, food and beverage sales, and the option to check luggage. Officials hope the train line will relieve congestion on I-15, where drivers often sit in miles of crawling traffic while returning home to Southern California from a Las Vegas weekend. An average of more than 44,000 automobiles per day crossed the California-Nevada state line on I-15 in 2023, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority data. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Were the recent Northern Lights overhyped; Tom and Kevin talk with Phil Taillon, the new CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, about what he's looking forward to in his new position, what he'll miss as Chief of Staff for Hammond, Indiana, and more; Tom and Kevin suffer the same groin injury at the same time; was Trump's recent massive rally in New Jersey and indicator of what the outcome will be of the upcoming election; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. reveals that a worm died inside his brain after eating a portion of it.

From our friends at Skift, host Miguel Neves explores four diverse destinations, speaking with Tommy Woods, Travel Texas; Jim McMichael, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; Tara Miller, Destination DC; and Martha Sheridan, Meet Boston. Each destination provides insight into what attendees can expect when meeting with them at IMEX Frankfurt 2024.

To no one's surprise, Elon Musk's Boring Company is in the news again as Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, throws his support behind the Vegas Loop's expansion amid safety concerns. Also, a member of the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents is facing calls to resign after doubling down on comments aimed at trans athletes and the American Film Market moving to Vegas revives hopes for a Hollywood 2.0. Hosts Sarah Lohman and Dayvid Figler are joined by thelist.vegas publisher Andrew Kiraly to round up this week's news. We're on social media! Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. Want some more Las Vegas news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join our Patreon for the exclusive MtM Vegas Aftershow! More info at: https://www.patreon.com/MtMVegas Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories Part 1 Description: This week we finally learned the date when the Tropicana will go into yesteryear as one of the most historic Vegas properties ever. Find out when Tropicana will close its doors plus what is the casino's legacy and will be actually be sorry that Tropicana is no more? In other news Planet Hollywood is getting a new center bar and it looks great. We also take a detailed look inside one of the stunning Wynn Fairway Villas, let you know how much Caesars is now charging for ATM fees, provide an update on Fontainebleau's nacho problems and executive shakeups plus contemplate a rumor about Hard Rock buying Treasure Island. Part 2 Description This week the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority released the visitor stats for December, 2023 and many records were broken. We'll break down how stunning the numbers are considering December is usually one of the slowest months of the year. In other news the Sphere announced their next residency act as they have struggled to get big names to sign on. We also discuss Oyo's super unique show, what you should see at Trop before it is gone, Caesars Palace at opening vs. today, the crazy amount of stuff Vegas is doing for the Super Bowl and whether or not Tilmann Fertitta's "Cosmo Clone" is canceled. About the Show Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with the audio being combined into this podcast. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

Sam Joffray is no stranger to the Super Bowl. He has been to every big game since 1997 in some capacity. Whether it was leading a bid for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation or as a consultant or vendor, Joffray has a wealth of experience when it comes to the NFL's crown jewel. So when Las Vegas welcomed the Raiders to the city and built world-class Allegiant Stadium four years ago, they needed someone to run point on a Super Bowl bid. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority hired Joffray to be the president and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee. Following a successful bid, Sin City will host its first Super Bowl on February 11. Joffray and his team have been hard at work to make sure the event is a success, and are hopeful that Las Vegas can get into the regular rotation of Super Bowl host venues is the coming years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guests: Steve Hill, CEO/President, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Part Two

Guests: Steve Hill, CEO/President, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Part Two

Kelly Messina, senior director of leisure sales for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report about how your clients can still find ticket  and packages for the much-in-demand F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, including what Vegas is doing to host the race. For more information, visit www.lvcca.com or www.visitlasvegas.com. If interested, the original video of this podcast can be found on the Insider Travel Report Youtube channel or by searching for the podcast's title on Youtube.  

The season 10 premiere – the crew talks about what they did over break, including Tom's outburst at a Cubs game; LOCPOD is dismissed from a lawsuit by Speros Batistatos, former head of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority.

Season 4, Episode 3 Featured guest: Lisa Messina, Chief Sales Officer, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Do you stand up for yourself when the moment calls for it? Lisa Messina, Chief Sales Officer at the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, shares her experience and perspective on workplace bullying, choosing to be zealous over jealous, and finding the courage to get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations.

Lisa Motley has worked in the Las Vegas events and tourism industry for more than 20 years. She has held various roles in her six-plus years at Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As senior director of sports and special events, Motley works tirelessly to bring all sizes of sporting events to Las Vegas. She was instrumental in organizing the 2022 NFL Draft, and has held a large role in securing some of the biggest sporting events in the world for Sin City. This November, Las Vegas will host Formula 1 for the first time, and then three months later will welcome Super Bowl LVIII to Allegiant Stadium. In this conversation with SportsTravel Associate Editor Justin Shaw, we talk with Motley about what it takes to bring these massive events to Las Vegas, and what to expect from the city as a host. We also discuss all of the college basketball action in Las Vegas, including this year's NCAA Men's West Regional Final and the 2028 Men's Final Four. Motley also divulges the one event that she still wants to check off her sports bucket list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Let's Go with Catie Keogh, we're leaving the cold, gray Chicago weather behind and escaping to four sunny and warm destinations, and you won't even need your passport! Let's Go! Guests include:Experience Scottsdale: experiencescottsdale.comUnited States Virgin Islands: visitusvi.comExperience Kissimmee: experiencekissimmee.comLas Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority: visitlasvegas.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Hill, Chief Executive Officer/President at Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority talks with Gaydos and Chad about being part of the Super Bowl Host Committee for next year's big game in Las Vegas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reno Tahoe area of northern Nevada is easy to get to, easy to navigate once you're on the ground, and is easy to love for meetings and events. Thanks to an economic boom, new and refreshed venues, and a plethora of outdoor activities, Reno Tahoe is catching the attention of people around the country to work, live and play there. Just what can this fast-growing destination do for your next meeting or event? In this episode, Senior Content Director Danielle LeBreck chats with Mike Larragueta, vice president of sales for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority to learn more. This podcast was produced in partnership with Reno Tahoe

David Uran, former Crown Point mayor and current CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, guest hosts LOCPOD; Dave is unsure of Tom's shirt size; Pickleball for all as Larry from Pickle Time describes the game and why it's for everyone; Naked Pickleball, like in Florida, won't be happening here any time soon; Dave talks about his experience being a referee and people giving refs the business.

Ian King speaks to the chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management about America's midterm elections. Plus, hear from the managing director of Alstom UK and Ireland about a major monorail project in Egypt. And the vice president of marketing at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority joins the show to discuss how the travel sector is rethinking its tourism strategy.

Cop 27 is under way in Egypt and we examine what this means for the world's fastest growing continent Africa. We speak to Lily Odarno, the Director of Energy and Climate Innovation for Africa at the Clean Air Task Force and ask her how the continent will increase its energy supplies over the next few decades. We are in Las Vegas to hear about a post-pandemic bounce in tourism. In June, 4.8 million people visited the bright lights, casinos and big shows. Fletch Burnett the Vice President of Marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority tells us why Vegas is booming. The US based owners of Liverpool Football Club football have said they would consider new shareholders, after reports emerged that the club is being put up for sale. The Fenway Sports group also own the US Baseball side the Boston Red Sox. US finance expert Kieran Maguire from the University of Liverpool explains what it means for this massive English football club which has a huge following around the globe.

