Freeman Events & Exhibits names New president. July 14, 2026 The Freeman Company announced in early July that Chris Schimek, a 21-year veteran of the firm, has been promoted to president of Freeman Events & Exhibits, which manages exhibits and show logistics for many Fortune 500 companies plus large nonprofits such as Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, with 30,000 attendees and more than 1,000 exhibiting companies. Schimek has been chief operating officer of Freeman Exhibits & Events for three and a half years. He led teams that plan, produce and execute thousands of live events each year while helping to modernize operations and furthering a reputation for trusted partnerships and commitment to clients. Prior to being COO, Schimek was executive vice president, delivery and brand experience for five years. According to Janet Dell, CEO of The Freeman Company, the parent firm for Freeman Exhibits & Events, Freeman AV Production, mdg, Sparks, Studio Blue and other divisions, Schimek's breadth of expertise was a central factor in his promotion. "Chris has spent his career proving that operations are the client experience," she said. "When thousands of events come together flawlessly, it's because someone made sure nothing was left to chance. He's done that for nearly three decades, and he's done it while building the kind of trust with employees, clients, and partners that you can't shortcut. There's no one I'd rather have bringing Freeman Events & Exhibits into its next chapter." Schimek is also a respected industry leader, formerly serving as president of the Exhibition Services & Contractors Association. He was recently appointed as an employer trustee for Teamsters Education and Career Help, part of the Teamsters National Training Trust. Schimek has also built partnerships with venues, DMCs and labor organizations to advance workforce development across the industry. "I'm honored by the opportunity to lead this remarkable team," said Schimek. "Freeman is my home, and I'm grateful to the colleagues, clients, and partners who have been part of that journey. Together, we'll continue building on our strong foundation, investing in our people, and delivering the exceptional experiences our customers expect." Rob Carey | Content Manager, Features & News Rob Carey serves as content manager, news and features for Meetings Today, where he leads coverage of the latest trends, happenings, data and insights related to corporate meetings and incentives as well as association conventions and exhibitions. Carey has been covering the business-events industry since 1992, when he was hired as an intern at Successful Meetings magazine in New York while still a student at Columbia University. During his 15 years at SM's parent company Nielsen, Carey moved steadily through the ranks to become editorial director for Successful Meetings, Meeting News and the Meeting World conference and exhibition. SM and MN won several FOLIO: Eddie Awards for editorial coverage during his tenure. Carey then spent 11 years as principal of Meetings & Hospitality Insight, covering not just the MICE market for various industry publications but also writing about business disciplines such as hotel management, golf-facility management, small-business operations, middle-market leadership and others. For several years he wrote the annual trends white paper for the International Association of Conference Centers. In 2018, Carey became a senior content producer for MeetingsNet, an Informa media brand, and a panel moderator for Informa's Pharma Forum annual event. Come September 2025, he moved to Meetings Today. A native of New York, Carey now resides in the Phoenix/Scottsdale metro area with his wife Kelley and their dog Ziggy.

Executive interview series: Martin Moggré, Chief Client Officer at Freeman. How Freeman is transforming visitor experience and exhibitor engagement to keep trade shows relevant and impactful June 12, 2026 In this interview conducted during the National Restaurant Association Show, Martin Moggré, Chief Client Officer at Freeman, shares how the company is pioneering innovation in the trade show industry. From data-driven personalization to cutting-edge digital scans of venues, this discussion breaks down how Freeman is transforming visitor experience and exhibitor engagement to keep trade shows relevant and impactful. Key topics: * How Freeman has restructured to showcase expertise across specialized brands * The importance of innovation fueled by data collection and customer insights * Strategies for engaging multi-generational audiences with tailored learning experiences * Digital transformation initiatives, including exhibitor dashboards and venue scanning technology * Future trends in sponsorship leveraging new digital tools Danica Tormohlen, who has reported on the trade show industry since 1994, currently oversees content for TSNN as the VP of Group Content for Meetings|Travel|Sports at Informa Connect. Previously, she served as content director, publisher and editor-in-chief for the Society of Independent Show Organizers, editor at large at Trade Show Executive, and editor-In-chief and publisher of EXPO magazine. She also serves as president of the Women in Exhibitions Network North America. Connect with Danica on LinkedIn or Twitter. Jun 12, 2026 Jun 5, 2026 Jun 4, 2026 May 26, 2026 TSNN is the No. 1 online news source for the trade show industry - stay 'in the know' by receiving your free e-newsletters covering a variety of market sectors. TSNN Top 250 Dashboard

