Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1094881
B M & T ••• November/December 2018 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 14 Las Vegas is increas- ing its standing as the leading event location in the country, if not globally. Consequently, MGM Resorts Internat- ional has launched the construction of a $130 million expansion of Strip conven- tion space, increasing the MGM Grand Convention Center by 250,000 sq. ft., for a total of 850,000 sq. ft. This makes the Center the second largest convention space in MGM Resorts portfolio after Mandalay Bay. Along with these new developments, MGM's meeting space is being upgraded to meet the needs of today's sophisticated meeting attendees. With today's mobile and global work- force, it can be difficult to connect with team members. A group can be at the home office while one team member is at the airport, another in the field office and still another at a trade show, yet somehow, all need to work together as easily across distance as they would in the same room. Boundary-breaking new technology by Stay Well Meetings, launched at MGM Grand, makes com- ing together simpler for everyone. Now remote and on-the-go participants can easily connect into a shared workspace. Stay Well Meetings is the most com- prehensive wellness meetings experience in the world. It offers premier meeting spaces and essential amenities to help enhance the wellness of attendees, while promoting a more productive and cohe- sive meeting. Stay Well Meetings demonstrates a new way of conducting business, featuring programs that offer the kinds of healthy and creative work environments that many clients are actively seeking. These new state-of-the- art innovations are proving to be widely needed in this current age, as they will directly contribute to the success of today's unique technological conference needs. The use of technology to engage face- to-face audiences has really increased over the last few years and this is seen specifically with meetings apps and com- munication tools that help people net- work. The amount of bandwidth being utilized with large groups and diverse apps, is putting a great strain on the infra- structure of many facilities. At Las Vegas's MGM Resorts, in partnership with Webex Teams (formally Cisco), we've invested close to $40 million to architect a system to handle up to 25,000 people utilizing multiple devices on the network at any given time. Webex Teams technology is extreme- ly user friendly and most importantly, device agnostic. It wouldn't matter what device one is using, be it a tablet, comput- er, smartphone or laptop; individual devices will easily connect together into one shared digital workspace. Cords will disappear and sharing content wirelessly amongst participants will be hassle free. Being able to cohesively pull your audience in is most important. Therefore, MGM Resort will also be introducing areas called ideation studios. These studios will be high-touch, high- tech meetings venues designed to maxi- mize productivity as small groups come together for brainstorming, planning, budgeting or anything to do with cre- ative efforts. MGM Resorts and Webex Teams have brought science into play and are building out the rooms based on how the human psyche works. Special efforts are taken making sure spaces are built that are conducive for mental equi- ty, creativity and collaboration. This new N O W N E W C O L L A B O R A T I V E TECHNOLOGY IS ACTUALIZED AT MGM BY MICHAEL DOMINGUEZ AS TOLD TO VICTORIA HEAD MICHALE DOMINGUEZ