We rode the Vegas Loop for the first time! Resorts World now has a passenger station and it's open for business. We chat with the Resorts World President and the CEO and President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Find out how it works and how this new underground travel will benefit you. We also visit the Nomad Pool on a Saturday afternoon. Find out what makes this pool different from weekend day clubs. The male revue show, Thunder from Down Under, celebrates 20 years at the Excalibur. We tell you about a new restaurant find off the strip. Valencian Gold has vibe and delicious food! Dayna has tips if you visit the North Premium Outlets. Sean has tips about the Las Vegas Ballpark. Valencian Gold is located at 7960 S. Rainbow Boulevard.Support the show

Virginia Valentine has led the Nevada Resort Association, which represents Nevada's largest resort casinos since 2011. As the pandemic winds down, she reflects on how the industry has rebounded and what this rebound says about the future of gaming in the state. But there are still areas that have not recovered and Valentine discusses the challenges facing the industry going forward. She talks about the increasing importance of sports and sporting events to the town now that it's home to several professional teams. She spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros at the NRA offices in the Summerlin section of Las Vegas in May. GGB: The pandemic was a tough time for the industry, shutting down the entire Las Vegas Strip and every resort in the state. But since then Vegas has really bounced back. Why has it bounced back so quickly? Virginia Valentine: I think that after two years of not doing much, a lot of people have had that pent up desire to get out and travel. So I think with this return to normalcy, travel is a big part of that. Those 78 days of complete shutdown were quite an amazing period. It was unprecedented. So, now the signs of recovery are good. There's still some areas that are not quite back to pre-pandemic levels yet. Meetings and conventions, international travel and business travel are not quite back. But there are some very encouraging signs. When Las Vegas did come back, there was a mask mandate for quite a few months on top of that. Was that a negative? There are, of course, a lot of views on masks. But our view was that if it's a state requirement, we're going to comply with it, and of course we did. But for people in the hospitality industry where the employees are there to make the guests have a great experience, it created a little bit of friction. Our role primarily was to make sure that we followed all of the requirements. Those that felt comfortable came back and those that didn't probably didn't come back. But now that we're wide open, it feels good. We just had the NFL Draft, which according to all measurements, maybe except for gaming, was a success. Formula One just booked an event for the Strip in 2023. And of course the Super Bowl in 2024. Are these city-centric events really important to Las Vegas? Oh, I think it's huge. If you just think about it in terms of the number of impressions, the people around the country and the world who were able to see the iconic Strip, it's awesome. I love the new tagline just adopted by the LVCVA (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority), which is the “Earth's greatest arena.” In terms of the value of people seeing Las Vegas and thinking, “I want to see that and I want to go there,” it's absolutely huge. Let's talk about development on the Strip. MGM just closed on the Cosmopolitan. Caesars is trying to sell the Flamingo. MGM operates 60 percent of the rooms on the Strip. Are you concerned about the concentration of ownership on the Strip, or do you think new properties like Resorts World and Fontainebleau will dilute that? We have new management and new companies coming in here. There's some rebranding that will go on, along with new capital investment in these properties. I think it is an opportunity for each owner and operator to develop some synergies for them in operating. There's some opportunity also to get a little more diverse and have some more niche properties. And so I don't really see a problem with it. Nevada has a big election coming up, electing a new senator and governor. Is the NRA going to support candidates in that election? This year, for the first time in a long time, we have a political action committee and we've raised some money. And we are going through the process now of interviewing candidates and looking for candidates who understand the tourism industry and its importance to the state. So along with our chairwoman, Ellen Whittemore from Wynn, and our executive board, we will identify and support the candidates who will make a difference for our state.

Ericka Aviles founder of Ericka Aviles Consulting LLC talks about the leap of faith she took to become a business owner; the challenges Hispanic small businesses face in Las Vegas; how her business provides guidance and access to resources; her experience at MGM Resorts, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and with former mayor Oscar Goodman.Ericka Aviles Consulting: https://erickaaviles.com/ 

Today: Lake County Democratic Party chairman Jim Weiser is on "Regionally Speaking" to talk about the process of selecting a successor to Crown Point Mayor David Uran, who is leaving public office on June 2nd to become the president and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority. NIPSCO reopened its Gary Business Office and NiSource executive Jennifer Montague has the details of the post-COVID reopening. And northwest Indiana financial advisor Greg Hammer sheds some insight on what to look for in a financial advisor, if you don't have one already.

Part 1 of my conversation with Lisa Motley from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on what it took to get the 2022 NFL Draft to Las Vegas.

In this week's episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Charles Harris, the President and CEO of The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority joins Adam to discuss his non-traditional path toward becoming a destination marketer and establishing a customer advisory board. Learn more about how customer advisory boards can be beneficial to you and your destination. “It's a working meeting. The folks that came through at the start said, ‘I'm not sure I'm going to book Reno Tahoe' or ‘I won't book Reno Tahoe'. And by the end of the two and a half days, they said, ‘we are now ambassadors for you'.” -Charles Harris Visit Reno Tahoe Destination Marketing Podcast The Destination Marketing Podcast is a part of the Destination Marketing Podcast Network. It is hosted by Adam Stoker and produced by Relic. If you are interested in any of Relic's services,  please email adam@relicagency.com or visit https://www.relicagency.com/ To learn more about the Destination Marketing Podcast network and to listen to our other shows, please visit https://thedmpn.com/. If you are interested in becoming a part of the network, please email adam@relicagency.com.

Today: We revisit our conversation with Dianne Halsey with the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority about the recent inductees to the Wall of Legends which included a surprise inductee: the man who created the Wall itself.

In this episode, Takeaways host Heidi Fang is joined by Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney to talk about Las Vegas getting Super Bowl 58 in 2024 and talk about the Raiders-Browns game. We also hear reaction about Las Vegas being the host city from Raiders' owner Mark Davis and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO Steve Hill. Visit tickpick.com/vegasnation today and use the promo code VEGASNATION to save $10 on your first order of Raiders tickets! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, the Fremont Street Experience drives 24 million visitors annually to downtown Las Vegas and covers five city blocks with direct access to eight downtown hotel-casinos. However, when the space opened in December 1995, no one was quite sure how everything would turn out. We're joined by experts to talk about how the Fremont Street Experience changed the tourism experience in Las Vegas when it opened and, 26 years later, has only continued to do so. Guests: Andrew Simon, Chief Executive Officer Fremont Street Experience and longtime Las Vegan. Bill Marion, principal and partner of Purdue Marion & Associates Public Relations, native Las Vegan and historian Jan Jones Blackhurst, who was the city of Las Vegas mayor from 1991 to 1999, including during the opening of the Fremont Street Experience in 1995. She also sits on the board of directors of several organizations: Caesars Entertainment the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which owns Allegiant Stadium. She is also CEO-in-residence at the International Gaming Institute at UNLV.

LaVar Arrington, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Plaxico Burress are LIVE from the Mandalay Bay Sportsbook celebrating the 1-year anniversary of Up On Game! The guys celebrate their trip to Vegas and discuss the greatest highlights the city has to offer with H. Fletch Brunelle, VP of Marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The guys debate the way Brian Kelly handled his exit from Notre Dame to coach at LSU. Plus, the guys dissect the struggles of the Los Angeles Rams in this edition of On Ya Head with James Jackson! Catch all of FOX Sports Radio's weekend coverage by subscribing to FOX Sports Weekends here! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

LaVar Arrington, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Plaxico Burress are LIVE from the Mandalay Bay Sportsbook celebrating the 1-year anniversary of Up On Game! The guys celebrate their trip to Vegas and discuss the greatest highlights the city has to offer with H. Fletch Brunelle, VP of Marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The guys debate the way Brian Kelly handled his exit from Notre Dame to coach at LSU. Plus, the guys dissect the struggles of the Los Angeles Rams in this edition of On Ya Head with James Jackson! Catch all of FOX Sports Radio's weekend coverage by subscribing to FOX Sports Weekends here! Subscribe, rate and review the Up On Game podcast here! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Today: Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission executive director Ty Warner is on "Regionally Speaking" in an encore conversation about "transit-oriented development" (one such project is pictured above) and how it fits in with projects like the South Shore Line expansion. We have more about a veterans' job fair to be held Thursday at Soldier Field in Chicago, co-sponsored by the DAV and other groups. And Erika Dahl of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority talks about a big sporting event this weekend. More than 180 softball teams from across the Midwest are in northwest Indiana to compete in the National Softball Association Girls' Fast Pitch “B” & “C” Northern World Series. Games are being played in communities across the region, and it's expected to have a big local economic impact.

Today: South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority president Speros Batistatos is on "Regionally Speaking" to talk about the Region's tourism and hospitality sectors, as the COVID-19 pandemic loosens its grip on local events and festivals and of the hotels and other businesses that depend on them. We also bring back our conversations with Patrick Maloney and Cal Bellamy about Franciscan Health's plans to "downsize" the Hammond hospital and with Valparaiso Mayor Matt Murphy. And Megan Telligman with Indiana Humanities talks about the new multiyear "Unearthed" initiative to help Hoosiers to explore how we shape the environment and how the environment shapes us.

In 2019, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated it hosted nearly 43 million tourists. Officials were expecting a record year for 2020, and the Nevada metropolis did set one … in the negative direction. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic barely 19 million visitors came to town — the lowest total in decades. Today, restaurants and casinos will return to full capacity. If the move is successful, you'll see a flip on the city's tagline. What happened to Vegas won't stay in Vegas. Our guests are Los Angeles Times national correspondent Kurtis Lee and Culinary Union Local 226 secretary-treasurer Geoconda Argüelo-Kline. Plus, a rant about loquats!More reading:Las Vegas is betting on the gamblers and tourists returning. Will lost jobs come back? Democratic candidates court Culinary Union, the kingmaker of NevadaCOVID pushed Cirque du Soleil into bankruptcy protection. Now for a Vegas comeback

This week we are taking it to none other than Las Vegas!  Join us in the lounge as we chat with Scott Fujinaga of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.  This is so much more than buffets and gaming.  You are going to love this!