Earth Day was the easy part. Now, events must deliver on sustainability. April 27, 2026 By Vincent Alonzo On April 22, more than 10,000 Earth Day events unfolded across the globe - river cleanups in Bali, regenerative tourism pledges in Canada, LEED-certified renovations in Tampa, and a wave of "conscious luxury" messaging from hotel brands worldwide. The meetings and events industry showed up as well. On paper, at least. Sustainability in events has never had a messaging problem; it's an operations problem. And as of today, the industry must get back to where things matters the most: execution. For an industry that generates an estimated 114,000 metric tons of waste annually, with roughly 60% of show-booth materials ending up in landfills, the stakes are hard to ignore. The figures, cited from the joint industry report Finding the Future, Together (2022) by Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), and UFI: The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, point to a significant systemic challenge. Earth Day 2026 provided a snapshot of where the industry thinks it's going - and how leaders are defining that trajectory. At Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Bali, a river cleanup along the Ayung River was framed as part of a broader ethos. "We believe that true luxury is inseparable from responsibility," said Masanori Hosoya, general manager of the property. In Delhi, the message centered on consistency over campaigns. "Our commitment to conscious luxury is not limited to a single day; it is embedded in our everyday operations," said Hardip Marwah, general manager of Andaz Delhi by Hyatt. And in Canada, "Regenerative tourism is about leaving a place better than you found it," said Marsha Walden, president and CEO of Destination Canada. In fact, shifting from sustainability to regeneration may be the most important signal coming out of this year's Earth Day. But it raises a difficult question for the meetings industry: How do you translate that ambition into the mechanics of a meeting facility or tradeshow floor? Rebuilding right under our feet. For decades, carpeting has been one of the industry's most visible, and wasteful, fixtures: installed for a few days only to be discarded afterward. Now, that model is shifting as manufacturers rethink materials in a circular way. Freeman's GreenStep Aisle Carpet, introduced in early 2026, is designed as a closed-loop system, allowing used material to be broken down and remanufactured into new carpet products. "This helps event organizers take meaningful steps toward sustainability," said Anytra Lowe, EVP, client solutions at Freeman Company. "It's a practical solution that moves the industry forward." That sense of urgency is echoed across the category. Brumark, working with Fern and ExhibitorLive, has introduced a fully recyclable carpet initiative to tackle the tens of millions of pounds of flooring waste generated annually. "Responsible action is not only the right thing to do, but vital to the long-term health of our industry - the impact of this program is immediate and practical," said James Zacharias, president of Brumark. Other players are expanding the circular model beyond carpeting. Graphic Image Flooring has developed take-back programs that convert used vinyl and mats into industrial materials such as insulation and automotive components. And modular design firm beMatrix is pushing the concept further still with its Re-Connect Floor system, which replaces disposability entirely with reusable, rotatable tiles designed to circulate across multiple events. Bringing the heat. At the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the sustainability story comes with a twist: less waste, more heat - and smarter systems behind both. According to PCC's 2025 operations report, electricity use dropped 15% and water usage was reduced by 17%. Natural gas? Up 22%. And while that might sound like a step back, note that the increase is tied to two new absorption chillers coming online at its power plant, using heat instead of energy-hungry compressors to cool the building more efficiently at scale. Then there's waste - the metric that matters most on the show floor. In 2025, the PCC reached a 45% diversion rate, while total waste volume fell 25% and landfill tonnage dropped 14%. Translation: It's not just about recycling more. It's about throwing less away in the first place. That shift isn't happening in a vacuum. Exhibitors and organizers are rethinking materials, builds, and booth lifecycles - proving that sustainability isn't a post-show cleanup effort anymore. It's a design decision made long before the doors open. Meanwhile, PCC is reimagining how information moves through the building. By the end of 2025, it completed phase one of a big digital-signage rollout - on track to become the largest deployment of its kind in a U.S. convention center. With 4,700 square feet of LED video walls and LCD meeting-room displays, there's less paper product and less energy used. Other venue roles in sustainability strategy. Water systems such as Elkay's LIV EZ filtered dispensers are designed to eliminate reliance on single-use plastic bottles in high-traffic environments. Modular builds, including beMatrix's pop-OUT structures, allow organizers to create temporary environments that can be reconfigured and reused rather than discarded. Even lighting is being rethought, with solutions like T3's Wandlight system delivering significant energy savings while being fully recyclable at end of life. Helpful blueprints. That environmental rethink is moving upstream into the design phase, where the most consequential decisions are made well before an event opens. Tools like beMatrix's beCAD Carbon Footprint Calculator allow exhibit designers to model environmental impact during the planning process, turning sustainability into a variable that can be measured and compared alongside cost and aesthetics. Data platforms such as HIVE (Honeycomb Insights for Venues and Events) extend that visibility into live operations, giving organizers a clearer picture of an event's footprint as it unfolds. The implication is straightforward: once sustainability becomes visible in the data, accountability will follow. From Earth Day to every day. Individually, these innovations might seem incremental. Collectively, though, they signal something fundamental: The venue is no longer a neutral container. It is an active participant in an event's environmental footprint. And on the organizer side, sustainability is moving into procurement decisions, exhibitor strategies, and sponsor alignments. Earth Day, then, serves less as a celebration and more as a line of demarcation. It marks the moment when intention advances to expectation for the business-events industry. Formerly the editor of Successful Meetings magazine and Incentive magazine, Vincent Alonzo has covered major issues in the business-events industry for more than 35 years.