Roger Dow, President & CEO of the US Travel Association will give the latest picture on the economic outlook for the US meetings industry when he speaks at a ‘Meetings Mean Business’ campaign update as part of IMEX America’s extensive education program on Tuesday Oct. 11 at 4pm. Dow will be joined by USTA Executive Vice President, Geoff Freeman, in what is expected to be a strongly attended open-to-all seminar.
Dow will talk about the strong progress already made within the industry over the past couple of years and, in particular, the ongoing effort to capture and consistently prove the true economic value of the meetings industry, most recently valued at $100 billion in annual revenues. He will also reveal the many resources now available to destinations and other suppliers to help the industry protect itself from what the association calls ‘misguided rhetorical attacks’.
A number of other high profile industry leaders and personalities are set to cause strong interest at IMEX America. Former Mayor of Las Vegas and current chair of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Host Committee, Oscar B. Goodman, will join IMEX Chairman, Ray Bloom, and MPI President & CEO, Bruce MacMillan for an opening address at the first of the trade show’s morning Keynotes on Tuesday Oct. 11 which take place each morning prior to the show opening. In August this year, Goodman was invited to take on a special role as ‘ambassador’ for Las Vegas with a clear brief to promote and celebrate the city’s excellent meetings and events infrastructure to the world and the local business community.
Further strong draws during IMEX America will be the three keynote speakers who form part of the extremely varied and free education program being delivered over four days by strategic partner and premier educational provider, Meeting Professionals International (MPI). Their contribution also includes the incorporation of the MPI MeetDifferent Day of Education and Innovation into the show’s professional development day – ‘Smart Monday’ – on October 10.
The MPI daily General Session Keynote speakers are: Scottish businessman and international best-selling author of Natural Born Winners, Robin Sieger on Tuesday Oct 11 at 8.45am; award-winning educator and research professor, Dr Brené Brown on Wednesday Oct 12 at the same time and, rounding-up on the final day, best-selling author of Fl!p and five other books, Peter Sheahan, also at 8.45am. Each of the speakers has been chosen for their bold, innovative and passionate approach to challenging business models and inspiring change – both immediate behavioural change as well as longer-term organisational change. They have also been carefully selected by MPI to fit with its educational vision and values and to give show participants an energetic and motivating start to their business day during IMEX America. (All speaker biographies are available here).
Search all IMEX America education and professional development sessions, including Smart Monday.
All MPI and IMEX America education is available free of charge. Other sources of learning include a LearningCurve Zone on the show floor, sponsored by the CIC (Convention Industry Council), drop-in, informal ‘campfires’ facilitated by expert speakers, plus a Sustainability Center, powered by GMIC (Green Meeting Industry Council) which is dedicated to environmental and CSR education and best practice case studies.