Global Meetings Industry Day (https://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/ (GMID)) held on April 8, is an international day of advocacy that showcases the undeniable value that business meetings, trade shows, incentive travel, exhibitions, conferences and conventions bring to people, businesses and communities. It is being celebrated around the globe in dozens of regional events.   In this episode is a rebroadcast of the panel discussion which was held in Las Vegas at the brand new expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center. This panel, moderated by Rich Luna of Meeting Professionals International, was with 5 of the industry leaders in Las Vegas. The panel includes   ·      Chandra Allison, Senior VP at the Venetian Resort ·      Stephanie Glanzer, Chief Sales Officer of MGM Resorts International ·      Chris Flatt, Exec VP at Wynn Las Vegas ·      Steve Hill, CEO & President of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority ·      And Michael Massari, Chief Sales Officer of Caesars Entertainment --> LINK to exclusive interview with Michael Massari: https://tradeshowu.biz/episodes/ep-085-importance-of-live-meetings-with-michael-massari/ (Ep 085: Importance of Live Meetings with Michael Massari)   GMID was developed by https://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/ (Meetings Means Business )– an industry-wide coalition which showcases the value of what meetings, trade shows, conventions and travel mean to the economy and communities all around the globe!   This Episode brought to you by https://www.caesars.com/meetings (Caesars Entertainment). Caesars Entertainment is excited to be presenting the Las Vegas Meetings industry experts panel for Global Meetings industry Day. Caesars Entertainment is committed to the meetings business with more than 50 properties around the country with 10 first class resorts in Las Vegas. CAESARS FORUM, the 550,000 square foot conference center is the latest addition. Please visit http://caesarsmeansbusiness.com/ (caesarsmeansbusiness.com) for more information. Get a free Gift and join the Trade Show University newsletter! Visit tradeshowu.biz

On today's episode of Leadership is Female, #20!!! can you believe it!?! I am so pleased to bring you Lisa Motley, a veteran of casino, hotel, sports, and special events advertising and marketing, currently holds the position of Director of Sports Marketing and Special Events for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). Lisa Top 4 Takeaways: 1. Chase the skills required to grow, not the money, the money will come when you add the skills. Lisa's career started out with a faxed resume and now she is leading marketing sports and special events for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, one of the top tourist destinations on the planet. Lisa's marketing knowledge had to grow tremendously over the years to take on big roles like this one - chase the skills! 2. To build courage, consider creating a photo album on your phone title “Courage” and fill it with all your favorite photos that bring you JOY! A night out with your friends, a great vacation, your family...you name it. Any time you start to feel weak, open that up and reflect on the beautiful life you have created and let those happy memories fill you with the courage needed to get the job done. 3. On goal setting, choose goals that align with your values and that you are passionate about achieving. Setting a goal on an area where you have disinterest is not going to take you anywhere. Get excited about what you can achieve and make a plan on how to get there. Shout out to Lisa who met her reading goal - 52 books in 2020!! WOW! 4. Lisa's best advice for women, “make a decision!” Don't make a million dollar decision but make a decision and be able to explain why you made that decision. Start getting decision making practice today to be the leader you want to be tomorrow. Stay in touch with Lisa at: lmotely@lvcva.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamotley/ https://www.instagram.com/lisamotleylv/

There may not be fireworks over the strip this year in Las Vegas but virtual plans will allow everyone across the world to watch something spectacular! It includes, "blowing up" 2020! Sean and Dayna have all the details and how you can watch. Plus, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority take over the monorail, and the NEW Convention Center looks incredible! Magician and longtime headliner, Lance Burton, retires to his home state of Kentucky and leaves a moving message on his Facebook page about Las Vegas. Also, new developments downtown that will connect you to The Plaza Hotel Casino. Hear from The Plaza's CEO Jonathan Jossel about how this will boost the Fremont area. In Sean and Dayna's tips, Las Vegas deals that you can't pass up and the debate about food app delivery.

Joel Peterson from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority shares what new and what's developing in Las Vegas.Connect With the Tom'sTom Karnestom@lamacchiatravel.comwww.lamacchiatravel.com Tom Brussowtom@SunsationalBeachVacations.com www.SunsationalBeachVacations.com

Welcome to the Walking Down Main Street Podcast where we will be talking travel each week. In this episode, we are talking with Joel Peterson from the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.The Walking Down Main Street Podcast is hosted by April Botta, Whitney Mattox, & Lynne Macolini. We are proudly sponsored by Coasters & Castles Travel. For more information, check out www.travelcnc.com. Walking Down Main Street also has a blog. Check it out at www.walkingdownmainstreet.com WDMS is on YouTube too, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrgRTIIgM3Kxjozq0IuiWwA Be sure to tell us what you would like us to talk about. Email us at info@travelcnc.com.

Las Vegas Monorail filed for Chapter 11 protections in Nevada bankruptcy court last week to clear the way for its sale to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, saying service disruptions from COVID-19 have left it without enough cash to continue operating beyond 30 November. Debtwire’s Senior Legal Analyst, Sarah Foss and Debtwire Municipals’ Chuck Stanley discuss the legal and financial ramifications. Yong Lim, the Debtwire Municipals desk editor, is the moderator of the podcast. The Muni Lowdown is a weekly podcast recapping the previous week's significant news developments in the municipal bond market. For comments or questions contact paul.greaves@acuris.com

Kelly Messina, senior director of leisure sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report about how Las Vegas is back in business as we emerge from the coronavirus crisis, how LVCVA is already running travel advisor fam trips, and how it's staging the Only Vegas Virtual Expo for advisors on Wednesday, Sept. 9. To sign up for the show, visit https://attendee.onlyvegasvirtualxpo.com/count-down. If interested, the original video of this podcast can be found on Youtube by searching for the podcast's title.

Tom Dabertin, chief organizer of the longstanding Whiting, IN Pierogi Fest, stops by to talk with Tom and Kevin about the recent indictment of longtime Whiting mayor Joe Stahura, the state of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, what it was like drinking $20,000 tea in China, and more.

Join us for our regular updates and segments as well a chat with Lisa Motley from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority who shares everything we need to know about visiting Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is open, even though portions remain closed, like shows and some restaurants. But, there's still plenty to do! Las Vegas has a lot of options for outdoor activities. Sean and Dayna talk to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's Vice President of Marketing, Fletch Brunelle, about what you can do if you visit. They also discuss the #VegasSmart campaign and get updates on many major projects happening in Las Vegas. Some of the projects include Resorts World, the brand new addition to the convention center, and the Elon Musk loop. There's a lot coming to Las Vegas in 2021 and there are a lot of deals right now too! Sean and Dayna also discuss the Garth Brooks show that was supposed to be the first at the new Allegiant Stadium in August. He rescheduled to February. Find out what Brooks has to say about it. Sean and Dayna's tips include nighttime kayaking trips and a new summer book release by a former Las Vegas reporter.

Speros A. Batistatos, President and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, joins the program to discuss the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the hospitality industry, as well as current trends. Discover the importance of the hospitality industry for the region, and a silver lining that is emerging during these challenging times. 

Getting Started With Facebook Groups For Real Estate Agents If you don’t have a Facebook group in 2020 and beyond you may be missing out on a HUGE opportunity to cultivate meaningful relationships and ultimately close more deals in your real estate business. In this episode on the Social Agent Secrets Podcast, Matthew Evans, a successful Las Vegas Realtor, shares why agents should have their own Facebook groups and how he got started! Check out Matty’s recent news network interview on the KYNV Channel 13 Action News Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/KTNVLasVegas/videos/1130704917301617/?vh=e&d=n This interview got over 100k views with Matty! It was LIVE with Shawn Tempesta & JJ Snyder chatting with 5-Star Customer Service Excellence Award winner Matthew Evans. This award is given by Vegas Chamber in partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. You can nominate an outstanding employee right here in Las Vegas at the following link: https://www.vegaschamber.com/customer-service-excellence/ Marty’s podcast mentions: We Got Your Back FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wegotyourbackvegas/?ref=share Business, Sales, and Networking Las Vegas FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/292301107978236/?ref=share Brave & Beautiful Blood Cancer Foundation: https://bbbcf.org/donate-now/ Social Agents Sercrets Podscast Bonuses Matty's 3 Tactics, Tips & Secrets for Getting Noticed in Facebook Groups Click Here To Get The Bonus Offer http://www.socialagentsecrets.com/matty Connect with us on social media for more valuable free content and interaction with our community Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialagentsecrets/ Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/socialagentsecrets/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/socialagentsecrets Twitter: https://twitter.com/agent_secrets Interested in being a guest on our podcast? Visit http://socialagentsecrets.com/guest to get started today!

