By Carina Bauer, IMEX Group

A month earlier than usual, Sept. 10-12, this year’s IMEX America is expecting approximately 3,500 suppliers and 4,000 qualified buyers at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in The Venetian® | The Palazzo® complex in Las Vegas. That includes thousands of exhibitors from 150 countries, including Live Nation Special Events, the Hilton Head Island Visitor & Convention Bureau, the Spanish Tourist Office, Caesars Entertainment, the Canadian Tourism Commission, EventPrep, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection and City Sightseeing Italy.

Last year, IMEX America generated more than 74,000 appointments (one-on-one, group appointments and booth presentations), so it’s clear the show means business. Attendees can plan and book everything from high-level incentives to huge association conventions, as well as make important new contacts, strengthen existing relationships and seal critical deals. 

IMEX America will offer more than 180 free education experiences and cutting-edge professional development across 10 tracks, starting Sept. 9 with Smart Monday, powered by MPI. Designed for meeting and event industry professionals at all levels, the learning opportunities include deep dives, one-to-one sessions and hot topic tables that provide fresh thinking on making meetings more engaging, embracing new ways of thinking, considering the big issues and exploring innovation and creativity. 

Smart Monday kicks off with an inspirational keynote by artist and TED Talk speaker Phil Hansen. In “Embrace the Shake: Transforming Limitations into Opportunities,” Hansen will discuss the path he took after developing a career-ending tremor in his drawing hand. Instead of giving up on his dream of being an artist, Hansen found a way to continue by “seizing the limitation” and finding new ways to create new art forms. In his talk, Hansen will discuss how limitations can be an impetus for creativity and imagination. 

In a subsequent education session, “Inclusion: Beyond the Law for Meeting Professionals,” Jessica Pettitt, who wrote the book Good Enough Now: How Doing the Best We Can with What We Have is Better Than Nothing, will combine stand-up comedy with diversity training. Pettitt will lead a discussion about ensuring that attendees feel safe and welcome. She will also discuss how to foster inclusive environments.

By organizing each year’s Smart Monday Talking Point, IMEX Group remains a committed source for new ideas and meeting experiences. This year, the Talking Point celebrates imagination, which can encourage new ways to solve everyday issues. For example, there are programs designed to encourage exhibitors and buyers to reduce the environmental impact of their show participation.

EventMB, a leading online resource for event professionals, has also been commissioned to produce an industry white paper (supported by PSAV) and a Smart Monday Deep Dive, “Unleash Your Event Imagination: How to Ask, ‘What If?’” The education session will reveal ideas from 300 events where planners or clients took imagination to heart. According to Ben Erwin, president of PSAV and a global leader in event experiences, during their research, customers said that planners should reimagine how meetings and events connect with audiences and provide a spark that connects and engages the audience.

Tailored content for industry professionals at all levels will also take place during Smart Monday, giving both association and corporate planners a valuable—and rare—chance to share best practices and experiences at networking programs the Association Leadership Forum, created by ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, and the Executive Meeting Forum for corporate meeting planners.

Following a two-year run at IMEX in Frankfurt, She Means Business launches at IMEX America on Smart Monday. She Means Business, a joint event by IMEX and tw magazine, supported by MPI, is a popular program that celebrates the role of women in business and events and champions diversity, gender equality and female empowerment.

Beyond education, IMEX America will offer a new Discovery Zone to help industry professionals power their own events by making them more memorable and interactive. This immersive area will challenge attendees to be more experimental as they devise new, game-changing approaches to planning meetings and events. The goal is to enable attendees to stretch their imagination and test the theory that experimentation leads to innovation.

This year, Serious Giggles (Laughter Yoga), led by Sarah Routmann, will be part of the Inspiration Hub. Laughter Yoga encourages creative play with prolonged voluntary laughter that starts intentionally and becomes spontaneous, providing enormous health benefits, especially when combined with yogic breathing and relaxation. No special clothes, positions or yoga mat will be required for this completely portable healthy exercise—making it ideal for when you want to take a break from other activities on the show floor.

After success at IMEX Frankfurt, IMEX America will introduce Nook meeting pods—a small, free-to-use quiet space for attendees to meet or get follow-up emailing done while recharging their devices and themselves. The show will also introduce a double-decker lounge structure to serve as a chill-out zone. Bodyworks will be on site with a free massage station.

“We’re working to bring the power of imagination to everything we’re doing at IMEX America,” says Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group. “The driving force behind all the positive changes we’re witnessing is the power of the human imagination, a uniquely human quality. So, we’re exploring and celebrating this aspect of being human, one that we frequently take for granted. Think of it as a human superpower—our instinct to ask, without judgement or limitation, ‘What if?’”

Sustainability and Wellness

To help the meeting and event industry “tread lightly on our world,” IMEX will also host programs that focus on sustainability and wellness (that attendees can participate in).

• Bring a hygiene kit for Clean the World.
• Donate a book for Spread the Word.
• Bring a refillable water bottle for #greencaffeine.
• Choose food that uses the least water for #waterwisewednesday.
• Participate in the IMEX 5k run.
• Rest and relax at the Be Well Lounge.

Visit imexamerica.com to learn much more about the event.