Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center closed indefinitely on Monday after floodwaters from the nearby Cumberland River breached levees and overflowed, leaving portions of the hotel under as much as 10 feet of water.

Viad Corp., the parent company of general services contractor Global Experience Specialists (GES), reported a first-quarter net loss of $3.0 million, compared with a profit of $1.50 million during the same quarter last year. Viad experienced first quarter revenues of $224.4 million, down $16.6 million from 2009.

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) has partnered with Ascend Integrated Media to develop a mobile app for its ATS 2010 International Conference, to be held May 14-19, 2010, in New Orleans. The Ascend-designed app, which will be free for members to download, will let ATS attendees access event information including the exhibit guide, conference preview materials and the conference daily newspaper on their mobile smartphones.

The Dallas Convention Center has achieved the LEED EB (Existing Building) Silver Certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). The LEED rating system helps building owners and operator's measure operations, improvements and maintenance on a consistent scale in order to maximize operation efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts.

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and IMEX America have formed a partnership to collaborate on marketing and educational initiatives, including the co-location of a PCMA educational event alongside IMEX America when its launches in October 2011. Both organizations plan to actively generate hosted buyer groups for IMEX America as well as target potential new U.S. trade show attendees...

The United States hotel industry reported mixed results in the three key performance metrics for first-quarter 2010 in year-over-year measurements, according to data from STR. The industry’s occupancy was up 2.3 percent to 51.9 percent, the average daily rate fell 4.3 percent to $96.27 and revenue per available room decreased 2.1 percent to $50.01.

Following in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter, Foursquare is the latest craze among the social media savvy. Foursquare members use the site to alert others in their social networks (including Twitter and Facebook) where they are at any given moment by either logging on to the Web site (www.foursquare.com) or using a smartphone application to “check in.” The people that check in to a given spot or location the most often become the “mayor” of that location.

Freeman has launched Concierge Elite, a mobile customer service and productivity application that offers exhibitors self-service features through their mobile devices, while providing show management with real-time visibility into their event’s move-in and move-out activities.

ON24 has released Social Webcasting, an open webcasting platform that offers enhanced interactivity with social networking capabilities such as group chat, Twitter and moderated Q&A sessions.

While you’ve heard the phrase “unique selling proposition” (USP), you may not know how it applies to you or your show. After all, the term is often used to describe how big companies are differentiating themselves from the competition. But the same marketing principles that big corporations use can — and should — apply to your product, too.

Alastair Gornall has resigned as CEO of Reed Exhibitions UK after five years, citing plans for a career change. Andrew Fowles, Worldwide Board Member of Reed Exhibitions, will assume the CEO position. Fowles, who has been a member of the worldwide board for the past 13 years, will continue to be responsible for Reed Exhibition's businesses in Germany, Austria and Russia...

A rebound in the U.S. hotel industry could come quicker in 2010 but slow as 2011 progresses, according to STR’s revised forecast for 2010 and 2011. Recovery could be influenced by things such as tax changes and health-care reform.