From the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, hotels and restaurants were among the hardest hit. With people across the country instructed not to travel and stay-at-home orders issued, the tourism, convention and hospitality sector has been virtually shutting down. Here in Mecklenburg County, the largest hotel chains report a 90 percent drop in business. Across the Charlotte Region, one out of every nine jobs is in the hospitality sector.With the future uncertain, many wonder when will convention traffic resume, and how will we make up all of the lost revenue? Joining us to discuss those questions and much more is Tom Murray, CEO Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. The CRVA manages the Charlotte Convention Center, Spectrum Center, Bojangles’ Coliseum, Ovens Auditorium, NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte Regional Film Commission and Visit Charlotte.

Former longtime Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar B. Goodman, talks about the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s new slogan. It was revealed during this year's Super Bowl. Goodman served as a three-term mayor in Las Vegas from 1999 to 2011, but his colorful past includes working as a defense attorney for 35 years for organized crime figures. He's also in the movie, "Casino." Goodman is now the chairman of the LVCVA Host Committee. He shares stories of the past with us, plus what's coming soon to Las Vegas. Also, Keep Memory Alive’s 24th annual Power of Love gala is on March 7th at MGM Grand. It will honor Neil Diamond, who announced his retirement from touring due to his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Keep Memory Alive’s director Anna Robins and Camille Ruvo, co-founder of Keep Memory Alive tell us what goes in to planning this star-studded gala fundraiser that benefits the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

On this episode of unCONventional, Dana chats with Jim McMichael, the Specialty Markets Manager for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Jim gives the scoop on what makes Las Vegas a welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community, and how the viral 2018 ad featuring a lesbian wedding came to be. 

Meetings Today’s Tyler Davidson chats with Chris Meyer, vice president of global sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, about what’s new in the center of the meetings and events universe. Topics include Elon Musk’s bold new Boring Company people mover; exciting new technology offerings; highlights of the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion; and how the Las Vegas is attracting a global sporting event audience. *Podcast was created in partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

Who founded the Mob Museum, how is Frank Sinatra linked and what events do they have lined up next? All is revealed in this exclusive interview with an insider. Web: https://themobmuseum.org/ Follow: @themobmuseum About: The Mob Museum provides a world-class, interactive journey through true stories. From the birth of the Mob, to today's headlines. Shadows and whispers. G-Men and Made Men. Whether you like it or not, this is American history. Located steps from Fremont Street, the Museum provides an experience unlike any other. The Museum, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was designed by a world-class team. They are known for other successful museums that serve to reinvigorate communities and neighborhoods, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. The Mob Museum cost approximately $42 million to construct and was funded through local, state and federal grants. Approximately $12.4 million came from general fund sources with $8.3 million coming from matching local, state and federal grants that were awarded following the city's financial commitment from both its general fund and Redevelopment Agency funding source that can only be spent on projects located in the city's redevelopment area. General funds were allocated for the Museum in 2004. Grants of note include a Save America's Treasures grant from the National Park Service, multi-year grants from the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs and local grants from the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The Mob Museum was awarded accreditation on March 1, 2017. This is the highest national recognition afforded the nation's museums from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). This distinction means our Museum meets National Standards and Best Practices for U.S. museums and we join a select community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to these standards and best practices. About the show: ► Website: http://www.ashsaidit.com ► Music Courtesy of Bensound.com ► For $5 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link: https://www.lyft.com/ici/ASH584216 ►For discount Pangea Products: https://embracepangaea.grsm.io/ashsaiditmedia3226 ► Want the ‘coldest' water? https://thecoldestwater.com/?ref=ashleybrown12 ► Become A Podcast Legend: http://ashsaidit.podcastersmastery.zaxaa.com/s/6543767021305 ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ash-said-it/id1144197789 ► SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSaidItSuwanee ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1loveash ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashsaidit ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/1loveAsh ► Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AshSaidItMedia ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog ► Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/1LoveAsh/ ► Newsletter: manage1.com/subscribe?u=2a2ca3b799467f125b53863http://ashsaidit.us11.list-c8&id=a6f43cd472 #atlanta #ashsaidit #ashsaidthat #ashblogsit #ashsaidit® Ash Brown is a gifted American producer, blogger, speaker, media personality and event emcee. The blog on AshSaidit.com showcases exclusive event invites, product reviews and so much more. Her motivational podcast "Ash Said It Daily" is available on major media platforms such as iTunes, iHeart Radio & Google Play. This program has over half a million streams worldwide. She uses these mediums to motivate & encourage her audience in the most powerful way. She keeps it real!

Who founded the Mob Museum, how is Frank Sinatra linked and what events do they have lined up next? All is revealed in this exclusive interview with an insider. Web: https://themobmuseum.org/ Follow: @themobmuseum About: The Mob Museum provides a world-class, interactive journey through true stories. From the birth of the Mob, to today's headlines. Shadows and whispers. G-Men and Made Men. Whether you like it or not, this is American history. Located steps from Fremont Street, the Museum provides an experience unlike any other. The Museum, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was designed by a world-class team. They are known for other successful museums that serve to reinvigorate communities and neighborhoods, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. The Mob Museum cost approximately $42 million to construct and was funded through local, state and federal grants. Approximately $12.4 million came from general fund sources with $8.3 million coming from matching local, state and federal grants that were awarded following the city's financial commitment from both its general fund and Redevelopment Agency funding source that can only be spent on projects located in the city's redevelopment area. General funds were allocated for the Museum in 2004. Grants of note include a Save America's Treasures grant from the National Park Service, multi-year grants from the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs and local grants from the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The Mob Museum was awarded accreditation on March 1, 2017. This is the highest national recognition afforded the nation's museums from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). This distinction means our Museum meets National Standards and Best Practices for U.S. museums and we join a select community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to these standards and best practices. About the show: ► Website: http://www.ashsaidit.com ► Music Courtesy of Bensound.com ► For $5 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link: https://www.lyft.com/ici/ASH584216 ►For discount Pangea Products: https://embracepangaea.grsm.io/ashsaiditmedia3226 ► Want the ‘coldest' water? https://thecoldestwater.com/?ref=ashleybrown12 ► Become A Podcast Legend: http://ashsaidit.podcastersmastery.zaxaa.com/s/6543767021305 ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ash-said-it/id1144197789 ► SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSaidItSuwanee ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1loveash ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashsaidit ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/1loveAsh ► Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AshSaidItMedia ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog ► Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/1LoveAsh/ ► Newsletter: manage1.com/subscribe?u=2a2ca3b799467f125b53863http://ashsaidit.us11.list-c8&id=a6f43cd472 #atlanta #ashsaidit #ashsaidthat #ashblogsit #ashsaidit® Ash Brown is a gifted American producer, blogger, speaker, media personality and event emcee. The blog on AshSaidit.com showcases exclusive event invites, product reviews and so much more. Her motivational podcast "Ash Said It Daily" is available on major media platforms such as iTunes, iHeart Radio & Google Play. This program has over half a million streams worldwide. She uses these mediums to motivate & encourage her audience in the most powerful way. She keeps it real!

When you think of iconic brands, names like Nike, Budweiser and Apple come to mind. However, cities can become cult brands, just like products. And perhaps the most well-known city in the U.S., with the most well-known brand, is Las Vegas. In this episode, the boys bring on Cathy Tull, former CMO of Las Vegas' Convention and Visitors Authority, who oversaw this positioning and lived to tell the tale ... and she's telling it to The Chad & Cheese Podcast. Enjoy this Smashfly exclusive.

