Speakers: Megan Finnell, Megan Martin
Content area: Business of Events
Room 145

Conduct a deep dive of your conference agenda to determine whether you’re meeting the specific needs of all your attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors in addition to your organization’s goals and objectives. Explore the process of designing meetings with empathy to create a transformative experience that flows.

CE credits: 1

Speaker: Star Bobatoon, communications consultant
Content area: Leadership/Ascent
Room 146

The way you communicate is key to your professional and personal success. Discover how to engage listeners whether you’re addressing one person or 200. Communications consultant Star Bobatoon will provide strategies to develop better communication skills, engage listeners and learn your audience’s language.

CE credits: 1

Speaker: Tim David, leadership expert and author
Content area: Audience Acquisition & Engagement
Room 147

Leave this entertaining and informative science-based session with step-by-step ideas on how to create authentic influence moments. Tim David, a former professional magician, will share strategies on how to build long-term influence and how to be persuasive without relying on motivational tactics or incentives.

CE credits: 1

Moderator: Brad Weaber, principal & planner influencer board facilitator, Brad Weaber Consulting Group LLC

Panelists: Windy Christner, CMP, senior director, meetings and expositions, American Pharmacists Association (APhA); Matthew Wales, CMP, vice president, member services & events, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; and Alex Zapple, CMP, CEM, associate director, Meetings and Member Experience, American Society of Nephrology.

Guest panelist: Tom Norwalk, President & CEO, Visit Seattle, Seattle, WA

Content area: Business of Events
Room 145

Join a candid and provocative discussion led by esteemed meeting professional members of the Destinations International Planner Influencer Board. This up-close chat will address their thoughts on the CVB model and the needs of planners in an ever-shifting environment of disruptions and innovation. Additionally, a case study will be discussed with Visit Seattle President & CEO Tom Norwalk on one of the social issues impacting every city: homelessness.

CE credits: 1

Speaker: Selena Rezvani, leadership coach
Content area: Leadership/Ascent
Room 146

Transforming from a trusted manager or director into a C-suite leader can be a challenge. It takes an assessment of your abilities and skills, the courage to rethink your strategy and the confidence to advocate for yourself. Leadership expert Selena Rezvani discusses how to identify your strengths and areas to address so you can market yourself more effectively.

CE credits: 1

Speakers: Amy Blackman, Fruition Co. Founder, and Gary Gonzalez, director of strategy at Convoke
Content area: Audience Acquisition & Engagement
Room 147

Take a critical look at how Gen Z is changing the media landscape and what that means for the future of digital marketing. Growth and brand consultant Amy Blackman and digital marketing expert Gary Gonzalez share how media consumption habits change from generation to generation and why the technology we encounter beyond our formative teenage years can seem so foreign to us.

CE credits: 1

Speaker: Sara Ross
MAIN STAGE, HALL A

Organizations know that to be successful and innovative in a service and knowledge driven economy requires a workforce with expertise, intellectual curiosity and the ability to use emotional intelligence to collaborate and execute through people. And yet, with all the acknowledgement and investment in capitalizing on these skills, something is missing, and stress is exponentially rising.

In this keynote, Sara Ross will share the missing piece of the success equation that all too often is over-looked and under-valued. After a decade of studying high performers, Sara has found that the key differentiator between exhausted leaders and exceptional leaders is what she has coined their Vitality Factor.

This isn’t just about stress management, time management or simply sleeping more and working less. This is about strategy. How to move performance and leadership to the next level in an on-demand world where an abundance of information, distractions, and expectations are unrelentingly pulling on time, energy and attention. This is how top performers pressure-proof their leadership impact.

The research is clear, how an organization manages that Vitality factor will either burn their people out or allow them to burn bright and bring their best work forward and Sara will show you how by sharing:

• The three common habits that are mistakenly leading to over-stressed, under-fueled brains and how they deceivingly influence decisions, effectiveness and leadership impact
• A Key Vitality Indicator (KVI) system to identify the tipping point where more work becomes counterproductive and healthy challenge becomes unhealthy stress
• Practices to expand productive vitality ranges to increase creativity, collaboration and agility
• Insights to help leaders shift from inadvertently being a Vitality-Depleter to a positive Vitality Ambassador by multiplying each of these practices across teams and workplaces

Doors open: 10:30 a.m.
Presentation: 11 a.m. – noon

Speaker: Chandra Champion, business events strategist

Business events can foster community engagement with your destinations. Explore ways to develop meaningful experiences for your participants while supporting local community outreach programs. Hear strategies to identify and implement CSR projects and other social impact opportunities at your next event.

CE credit: 0.5

Speaker: Karen Baker, marketing strategist

Discover the words, personality and language you should be using to market your event, organization or brand to attract a wider audience. Hear how to communicate your value, build trust and remain recognizable with marketing messages that resonate with a variety of lifestyles, ethnicities and altering markets.

CE credit: 0.5

Speaker: Amy Blackman, Fruition Co. Founder

Take a deep dive on how to apply emotional intelligence to your business events planning and experience design process. Discover how to adopt a proactive approach to personalize experiences tailored to individual needs so your business events participants feel connected and understood.

CE credit: 0.5

Speaker: Gary Gonzalez, director of strategy at Convoke

Get an insider’s look at how eSports is driving cultural transformation and what the billion-dollar industry means for business events planners and destinations. Hear how advancing technology is reshaping interests and media consumption habits of an entire generation and how you can leverage it to your advantage.

CE credit: 0.5