Yeah! Usher will be in the house for MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC) in Las Vegas.

So will Michael Bush, the guru behind the annual Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. And so will entertainers Penn & Teller.

The high-profile and well-known personalities—Usher, the singer, songwriter, actor, businessman and philanthropist; Bush, a recognized global expert on workplace culture; and the comedy and magic team of Penn & Teller—were announced Thursday by MPI and the host committee, Caesars Entertainment, as headliners on the main stage during MPI’s signature education event, June 15-17 at CAESARS FORUM in Las Vegas.

The megastars will further enhance the education and networking conference that will be the first major meeting and event industry event this year to feature in-person attendance along with a digital experience.

WEC Vegas, June 15-17, 2021. Make your future.

Usher, an eight-time Grammy Award-winning artist, has delivered a slew of mega-hits in his 20-year career, such as multiple No. 1 and Top 10 singles including “Yeah!,” a collaboration with Ludacris and Lil John that topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 consecutive weeks in 2004, knocked off by his own follow-up song, “Burn.” “Yeah!” was the longest-running No. 1 single in 2004 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Usher will not perform at WEC but will speak during the opening general session on June 15 with MPI President and CEO Paul Van Deventer in the panel “Yeah! A Conversation with Usher.”

“We are thrilled to add Grammy Award-winning artist Usher to our program,” Annette Gregg, senior vice president for experience at MPI, told The Meeting Professional. “A successful businessman, humanitarian, singer and producer, he is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time. We look forward to hearing his unique insights into the live music industry’s rebound post-pandemic.”

Usher’s appearance at WEC was coordinated by the WEC host committee at Caesars Entertainment.

Polls show that people have seriously missed live entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic and are looking forward to returning. A recent survey by Morning Consult showed that 47 percent of consumers are most excited about going to concerts and museums post-pandemic. Across the pond, 75 percent of British music fans would be comfortable returning to live concerts if a COVID certification was required.

Usher, an eight-time Grammy Award-winning artist, has delivered a slew of mega hits in his 20-year career.

Usher will share his feelings at WEC about preparing for his Las Vegas residency in the post-pandemic world of live entertainment and events, as Usher: The Las Vegas Residency launches July 17 at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace. Six additional dates were added as soon as his show was announced, bringing to 14 the number of performances in July and August, with more scheduled for later this year.

“There is a pent-up audience demand and concertgoers are looking to move [beyond] just the virtual experience,” James Sammataro, a Miami-based entertainment lawyer at Pryor Cashman, told Casino.org when asked about the entertainment climate. “Usher’s return potentially [is] serving as the bellwether.”

Usher, first discovered 20 years ago on Star Search, has been ranked by ISAA as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold more than 65 million albums worldwide. Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s.

Usher, Live Nation Las Vegas and Caesars Entertainment are donating $1 of every ticket purchased to Usher’s Las Vegas residency to Usher’s New Look Inc. (UNL). Founded in 1999 by Usher, UNL works to transform the lives of underserved youth through a comprehensive program focused on access, awareness and empowerment to youth. Over the course of 21 years, the organization has reached more than 50,000 young people.

The availability of entertainers and entertainment factor into the recovery of the meeting and event industry, where experiential events add to the overall benefit of attending educational business meetings and events.

Bush, who will speak at the general session on the final day of WEC, June 17, replaces Lital Marom, who had to withdraw because of medical issues.

“Michael Bush has a perfect message for our industry at this time: how to create workplace cultures that attract and retain top talent.”

Bush is the CEO of Great Place to Work, the global research and analytics firm that produces the annual Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, the “World’s Best Workplaces” list, the “100 Best Workplaces for Women” list, the “Best Workplaces for Diversity” list and dozens of other distinguished workplace rankings around the world.

His message could be timely given the devastation to the meeting and event industry workforce because of the pandemic.

“Michael Bush has a perfect message for our industry at this time: how to create workplace cultures that attract and retain top talent,” Gregg said. “His company, A Great Place to Work, is a global authority on workplace culture and since 1992 they have surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace. We are excited to hear his insights on our mainstage.”

Bush joined Great Place to Work in 2015, bringing 30 years of experience leading and growing organizations, including serving as CEO of Tetra Tech Communications, which he grew from $40 million to $300 million in revenue.

He serves on the board for Workday, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance, HR and planning. He is a former member of U.S. President Barack Obama’s White House Business Council and a founding board member of the private equity seed-fund Fund Good Jobs, which invests in small inner-city businesses.

His book, A Great Place to Work for All, outlines the compelling business and social benefits from his efforts to build a better world by helping organizations create great places to work not just for some but for all. One of his mantras is developing at a higher standard of excellence that accounts for fair and equitable treatment of employees across demographic groups, as well as executive leader effectiveness, innovation and financial sustainability.

Bush was originally hired to help the founder of Great Place to Work exit the business. Within six months of taking control, Bush set goals that included a clear mission for the company: to build a better world by helping every organization become a “Great Place to Work For All” by the year 2030.

He created a new set of algorithms and launched a new methodology known as “Great Place to Work For All,” which expanded the market for employee surveys to improve business performance and productivity from employee surveys only for the sake of employer branding.

Bush spoke at the 2016 Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, at which he said he changed GPTW’s mission to include “for all” at the end to refocus the company on its core values and take a second look at its data. Bush and his team found significant gaps between the experiences of executives and those on the front lines, such as between full-time and part-time employees, men and women, white employees and employees of color.

“That’s not good enough,” he said at the conference. “If we’re going to call a company ‘great,’ it’s got to be great for everybody. It’s got to be a ‘Great Place to Work…For All.’”

Penn & Teller, who will perform on the main stage during the June 17 general session, have been a team for more than 30 years and have an established and popular magic and comedy show, currently at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. Teller usually does not speak while performing, communicating through mime and nonverbals.

To learn more about WEC, go to mpi.org/wec.