In this episode, we’re revisiting the destination from our very first podcast episode, Las Vegas. Wendy, from our Sales Team, has just returned her holidays to Las Vegas and Eleanor recently returned from a familiarisation trip with the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, KLM and Delta Airlines.  You can listen back to our first episode, find out more about the activities Eleanor got up to here (https://www.clickandgo.com/blog/2019/07/02/top-things-to-do-in-las-vegas-that-arent-in-a-casino/?&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Content&utm_content=&utm_campaign=podcast_las-vegas-revisited)  or you can start researching your Las Vegas holiday here (https://www.clickandgo.com/destinations/city-breaks/las-vegas?&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Content&utm_content=&utm_campaign=podcast_las-vegas-revisited) .  If you've been enjoying our podcast so far, we would love if you could fill out a short survey so we can create even better podcasts for you: http://bit.ly/TravelPodcastSurvey. If you have any questions or suggestions about the destinations covered or the podcast in general, send us an email at podcast@clickandgo.com (mailto:podcast@clickandgo.com) . Our podcast was recorded in and edited by the lovely people at HeadStuff. Our jingle is Stock Media provided by lokohighman / Pond5 and our airplane resort report sound is from Zapsplat.com (http://zapsplat.com/) .

After talks stalled in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has finally landed its first paying customer, inking a $48.6 million deal with the Las Vegas Convention Center. The contract calls for the construction of a one-mile tunnel connecting the two ends of the building. The project will encompass three underground passenger stations, a pedestrian tunnel and two vehicular tubes capable of transporting up to 4,400 passengers per hour. Escalator access, lighting, a WiFi network and video surveillance systems will also be provided.Steve Hill, CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority ironically described the underground tunnel project as a way to “elevate the experience of our visitors...” The Boring Company has suggested that this project could be the first of many in connecting the convention center with the Vegas strip and airport, traveling at speeds of up to 155 miles per hour – even though a demonstration of Boring technology last December topped out at about one-third of that speed.In responding to the initial request for proposal, The Boring Company positioned their underground loop system as a solution that would take less time to construct and provide lower operating costs while easing pedestrian and vehicle traffic in comparison to at-grade or above-ground options.The Vegas Convention Center is currently in the midst of a 200-acre expansion that is scheduled to be complete by January 2021. The structure hosts more than 1.6 million attendees annually.Musk is confident that the LVCC project will be complete by the end of year.

CEO, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

In this episode, Eleanor is reporting live from The Holiday World Show that took place in the RDS from the 25th to the 28th of January. She talked to a range of tourist boards, hotels, airlines and cruise lines to find out what’s upcoming in their destination in 2019 and why you should visit them. She talks to: * Spanish Tourist Board * Greek National Tourism Organisation * Malta Tourism Authority * Visit Florida * Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority * NYC & Company * MSC Cruises * Air Arabia and Visit Morocco * Universal Studios Florida If you've been enjoying our podcast so far, we would love if you could fill out a short survey so we can create even better podcasts for you: [http://bit.ly/TravelPodcastSurvey](http://bit.ly/2vdal1y). If you have any questions or suggestions about the destinations covered or the podcast in general, send us an email at [podcast@clickandgo.com](mailto:podcast@clickandgo.com). Our podcast was recorded in and edited by the lovely people at HeadStuff. Our jingle is Stock Media provided by lokohighman / Pond5 and our airplane resort report sound is from Zapsplat.com.

2018 AASLH Annual Meeting Session Recording Recorded in Kansas City, MO September 29, 2018 Betting On History and Culture in Las Vegas Chair: Jim McMichael, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Las Vegas, NV

