7 Big Reasons Not to Miss IMEX This Year

IMEX America 2021 marks the landmark exhibition’s first onsite event in more than two years, and the first hybrid IMEX ever.

Traditionally, the promise of IMEX has been a destination-led snapshot of what’s on offer in the industry, coupled with a healthy dose of business forecasts from top thought leaders. In a post-Covid world, however, IMEX is putting more emphasis on tech.

That’s where EventMB comes in: Join us for a hard-hitting look into some of the industry’s biggest tech players to discover what to expect from a hybrid future in 2022.

What’s Hot at IMEX This Year?

It’s hard to go wrong with any IMEX sessions, but here are some of our top picks for this year’s event.

WHAT TO SEE FROM EVENTMB

1. Hybrid Future 101: EventMB’s Event Innovation Lab™

EventMB is committed to educating the industry. In partnership with IMEX, we’re bringing you a veritable crash-course on event tech and trends for 2022.

EventMB Event Innovation Lab™ will teach you how to stay one step ahead of the competition, with tips on event execution, engagement, design, and monetization. Here’s what you can expect:

Real talk with a mix of industry experts: What does hybrid even mean? What are the lies we tell ourselves, and how are we supposed to design compelling experiences for audiences in multiple time zones, let alone multiple formats?

Tech partners in the hot seat: What does that button do? EventMB has wrangled some of the biggest players in the industry to answer your burning questions. What are they doing to help you boost engagement and drive ROI?

Practical case studies: Learn from sessions dedicated to showing, not telling, with real-world examples from events that successfully made the best of the latest event tech. Feel inspired, and figure out how to avoid the pitfalls.

Actionable advice: We go to these things in part to settle our destination, vendor, and supplier partnerships, but we also go to learn how to be better at what we do: plan events.

With an introduction from Skift CEO and founder Rafat Ali, remote contributions from EventMB editor in chief Miguel Neves, and ongoing moderation from top industry influencers Dahlia El Gazzar and Lori Cioffi, here are the topics at a glance:

1. Hybrid: The Lies We Tell Ourselves, with Courtney Stanley

2. The Future Proof Approach to Staging Live Events, with Steven Enselein

3. Mastering the WOW Factor in the Experiential Economy, with Rolando Espinoza

4. Redesigning the Attendee Journey for a Hybrid Event Format, with Nolan Ether

5. Freedom of Choice: The Ultimate Engagement Hack, with Julius Solaris

6. The Five Rules to Engagement, with Thuy Diep

7. The Value of Engagement: Best Practices for Engaging Hybrid Audiences, with Joe Schwinger

8. The Automatic Attendee: Supercharge Your Event’s Monetization Strategy, with Will Curran

2. EventMB Talks at Hyatt and Hopin Booths

EventMB will be on the show floor on all three days of the main event, with special appearances at both the Hyatt and the Hopin booths.

At the Hyatt booth, Rafat Ali and Lori Cioffi will share their insights on the latest travel and event industry trends. Be ready to seize the next business opportunities — and prepared to handle upcoming staffing challenges, safety concerns, and supply chain shortages.

And if that isn’t enough to give you FOMO, event tech guru Dahlia El Gazzar will be presenting alongside former EventMB editor in chief Julius Solaris to share event planning best practices. Learn how one of the event industry’s rising stars envisions the toolbelt of the tech-savvy planner going forward.

OTHER MUST-SEE IMEX SESSIONS ON TECH AND INNOVATION

Tuesday

3. Productivity Tools for the Way You Work Now

Event planners are under more pressure than ever, and time-saving hacks have never been more necessary. Fortunately, Tara Thomas of The Meeting Pool will be sharing her expert knowledge of the best tools for driving workplace efficiencies in the hybrid age.

4. How to Exceed Your Event Goals by Incorporating User-Generated Video

There’s no shortage of advice on how to get the best video content out of an event’s speaker sessions, but what about user-generated content? Michael Hoffman of Gather Voices will offer tips on how to incorporate user-generated videos into your event strategy for maximum engagement and marketing potential.

Wednesday

5. Customer Centric Approach to Innovation Around Security

In today’s climate, it pays to make travel as convenient as possible. Join Dan McCoy of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as he explains how new innovations are making it possible for travelers to bypass airport security with pre-screenings at their hotels or meeting venues.

6. Meeting and Event Design Resources for the In-Person to Hybrid to Digital Event Continuum

Learn from the latest Event Industry Council (EIC) research as Mariela McIlwraith presents on the organization’s most up-to-date findings. Benefit from guidance and resources on digital and hybrid events, risk management, and accessibility best practices.

Thursday

7. Panel session: Hybrid events — the myths and realities

This panel discussion brings together some of IMEX’s top speakers to separate the myths from the realities when it comes to hybrid events. Join Dana Freker Doody, Danica Tormohlen, Dax Callner, and Scott Frankel as they tackle the difficult questions that are on everyone’s mind in this new hybrid world.

IN CONCLUSION

IMEX has always been one of the industry’s most important events, but this year there’s more reason to celebrate. Event professionals are gathering onsite at IMEX Las Vegas for the first time in over two years, at a time that serendipitously coincides with the US reopening to global travel.

Just as importantly, it will also be the first truly hybrid IMEX event. The exhibition has never been more tech-forward, either in its session topics or its own format. And while all this innovation might inspire FOMO, no one has to miss out — most of the content will be live streamed.