There has never been a more important time to come together:

IMEX America opens in Las Vegas

“This is the first time in a long time I’ve attended an event with such an international reach – it’s great to see people here from across the world. I’m currently planning for 2022 and 2023 and have meetings on behalf of my US association clients with destinations in Europe and Asia.” Bill Lemmon, a hosted buyer from MCI comments on the global scope of IMEX America. The show opened its doors earlier today to many delighted buyers and suppliers from around the world, all keen to do business.

“I already have blisters! I have a full diary and have specific RFPs to discuss with destinations including the Caribbean and Europe”, said Liz Scholz, a hosted buyer from Helmbriscoe in Florida. Carly Jacobson, a hosted buyer from Champion X in Wisconsin agrees: “I have a busy few days of meetings, building connections with suppliers, particularly hotels and DMCs. I think I echo the thoughts of everyone here when I say it’s good to be back!”

Building a community
The first day of IMEX America, taking place November 9 – 11 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, began in style with a keynote from Radha Agrawal, co-Founder, CEO and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker, the early morning dance and wellness movement with a community of almost half a million people globally. In Building your dream community from scratch she drew parallels between dance and events for creating communities, building memories and boosting wellbeing. “Connectedness is our key to happiness, fulfilment and success”, Radha explains.

New IMEX-EIC People & Planet Village
Community and connections sit at the centre of the IMEX-EIC People & Planet Village, a new focal point for the show designed to champion sustainability, regeneration, diversity, social impact and giving back. These issues are high on the agenda for business event professionals as Dianne Wallace, Program Manager at George Washington University in Maryland explains: “Sustainability and wellbeing are now a top priority for both event organizers and delegates – and IMEX is kicking it out of the park! The education held at the Village was incredibly helpful, such as Courtney Lohmann from PRA’s session on how to incorporate sustainability into event design.”

Partners for the new IMEX | EIC People & Planet Village are: LGBT MPA; ECPAT USA; Tourism Diversity Matters; Meetings Industry Fund; Meetings Mean Business; SEARCH Foundation; Above & Beyond Foundation; Clean the World; KHL Group. Caroline Campbell from the U.S. Travel Association and Meetings Mean Business says: “I’ve loved being back with industry colleagues; it’s so great to see everyone in person – it’s incredibly valuable after the tough year we’ve had.”

Largest ever tech presence
Using data to design an event and create a personalized experience was covered in Hopin’s session How to promote and market your events in 2022. Hopin is part of the largest ever Tech Hub area of the show floor which showcases a broad range of tech companies, reflecting the sector’s enormous growth over the past two years. Other companies include Aventri, Bravura Technologies, Cvent, EventsAir, Fielddrive BV, MeetingPlay, RainFocus and Swapcard.

Anthony Kennada, CMO of Hopin, explains: “We’re relatively new as a company, but we quickly understood that IMEX America is the heartbeat of the event industry. It’s clear that the show is a global magnet and we want to be a part of that. There has never been a more important time to come together and figure out how and where to go next.”

Caroline Beteta, president & CEO of Visit California, sums up day one of the show: “IMEX has exceeded expectations, just the quality of the show and the people here! It’s amazing - and with a huge engagement factor. Since we’re coming out of COVID I think we really appreciate in-person touch points and IMEX set the table so that we can facilitate great meetings!

IMEX America continues tomorrow until November 11 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.