Late on a Thursday evening in February 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland for his first visit with President Donald Trump. A few hours earlier, the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s Boeing 737, which is so large it can seat 149 people, touched down at Reagan National Airport after a flight from Las Vegas. Adelson dined that night at the White House with Trump, Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, were among Trump’s biggest benefactors, writing checks for $20 million in the campaign and pitching in an additional $5 million for the inaugural festivities. Adelson was in town to see the Japanese prime minister about a much greater sum of money. Japan, after years of acrimonious public debate, has legalized casinos. For more than a decade, Adelson and his company, Las Vegas Sands, have sought to build a multibillion-dollar casino resort there. He has called expanding to the country, one of the world’s last major untapped markets, the “holy grail.” Nearly every major casino company in the world is competing to secure one of a limited number of licenses to enter a market worth up to $25 billion per year. “This opportunity won’t come along again, potentially ever,” said Kahlil Philander, an academic who studies the industry. The morning after his White House dinner, Adelson attended a breakfast in Washington with Abe and a small group of American CEOs, including two others from the casino industry. Adelson and the other executives raised the casino issue with Abe, according to an attendee. Adelson had a potent ally in his quest: the new president of the United States. Following the business breakfast, Abe had a meeting with Trump before boarding Air Force One for a weekend at Mar-a-Lago. The two heads of state dined with Patriots owner Bob Kraft and golfed at Trump National Jupiter Golf Club with the South African golfer Ernie Els. During a meeting at Mar-a-Lago that weekend, Trump raised Adelson’s casino bid to Abe, according to two people briefed on the meeting. The Japanese side was surprised. “It was totally brought up out of the blue,” according to one of the people briefed on the exchange. “They were a little incredulous that he would be so brazen.” After Trump told Abe he should strongly consider Las Vegas Sands for a license, “Abe didn’t really respond, and said thank you for the information,” this person said. Trump also mentioned at least one other casino operator. Accounts differ on whether it was MGM or Wynn Resorts, then run by Trump donor and then-Republican National Committee finance chairman Steve Wynn. The Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported the president also mentioned MGM and Abe instructed an aide who was present to jot down the names of both companies. Questioned about the meeting, Abe said in remarks before the Japanese legislature in July that Trump had not passed on requests from casino companies but did not deny that the topic had come up. The president raising a top donor’s personal business interests directly with a foreign head of state would violate longstanding norms. “That should be nowhere near the agenda of senior officials,” said Brian Harding, a Japan expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “U.S.-Japan relations is about the security of the Asia-Pacific, China and economic issues.” Adelson has told his shareholders to expect good news. On a recent earnings call, Adelson cited unnamed insiders as saying Sands’ efforts to win a place in the Japanese market will pay off. “The estimates by people who know, say they know, whom we believe they know, say that we're in the No. 1 pole position,” he said. After decades as a major Republican donor, Adelson is known as an ideological figure, motivated by his desire to influence U.S. policy to help Israel. “I’m a one-issue person. That issue is Israel,” he said last year.  On that issue — Israel — Trump has delivered. The administration has slashed funding for aid to Palestinian refugees and scrapped the Iran nuclear deal. Attending the recent opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Adelson seemed to almost weep with joy, according to an attendee. But his reputation as an Israel advocate has obscured a through-line in his career: He has used his political access to push his financial self-interest. Not only has Trump touted Sands’ interests in Japan, but his administration also installed an executive from the casino industry in a top position in the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. Adelson’s influence reverberates through this administration. Cabinet-level officials jump when he calls. One who displeased him was replaced. He has helped a friend’s company get a research deal with the Environmental Protection Agency. And Adelson has already received a windfall from Trump’s new tax law, which particularly favored companies like Las Vegas Sands. The company estimated the benefit of the law at $1.2 billion. Adelson’s influence is not absolute: His company’s casinos in Macau are vulnerable in Trump’s trade war with China, which controls the former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong. If the Chinese government chose to retaliate by targeting Macau, where Sands has several large properties, it could hurt Adelson’s bottom line. So far, there’s no evidence that has happened. The White House declined to comment on Adelson. The Japanese Embassy in Washington declined to comment. Sands spokesman Ron Reese declined to answer detailed questions but said in a statement: “The gaming industry has long sought the opportunity to enter the Japan market. Gaming companies have spent significant resources there on that effort and Las Vegas Sands is no exception.” Reese added: “If our company has any advantage it would be because of our significant Asian operating experience and our unique convention-based business model. Any suggestion we are favored for some other reason is not based on the reality of the process in Japan or the integrity of the officials involved in it.” With a fortune estimated at $35 billion, Adelson is the 21st-richest person in the world, according to Forbes. In August, when he celebrated his 85th birthday in Las Vegas, the party stretched over four days. Adelson covered guests’ expenses. A 92-year-old Tony Bennett and the Israeli winner of Eurovision performed for the festivities. He is slowing down physically; stricken by neuropathy, he uses a motorized scooter to get around and often stands up with the help of a bodyguard. He fell and broke three ribs while on a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong last November. Yet Adelson has spent the Trump era hustling to expand his gambling empire. With Trump occupying the White House, Adelson has found the greatest political ally he’s ever had. “I would put Adelson at the very top of the list of both access and influence in the Trump administration,” said Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, and I’ve been studying money in politics for 40 years.” ***** Adelson grew up poor in Boston, the son of a cabdriver with a sixth-grade education. According to his wife, Adelson was beaten up as a kid for being Jewish. A serial entrepreneur who has started or acquired more than 50 different businesses, he had already made and lost his first fortune by the late 1960s, when he was in his mid-30s. It took him until the mid-1990s to become extraordinarily rich. In 1995, he sold the pioneering computer trade show Comdex to the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for $800 million. He entered the gambling business in earnest when his Venetian casino resort opened in 1999 in Las Vegas. With its gondola rides on faux canals, it was inspired by his honeymoon to Venice with Miriam, who is 12 years younger than Adelson. It’s been said that Trump is a poor person’s idea of a rich person. Adelson could be thought of as Trump’s idea of a rich person. A family friend recalls Sheldon and Miriam’s two sons, who are now in college, getting picked up from school in stretch Hummer limousines and his home being so large it was stocked with Segway transporters to get around. A Las Vegas TV station found a few years ago that, amid a drought, Adelson’s palatial home a short drive from the Vegas Strip had used nearly 8 million gallons of water in a year, enough for 55 average homes. Adelson will rattle off his precise wealth based on the fluctuation of Las Vegas Sands’ share price, said his friend the New York investor Michael Steinhardt. “He’s very sensitive to his net worth,” Steinhardt said. Trump entered the casino business several years before Adelson. In the early 1990s, both eyed Eilat in southern Israel as a potential casino site. Neither built there. Adelson “didn’t have a whole lot of respect for Trump when Trump was operating casinos. He was dismissive of Trump,” recalled one former Las Vegas Sands official. In an interview in the late ’90s, Adelson lumped Trump with Wynn: “Both of these gentlemen have very big egos,” Adelson said. “Well, the world doesn't really care about their egos.” Today, in his rare public appearances, Adelson has a grandfatherly affect. He likes to refer to himself as “Self” (“I said to myself, ‘Self …’”). He makes Borscht Belt jokes about his short stature: “A friend of mine says, ‘You’re the tallest guy in the world.’ I said, ‘How do you figure that?’ He says, ‘When you stand on your wallet.’” By the early 2000s, Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands had surpassed Trump’s casino operations. While Trump was getting bogged down in Atlantic City, Adelson’s properties thrived. When Macau opened up a local gambling monopoly, Adelson bested a crowded field that included Trump to win a license. Today, Macau accounts for more than half of Las Vegas Sands’ roughly $13 billion in annual revenue. Trump’s casinos went bankrupt, and now he is out of the industry entirely. By the mid-2000s, Trump was playing the role of business tycoon on his reality show, “The Apprentice.” Meanwhile, Adelson aggressively expanded his empire in Macau and later in Singapore. His company’s Moshe Safdie-designed Marina Bay Sands property there, with its rooftop infinity pool, featured prominently in the recent hit movie “Crazy Rich Asians.” While their business trajectories diverged, Adelson and Trump have long shared a willingness to sue critics, enemies and business associates. Multiple people said they were too afraid of lawsuits to speak on the record for this story. In 1989, after the Nevada Gaming Control Board conducted a background investigation of Adelson, it found he had already been personally involved in around 100 civil lawsuits, according to the book “License to Steal,” a history of the agency. That included matters as small as a $600 contractual dispute with a Boston hospital. The lawsuits have continued even as Adelson became so rich the amounts of money at stake hardly mattered. In one case, Adelson was unhappy with the quality of construction on one of his beachfront Malibu, California, properties and pursued a legal dispute with the contractor for more than seven years, going through a lengthy series of appeals and cases in different courts. Adelson sued a Wall Street Journal reporter for libel over a single phrase — a description of him as “foul-mouthed” — and fought the case for four years before it was settled, with the story unchanged. In a particularly bitter case in Massachusetts Superior Court in the 1990s, his sons from his first marriage accused him of cheating them out of money. Adelson prevailed. Adelson rarely speaks to the media any more, with occasional exceptions for friendly business journalists or on stage at conferences, usually interviewed by people to whom he has given a great deal of money. “He keeps a very tight inner circle,” said a casino industry executive who has known Adelson for decades. Adelson declined to comment for this story. ******* Adelson once told a reporter of entering the casino business late in life, “I loved being an outsider.” For nearly a decade he played that role in presidential politics, bankrolling the opposition to the Obama administration. As with some of his early entrepreneurial forays, he dumped money for little return, his political picks going bust. In 2008, he backed Rudy Giuliani. As America’s Mayor faded, he came on board late with the John McCain campaign. In 2012, he almost single-handedly funded Newt Gingrich’s candidacy. Gingrich spent a few weeks atop the polls before his candidacy collapsed. Adelson became a late adopter of Mitt Romney. In 2016, the Adelsons didn’t officially endorse a candidate for months. Trump used Adelson as a foil, an example of the well-heeled donors who wielded outsized influence in Washington. “Sheldon or whoever — you could say Koch. I could name them all. They’re all friends of mine, every one of them. I know all of them. They have pretty much total control over the candidate,” Trump said on Fox News in October 2015. “Nobody controls me but the American public.” In a pointed tweet that month, Trump said: “Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to [Marco] Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!” Despite Trump’s barbs, Adelson had grown curious about the candidate and called his friend Steinhardt, who founded the Birthright program that sends young Jews on free trips to Israel. Adelson is now the program’s largest funder. “I called Kushner and I said Sheldon would like to meet your father-in-law,” Steinhardt recalled. “Kushner was excited.” Trump got on a plane to Las Vegas. “Sheldon has strong views when it comes to the Jewish people; Trump recognized that, and a marriage was formed.” Trump and his son-in-law Kushner courted Adelson privately, meeting several times in New York and Las Vegas. “Having Orthodox Jews like Jared and Ivanka next to him and so many common people in interest gave a level of comfort to Sheldon,” said Ronn Torossian, a New York public relations executive who knows both men. “Someone who lets their kid marry an Orthodox Jew and then become Orthodox is probably going to stand pretty damn close to Israel.” Miriam Adelson, a physician born and raised in what became Israel, is said to be an equal partner in Sheldon Adelson’s political decisions. He has said the interests of the Jewish state are at the center of his worldview, and his views align with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-of-center approach to Iran and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Adelson suggested in 2014 that Israel doesn’t need to be a democracy. “I think God didn’t say anything about democracy,” Adelson said. “He didn’t talk about Israel remaining as a democratic state.” On a trip to the country several years ago, on the eve of his young son’s bar mitzvah, Adelson said, “Hopefully he’ll come back; his hobby is shooting. He’ll come back and be a sniper for the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces. On domestic issues, Adelson is more Chamber of Commerce Republican than movement conservative or Trumpian populist. He is pro-choice and has called for work permits and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a position sharply at odds with Trump’s. While the Koch brothers, his fellow Republican megadonors, have evinced concern over trade policy and distaste for Trump, Adelson has proved flexible, putting aside any qualms about Trump’s business acumen or ideological misgivings. In May 2016, he declared in a Washington Post op-ed that he was endorsing Trump. He wrote that Trump represented “a CEO success story that exemplifies the American spirit of determination, commitment to cause and business stewardship.” The Adelsons came through with $20 million in donations to the pro-Trump super PAC, part of at least $83 million in donations to Republicans. By the time of the October 2016 release of the Access Hollywood tape featuring Trump bragging about sexual assault, Adelson was among his staunchest supporters. “Sheldon Adelson had Donald Trump's back,” said Steve Bannon in a speech last year, speaking of the time after the scandal broke. “He was there.” In December 2016, Adelson donated $5 million to the Trump inaugural festivities. The Adelsons had better seats at Trump’s inauguration than many Cabinet secretaries. The whole family, including their two college-age sons, came to Washington for the celebration. One of his sons posted a picture on Instagram of the event with the hashtag #HuckFillary. The investment paid off in access and in financial returns. Adelson has met with Trump or visited the White House at least six times since Trump’s election victory. The two speak regularly. Adelson has also had access to others in the White House. He met privately with Vice President Mike Pence before Pence gave a speech at Adelson’s Venetian resort in Las Vegas last year. “He just calls the president all the time. Donald Trump takes Sheldon Adelson’s calls,” said Alan Dershowitz, who has done legal work for Adelson and advised Trump. Adelson’s tens of millions in donations to Trump have already been paid back many times over by the new tax law. While all corporations benefited from the lower tax rate in the new law, many incurred an extra bill in the transition because profits overseas were hit with a one-time tax. But not Sands. Adelson’s company hired lobbyists to press Trump’s Treasury Department and Congress on provisions that would help companies like Sands that paid high taxes abroad, according to public filings and tax experts. The lobbying effort appears to have worked. After Trump signed the tax overhaul into law in December, Las Vegas Sands recorded a benefit from the new law the company estimated at $1.2 billion. The Adelson family owns 55 percent of Las Vegas Sands, which is publicly traded, according to filings. The Treasury Department didn’t respond to requests for comment. Now as Trump and the Republican Party face a reckoning in the midterm elections in November, they have once again turned to Adelson. He has given at least $55 million so far. ***** In 2014, Adelson told an interviewer he was not interested in building a dynasty. “I want my legacy to be that I helped out humankind,” he said, underscoring his family’s considerable donations to medical research. But he gives no indication of sticking to a quiet life of philanthropy. In the last four years, he has used the Sands’ fleet of private jets, assiduously meeting with world leaders and seeking to build new casinos in Japan, Korea and Brazil. He is closest in Japan. Japan has been considering lifting its ban on casinos for years, in spite of majority opposition in polls from a public that is wary of the social problems that might result. A huge de facto gambling industry of the pinball-like game pachinko has long existed in the country, historically associated with organized crime and seedy parlors filled with cigarette-smoking men. Opposition to allowing casinos is so heated that a brawl broke out in the Japanese legislature this summer. But lawmakers have moved forward on legalizing casinos and crafted regulations that hew to Adelson’s wishes. “Japan is considered the next big market. Sheldon looks at it that way,” said a former Sands official. Adelson envisions building a $10 billion “integrated resort,” which in industry parlance refers to a large complex featuring a casino with hotels, entertainment venues, restaurants and shopping malls. The new Japanese law allows for just three licenses to build casinos in cities around the country, effectively granting valuable local monopolies. At least 13 companies, including giants like MGM and Genting, are vying for a license. Even though Sands is already a strong contender because of its size and its successful resort in Singapore, some observers in Japan believe Adelson’s relationship with Trump has helped move Las Vegas Sands closer to the multibillion-dollar prize. Just a week after the U.S. election, Prime Minister Abe arrived at Trump Tower, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with the president-elect. