AllSeated’s Top 4 Highlights from IMEX

 

 

 

If you haven’t yet attended IMEX – the CES of trade shows for event planners in North America – it’s time to put it on your must-attend list. (Save the date alert: IMEX Frankfurt is May 12-14, 2020 and IMEX America is September 15-17, 2020 in Las Vegas.)

The AllSeated team is back and almost fully recovered from this amazing event. Take a look at the official numbers from organizers to understand why IMEX is so inspiring (and why we’re still exhausted 😊):

• 13,500 total participants
• 76,000 total appointments
• 3,426 hosted buyers from 68 countries (IMEX hosts qualified event professionals with purchasing power and reimburses them for attending the show in exchange for meetings with exhibitors)
• 3,500 exhibiting companies from 155 countries
• 132 members of the press from 14 countries
• Over 40% of attendees control budgets of $1M-$10M and are senior professionals with significant, final decision-making authority

There was so much we were wowed by from the show. Here are four of our favorite highlights:

 

• The Women in Event Tech Meetup 

 

The Women in the Event Tech community is leading the charge to create more opportunities for women to lead in event tech and hosted a fantastic meetup + happy hour – with lots of heart since it also benefited SafeNest TADC, an organization taking a stand against domestic violence. $10 was donated to SafeNest in the name of everyone who participated in the Meetup. 

Sponsored by eventcore, MeetingPlay, and DAHLIA+, we loved connecting and networking with an incredible group and inspiring group of women trailblazers!

 

• Association for Women (AWE) in Events Pledge Signing

 

Last year, AWE joined forces with eight other industry organizations to sign on as founding members of a coalition aimed at eliminating sexual harassment at meetings and events: the Events Industry Sexual Harassment Task Force (EISHTF). The group then launched a new initiative—the Task Force Pledge—to raise awareness of the issue and unite the industry.

During this year’s IMEX, the task force held a ceremony to commemorate several additional industry executives signing the pledge, including Carina Bauer, CEO from IMEX. Signing the pledge shows their commitment to making the industry a safer place – an initiative all of us at AllSeated wholeheartedly embrace!

BTW, you can sign the pledge too.

 

• Education, Education, and More Education!

 

There are so many great sessions at IMEX (180+ in fact!) that it’s hard to fit them all in. One of our favorites was hearing Kate Patay of Patay Consulting, speak about first impressions. 

Of course, we know that people reach a conclusion about us with in the first 1/10th of a second of meeting. Kate gave so many great reminders of how to win people over and create that great first impression.

We also loved the “Experiential Marketing Events” session presented by Natasha Miller, president and chief experience designer of Entire Productions. She explained that to host experiential events, you can’t just plan and design good events. Experiential events require planners to understand the psychology of advertising, branding, and marketing and find ways to involve all of the senses as part of their event experience. 

 

• In-Person Networking

 

There are so many of us who communicate via email or chat on social all the time, but it’s just been too long since we saw each other –or haven’t yet met face-to-face. It’s always great to re-connect and network with these friends! 

Like this year’s IMEX talking point of “Imagination,” spending time sharing belly laughs, raising a glass or heads-down brainstorming about what we can build next to solve meeting and events profs biggest challenges re-energized the whole AllSeated team. 

And of course, it was amazing to watch our one and only Daniel Anisman, AllSeated’s co-founder and CTO, roll up his sleeves and get the wheels turning with new ideas as our customers spoke about their challenges. 

The days spent at IMEX were long and hard, but well worth it. Says Sandy Hammer, AllSeated’s co-founder and CMO, “IMEX is a great networking opportunity for anyone in the industry. It continues to deliver solid education and the mixture of multi-cultural diversity leaves you refreshed!” 

Hope to see you there next year!