IMEX flexes its superpower at the upcoming IMEX America 2024: connecting and educating people in the global business event community.
Taking place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the event opens with Smart Monday, powered by MPI on Monday, October 7, followed by the three-day trade show October 8-10. The IMEX America learning program at the event offers 150-plus free education sessions (many of them taking place on the show floor’s newly redesigned, multi-theater Inspiration Hub), progressive new formats, and a few surprises.
Learning sessions are delivered across seven tracks:
- Technology and Innovation
- Business Practices
- Impact
- Trends/Research
- Well-Being
- Experience Design
- Event Marketing
All eligible sessions throughout the show carry CMP, CSEP, and ICCASkills. Full details of all education sessions can be found here.
“When crafting our learning program, I love to bring together unexpected combinations of people, all with a range of perspectives,” explains Tahira Endean, head of Programming at IMEX. “The resulting debate and discovery is where the magic happens.”
Speakers
Drawing from their own perspectives and experiences, several speakers will explore how to build meaningful, culturally relevant experiences that go beyond the traditional:
- Justin Wren—also an MPI keynote speakerat the show—is a U.S. mixed martial artist who, following a life-changing trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, founded Fight for the Forgotten. This nonprofit provides clean water, education, and empowerment to Pygmy communities in Africa.
- Sucheta Rawal is an award-winning food and travel writer who has visited more than 100 countries across all seven continents, learning about different cultures along the way. She founded Go Eat Giveto raise awareness of different cultures through food and travel.
- Virginie de Visscher from Destination Canada and Leonie Ashford from Tourism New Zealand will share their experiences as founding members of the new Global Indigenous Tourism Association.
A session on designing luxury experiences will feature travel journalist Daniel Scheffler (he’s written for the likes of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Traveler, and National Geographic) and Susie Arnett, director of Wellness Programming at Six Senses, who focuses on embedding wellness into hospitality.
Leadership trailblazer Holly Ransom will deliver a new Emergent Leadership Day, where industry leaders from associations and across Las Vegas will examine leadership from different angles. Being a good listener, asking the right questions, and stepping into the “courage zone” are likely to figure in these discussions.
Unveiled last year and returning this year, #Eventprofs unplugged is like a TV talk show with different hosts and guests each day. One of the speakers dropping by will be Ashley T Brundage, founder and president of Empowering Differences. During her life, she’s overcome harassment, discrimination, and homelessness—gender, education, ability, and religion all played a part in her journey.
New for this year is a partnership with the Unique Speaker Bureau International, which is bringing together more than 15 top-level speakers from around the world to Smart Monday. At the USBI Global World Series Speaker Showcase in partnership with IMEX and MPI, attendees can dip into quick-fire speaker overviews throughout the day and potentially meet or source keynotes for their future events.
Innovation
Innovation is a star attraction at IMEX America. Google Xi returns with its CoLaboratory, home to workshops and activations to encourage play, exploration, and experimentation—all centered around belonging.
The Skift Meetings Innovation Lab will address prime industry topics through facilitated peer-to-peer discussions. The Skift team also will join Freeman and Explori to dig into data, looking at the latest industry insights, how they’re gathered, and how planners can use them to inform decisions.
For those responsible for specifying or buying tech stacks within a business, the new Tech Zone Education Stage is the place to talk about which technologies can deliver the efficiencies or customer journey improvements they’re seeking. Some of the 60 tech exhibitors at the show will be on hand to share their customer case studies and provide a deeper dive into the reality of using their products.
The nuts and bolts of event planning remain a fundamental thread throughout the education program. A series of meeting planner toolkit sessions will cover all the essentials, from contracts and security to preparing for REAL ID, which is set to be enforced for U.S. travelers next year.
To help attendees maximize their time at the show, IMEX continues its work with Snapsight, Gevme’s AI-powered tool, to provide quick and easy access to takeaways from the education sessions. These highlights, available online and via the app, will free up attendees to put aside their notebooks and focus on the sessions.
A Rapper, Poet, and “Party Scientist”
Attendees can expect some fun and surprising experiences, too—be on the lookout for a rapper, a poet, and a “party scientist,” among others. Ultimately, Endean says, “we’ve designed the learning program at IMEX America to deliver genuine value and spark joy—whether it’s discovering a piece of advice that will make your job easier or making a new lifelong friend.”
IMEX America 2024 takes place at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, and opens with Smart Monday, powered by MPI on Monday, October 7, followed by the three-day trade show October 8-10.