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were also there. Abe presented Trump with a gilded $3,800 golf driver. Few know the details of what the Trumps and Abe discussed at the meeting. In a break with protocol, Trump’s transition team sidelined the State Department, whose Japan experts were never briefed on what was said. “There was a great deal of frustration,” said one State Department official. “There was zero communication from anyone on Trump’s team.” In another sign of Adelson’s direct access to the incoming president and ties with Japan, he secured a coveted Trump Tower meeting a few weeks later for an old friend, the Japanese billionaire businessman Masayoshi Son. Son’s company, SoftBank, had bought Adelson’s computer trade show business in the 1990s. A few years ago, Adelson named Son as a potential partner in his casino resort plans in Japan. Son’s SoftBank, for its part, owns Sprint, which has long wanted to merge with T-Mobile but needs a green light from the Trump administration. A beaming Son emerged from the meeting in the lobby of Trump Tower with the president-elect and promised $50 billion in investments in the U.S. When Trump won the election in November 2016, the casino bill had been stalled in the Japanese Diet. One month after the Trump-Abe meeting, in an unexpected move in mid-December, Abe’s ruling coalition pushed through landmark legislation authorizing casinos, with specific regulations to be ironed out later. There was minimal debate on the controversial bill, and it passed at the very end of an extraordinary session of the legislature. “That was a surprise to a lot of stakeholders,” said one former Sands executive who still works in the industry. Some observers suspect the timing was not a coincidence. “After Trump won the election in 2016, the Abe government’s efforts to pass the casino bill shifted into high gear,” said Yoichi Torihata, a professor at Shizuoka University and opponent of the casino law. On a Las Vegas Sands earnings call a few days after Trump’s inauguration, Adelson touted that Abe had visited the company’s casino resort complex in Singapore. “He was very impressed with it,” Adelson said. Days later, Adelson attended the February breakfast with Abe in Washington, after which the prime minister went on to Mar-a-Lago, where the president raised Las Vegas Sands. A week after that, Adelson flew to Japan and met with the secretary general of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo. The casino business is one of the most regulated industries in the world, and Adelson has always sought political allies. To enter the business in 1989, he hired the former governor of Nevada to represent him before the state’s gaming commission. In 2001, according to court testimony reported in the New Yorker, Adelson intervened with then-House Majority Whip Rep. Tom DeLay, to whom he was a major donor, at the behest of a Chinese official over a proposed House resolution that was critical of the country’s human rights record. At the time, Las Vegas Sands was seeking entry into the Macau market. The resolution died, which Adelson attributed to factors other than his intervention, according to the magazine. In 2015, he purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the state’s largest newspaper, which then published a lengthy investigative series on one of Adelson’s longtime rivals, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which runs a convention center that competes with Adelson’s. (The paper said Adelson had no influence over its coverage.) In Japan, Las Vegas Sands’ efforts have accelerated in the last year. Adelson returned to the country in September 2017, visiting top officials in Osaka, a possible casino site. In a show of star power in October, Sands flew in David Beckham and the Eagles’ Joe Walsh for a press conference at the Palace Hotel Tokyo. Beckham waxed enthusiastic about his love of sea urchin and declared, "Las Vegas Sands is creating fabulous resorts all around the world, and their scale and vision are impressive.” Adelson appears emboldened. When he was in Osaka last fall, he publicly criticized a proposal under consideration to cap the total amount of floor space devoted to casinos in the resorts that have been legalized. In July, the Japanese Diet passed a bill with more details on what casinos will look like and laying out the bidding process. The absolute limit on casino floor area had been dropped from the legislation. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has made an unusual personnel move that could help advance pro-gambling interests. The new U.S. ambassador, an early Trump campaign supporter and Tennessee businessman named William Hagerty, hired as his senior adviser an American executive working on casino issues for the Japanese company SEGA Sammy. Joseph Schmelzeis left his role as senior adviser on global government and industry affairs for the company in February to join the U.S. Embassy. (He has not worked for Sands.) A State Department spokesperson said that embassy officials had communicated with Sands as part of “routine” meetings and advice provided to members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. The spokesperson said that “Schmelzeis is not participating in any matter related to integrated resorts or Las Vegas Sands.”  Japanese opposition politicians have seized on the Adelson-Trump-Abe nexus. One, Tetsuya Shiokawa, said this year that he believes Trump has been the unseen force behind why Abe’s party has “tailor-made the [casino] bill to suit foreign investors like Adelson.” In the next stage of the process, casino companies will complete their bids with Japanese localities. ****** Adelson’s influence has spread across the Trump administration. In August 2017, the Zionist Organization of America, to which the Adelsons are major donors, launched a campaign against National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. ZOA chief Mort Klein charged McMaster “clearly has animus toward Israel.” Adelson said he was convinced to support the attack on McMaster after Adelson spoke with Safra Catz, the Israeli-born CEO of Oracle, who “enlightened me quite a bit” about McMaster, according to an email Klein later released to the media. Adelson pressed Trump to appoint the hawkish John Bolton to a high position, The New York Times reported. In March, Trump fired McMaster and replaced him with Bolton. The president and other cabinet officials also clashed with McMaster on policy and style issues. For Scott Pruitt, the former EPA administrator known as an ally of industry, courting Adelson meant developing a keen interest in an unlikely topic: technology that generates clean water from air. An obscure Israeli startup called Watergen makes machines that resemble air conditioners and, with enough electricity, can pull potable water from the air. Adelson doesn’t have a stake in the company, but he is old friends with the Israeli-Georgian billionaire who owns the firm, Mikhael Mirilashvili, according to the head of Watergen’s U.S. operation, Yehuda Kaploun. Adelson first encountered the technology on a trip to Israel, Kaploun said. Dershowitz is also on the company’s board. Just weeks after being confirmed, Pruitt met with Watergen executives at Adelson’s request. Pruitt promptly mobilized dozens of EPA officials to ink a research deal under which the agency would study Watergen’s technology. EPA officials immediately began voicing concerns about the request, according to hundreds of previously unreported emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. They argued that the then-EPA chief was violating regular procedures. Pruitt, according to one email, asked that staffers explore “on an expedited time frame” whether a deal could be done “without the typical contracting requirements.” Other emails described the matter as “very time sensitive” and having “high Administrator interest.” A veteran scientist at the agency warned that the “technology has been around for decades,” adding that the agency should not be “focusing on a single vendor, in this case Watergen.” Officials said that Watergen’s technology was not unique, noting there were as many as 70 different suppliers on the market with products using the same concept. Notes from a meeting said the agency “does not currently have the expertise or staff to evaluate these technologies.” Agency lawyers “seemed scared” about the arrangement, according to an internal text exchange. The EPA didn’t respond to requests for comment. Watergen got its research deal. It’s not known how much money the agency has spent on the project. The technology was shipped to a lab in Cincinnati, and Watergen said the government will produce a report on its study. Pruitt planned to unveil the deal on a trip to Israel, which was also planned with the assistance of Adelson, The Washington Post reported. But amid multiple scandals, the trip never happened. Other parts of the Trump administration have also been friendly to Watergen. Over the summer, Mirilashvili attended the U.S. Embassy in Israel’s Fourth of July party, where he was photographed grinning and sipping water next to one of the company’s machines on display. Kaploun said U.S. Ambassador David Friedman’s staff assisted the company to help highlight its technology.  A State Department spokesperson said Watergen was one of many private sponsors of the embassy party and was “subject to rigorous vetting.” The embassy is now considering leasing or buying a Watergen unit as part of a “routine procurement action,” the spokesperson said. A Mirilashvili spokesman said in a statement that Adelson and Mirilashvili “have no business ties with each other.” The spokesman added that Adelson had been briefed on the company’s technology by Watergen engineers and “Adelson has also expressed an interest in the ability of this Israeli technology to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans who are affected by water pollution.” ***** Even as the casino business looks promising in Japan, China has been a potential trouble spot for Adelson. Few businesses are as vulnerable to geopolitical winds as Adelson’s. The majority of Sands’ value derives from its properties in Macau. It is the world’s gambling capital, and China’s central government controls it. “Sheldon Adelson highly values direct engagement in Beijing,” a 2009 State Department cable released by WikiLeaks says, “especially given the impact of Beijing's visa policies on the company's growing mass market operations in Macau.” At times, Sands’ aggressive efforts in China crossed legal lines. On Jan. 19, 2017, the day before Trump took office, the Justice Department announced Sands was paying a nearly $7 million fine to settle a longstanding investigation into whether it violated a U.S. anti-bribery statute in China. The case revealed that Sands paid roughly $60 million to a consultant who “advertised his political connections with [People’s Republic of China] government officials” and that some of the payments “had no discernible legitimate business purpose.” Part of the work involved an effort by Sands to acquire a professional basketball team in the country to promote its casinos. The DOJ said Sands fully cooperated in the investigation and fixed its compliance problems. A year and a half into the Trump administration, Adelson has a bigger problem than the Justice Department investigation: Trump’s trade war against Beijing has put Sands’ business in Macau at risk. Sands’ right to operate expires in a few years. Beijing could throttle the flow of money and people from the mainland to Macau. Sands and the other foreign operators in Macau “now sit on a geopolitical fault line. Their Macau concessions can therefore be on the line,” said a report from the Hong Kong business consultancy Steve Vickers & Associates. A former Sands board member, George Koo, wrote a column in the Asia Times newspaper in April warning that Beijing could undercut the Macau market by legalizing casinos in the southern island province of Hainan. “A major blow in the trade war would be for China to allow Hainan to become a gambling destination and divert visitors who would otherwise be visiting Macau,” Koo wrote. “As one of Trump’s principal supporters, it’s undoubtedly a good time for Mr. Adelson to have a private conversation with the president.” It’s not clear if Adelson has had that conversation. According to The Associated Press, Adelson was present for a discussion of China policy at the dinner he attended with Trump at the White House in February 2017. In September, Trump escalated his trade war with China. He raised tariffs on $200 billion Chinese imports. China retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. products. Adelson has said privately that if he can be helpful in any way he would volunteer himself to do whatever is asked for either side of the equation — the U.S. or China, according to a person who has spoken to him. ****** Torossian, the public relations executive, calls Adelson “this generation’s Rothschild” for his support of Israel. In early May, the Adelsons gave $30 million to the super PAC that is seeking to keep Republican control of the House for the remainder of Trump’s term. A few days later, Trump announced he was killing the Iran nuclear deal, a target of Adelson’s and the Netanyahu government’s for years. The following day, Adelson met with the president at the White House. Five days later, Adelson was in Israel for another landmark, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem marked a major shift in U.S. foreign policy, long eschewed by presidents of both parties. Besides dealing a major blow to Palestinian claims on part of the city, which are recognized by most of the world, it was the culmination of a more than 20-year project of the Adelsons. Sheldon and Miriam personally lobbied for the move on Capitol Hill as far back as 1995. In an audience dotted with yarmulkes and MAGA-red hats, the Adelsons were in the front now, next to Netanyahu and his wife, the Kushners and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. A beaming Miriam, wearing a dress featuring an illustration of the Jerusalem skyline, filmed the event with her phone. She wrote a first-person account of the ceremony that was co-published on the front page of the two newspapers the Adelsons own, Israel Hayom and the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “The embassy opening is a crowning moment for U.S. foreign policy and for our president, Donald Trump. Just over a year into his first term, he has re-enshrined the United States as the standard-bearer of moral clarity and courage in a world that too often feels adrift.” Adelson paid for the official delegation of Guatemala, the only other country to move its embassy, to travel to Israel. “Sheldon told me that any country that wants to move its embassy to Jerusalem, he’ll fly them in — the president and everyone — for the opening,” said Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce CEO Duvi Honig, who was in attendance. Klein, the Zionist Organization of America president, was also there. The Adelsons, he said, “were glowing with a serene happiness like I’ve never seen them. Sheldon “said to me, ‘President Trump promised he would do this and he did it.’ And he almost became emotional. ‘And look, Mort, he did it.’

