.jpg)
Smart Start Radio: Fuel for the Purpose Generation of Meeting Planners
Smart Start Radio is Smart Meetings’ award-winning podcast for meeting planners, event professionals and hospitality leaders looking for practical ideas, fresh perspectives and the latest industry trends.
Hosted by Eming Piansay, the series explores attendee engagement, event technology, artificial intelligence, wellness, accessibility, entrepreneurship, empathy and the evolving expectations of today’s workforce. Through expert interviews and candid conversations, Smart Start Radio helps event professionals create more intentional, inclusive and engaging meeting experiences.
From Gen Z digital dreamers and millennial masters to boomer bosses, every generation has something to learn and something to teach.
Join the conversation and discover more meeting industry news, ideas and resources at SmartMeetings.com.
Episodes
48 episodes
Coffee Chat — Does Your Event Pass the Monday Morning Test?
In this Coffee Chat, Smart Meetings multimedia editor Eming Piansay explores how meeting planners can help an event’s impact last long after attendees return to their desks. Inspired by the Smart Meetings article
Designing for Awe: The Science of Unforgettable Events
What makes an event stay with attendees long after they return home?Smart Start Radio host Eming Piansay speaks with EJ Corporan, director of growth and marketing at Ansera, about the science behind unforgettable event experiences. Corpo...
Coffee Chat — Your Event Already Has a Soundtrack
Music is more than background noise. It can shape the way attendees enter a room, connect with one another and remember an experience.Inspired by David T. Stevens’ Smart Meetings story, “Wellness That Works: Sonic Power,” this Coffee Cha...
Coffee Chat — What Should Meetings Protect From Automation?
In this Smart Start Radio Coffee Chat, Eming Piansay looks at AI’s growing role in meetings and asks a more human-centered question: not just what can AI do, but what should still be protected from automation? Inspired by Malik Anderson’s story...
Coffee Chat — When the Line Becomes the Event
After an Ariana Grande concert merch line became its own side quest, Eming Piansay looks at what planners can learn from a funny-chaotic crowd flow moment. This Smart Start Radio Coffee Chat explores how unclear lines, limited signage and overl...
How Event Data Is Changing Attendee Engagement
What does event data actually tell planners, and how can they use it to create better attendee experiences?In this episode of Smart Start Radio, host Eming Piansay talks with Shawn Pierce, President, Strategic Events, Meetings &...
Coffee Chat — Invisible Tech, Better Events
Event tech is everywhere, from AI-powered personalization and immersive activations to digital check-ins, matchmaking tools and engagement dashboards. But more technology does not always mean a better event.In this Smart Start Radio Coff...
Coffee Chat — The Activation Afterlife: Designing Event Moments That Last
In this Smart Start Radio Coffee Chat, host Eming Piansay explores the “activation afterlife,” or the moments attendees keep talking about long after the event is over. Inspired by Kate Zaliznock’s Smart Meetings story, “Marriott International’...
The Power of Showing Up for Each Other
Connection is at the core of the events industry. But what happens when that connection is needed beyond the ballroom?In this episode of Smart Start Radio, host Eming Piansay sits down with Kate Patay, vice president of global e...
Coffee Chat: AI Is Already in the Room
AI is not coming. It is already here.In this Coffee Chat, Eming Piansay breaks down what AI actually looks like in the day-to-day reality of event planning. From registration platforms to spreadsheets, AI is already embedded in the tools...
Coffee Chat: Trust Happens in the Room
What are you really building when you plan an event?In this episode of Smart Start Radio: Coffee Chat, Eming Piansay unpacks a simple but powerful idea inspired by a Smart Meetings article Trust Happens in the Room: in industrie...
Coffee Chat: Before You Move On: Why Reflection Matters More Than You Think
When the event ends, most planners move straight into what’s next. Fix what broke. Prep the next timeline. Keep it moving.But what if the real opportunity is in what worked?In this Coffee Chat, Eming Piansay explores the ...
Behind the Banquet: What Really Happens in Event Catering
Food can make an event memorable, but it can also make it memorable for the wrong reasons.In this episode of Smart Start Radio, Eming Piansay talks with Executive Chef Kaitlyn Weber of Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa about the reality ...
How Global Attention Can Turn Into Meetings Business
When a destination suddenly finds itself in the global spotlight, meeting planners start paying attention. But how does that visibility turn into real opportunities for conventions and events?In this episode of Smart Start Radio, host Em...
Coffee Chat: Smaller, Smarter Events: What Gen Z Is Changing About Meetings
In this Coffee Chat episode of Smart Start Radio, host Eming Piansay takes a closer look at why B2B events are shifting away from larger formats toward smaller, more intentional experiences.Inspired by a recent SmartMeetings.com article,...
Coffee Chat: Designing Events Around Energy, Not Just Agendas
In this Smart Start Radio: Coffee Chat episode, host Eming Piansay breaks down the concept of chronodiversity and explains how understanding human energy patterns could change how planners design event agendas. Inspi...
Emerging Women, Enduring Impact
In honor of International Women’s Day, Smart Start Radio goes beyond surface-level celebration and into what leadership actually looks like in today’s meetings and events industry.Host Eming Piansay sits down with Christine Erickson, sen...
Coffee Chat: Pressure Is the New Demographic
In this week’s Coffee Chat, Eming Piansay, Multimedia Editor at Smart Meetings, breaks down one of the biggest shifts shaping events right now: attendees aren’t behaving by age group or job title anymore, they’re behaving by pressure. Ins...
Coffee Chat - Safety Is a Plan (Not a Promise): Protecting Attendee Trust During Disruption
Headlines can be loud, but reality on the ground is layered. In this Smart Start Radio: Coffee Chat, host Eming Piansay breaks down takeaways from Smart Meetings’ March story “Breaking Through ICE,” by editor-at-large Gary Diedrich, and transla...
Coffee Chat: Planning 2026 With Purpose, Not Panic
If you’ve read one more 2026 forecast and thought, “Okay, cool… but what do I actually do with this?” this episode is for you.In this Coffee Chat, Eming Piansay breaks down three shifts that will realistically impact planners heading int...
Reframing Equity in a Changing Workplace
In this episode of Smart Start Radio, host Eming Piansay examines how diversity, equity and inclusion work is evolving in today’s professional landscape.Eming speaks first with Alexis Braly James, CEO and founder of Const...
Neurodiversity: The Missing Link in Event Design
In this episode of Smart Start Radio, host Eming Piansay sits down with Yush Sztalkoper, founder of NeuroSpark+, to explore how neurodiversity can reshape the way meetings and events are designed.Drawing on ne...
The Art of Event Rap: Turning Keynotes Into Music That Resonates
In this episode of Smart Start Radio, host Eming Piansay steps into the world of Event Rap, the creative powerhouse blending hip hop, storytelling and live performance to transform how audiences experience conferences. Founder Baba Brinkman bre...
The Rise of Wellness in Events: From Burnout to Balance
In this special episode of Smart Start Radio, hosts Eming Piansay and Sara Robertson sit down with Liz Van Voorhis, founder and CEO of FIT COLLECTIVE, and Ashley Brooke James, co-founder of TRILUNA &nbs...
IMEX Unfiltered: Stories, Steps and Surprises from the Show Floor
In this special Smart Start Radio: Coffee Chat, recorded live at IMEX 2025 in Las Vegas, host Eming Piansay explores the energy and insights of the industry’s biggest event.Eming’s first guest is Aviva Kohen from Tourism ...