In this episode, you will learn about leveling up your live video by creating engaging, curated experiences from Reagan Burns. Reagan Burns started her career working for R&R Partners in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority as a designer on the What Happens Here, Stays Here campaigns. Her career path then brought her to Baltimore and then to Rochester, NY when she decided to open Lime Creative. She stayed focused on the tourism industry, working with clients like The Adirondack Coast Wine Trail, Ugly Disco, Rochester Events, The Rochester Lilac Festival, Park Ave Summer Arts Festival, and the Highland Bowl Concert Series. Her work includes branding and identity, print and digital marketing, website design, and social media marketing. A transcript of this episode is available here: http://destinationontheleft.com/reagan-burns/

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority interviews Tina Sinatra

Linda Crill sought-after speaker, trainer, and thought leader on mastering the new leadership skills: reinvention, resiliency and chaotic creation. She is the author of Blind Curves—One Woman's Unusual Journey to Reinvent Herself and Answer What Now?  Carla Wynn first time author of a book series named “The Paradigm”. Her first installment is “The Paradigm Success Codes for Life” and goes deeper than The Secret into the catacombs of the subconscious mind. She has set her intentions on becoming a New York Times Best Selling author with her series she calls “Thrilling to the Bone” Mila Baker Author Peer to Peer Leadership.  Why the Network is the Leader and recognized coach and consultant to small and large organizations.  She teaches leadership and organization design and is passionate about helping organizations be successful and achieve their purpose Chris Meyer vice president of global business sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority .  Mr. Meyer is responsible for directing the worldwide activities of the LVCVA's convention sales and convention center sales teams.  He also oversees the activities of the World Trade Center Las Vegas which is a partnership between the LVCVA and the Consumer Electronics Association to market Las Vegas to business travelers around the globe under the World Trade Center brand

Episode #52 of the Nevada Magazine radio show features respective interviews with Meg McDaniel of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (representing the City of Laughlin) and Joe Beck Werly of Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours. Listen to the show below.Read more about Laughlin here, or in the January/February 2014 issue of Nevada Magazine. Read more about Eldorado Canyon here, or in the January/February 2014 issue of Nevada Magazine.Subscribe to the Nevada Magazine Radio Show on iTunes.

Welcome to episode #151. SpyMeSat makes it easier to know when to wear your aluminium hat; Retailigence brings offline pickup to online purchases; Jack in the Box uses time as a marketing factor with Pandora; Netclearance lets you do indoor location with WiFi and BLE; Disney harvests energy from your finger; Fooda brings hyper local food into your offices. Plus Chuck Martin reminds us that it will be another mobile Christmas in our Mobile Minute; The most effective local mobile targeting strategy in our resource of the week; Run to the beat of the right song with our app of the week, TempoRun; Special guest Dave Roesch of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority teaches us how cities should be using location based marketing.   Complete show notes can be found here

Debbie Millman interviews Rossi Ralenkotter — President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority — and Emmy Award nominated Set Designer Susan Benjamin.

Debbie Millman interviews Rossi Ralenkotter — President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority — and Emmy Award nominated Set Designer Susan Benjamin.