Presented by Robyn Davis

Productive networking, both in person and online, is a necessary skill set for any ambitious event professional. It can help you get a job or solve a problem—not to mention make new friends and trusted allies who will be there for you when you need them most (and vice versa). However, just like any skill, if you don’t work at it consistently, you may find that it gets harder and harder to do correctly… if you even feel comfortable doing it at all! In this session, we will give your productive networking skills the tune-up they need so that you can continue starting and strengthening professional relationships with confidence.

Specifically, participants will:
- Outline step-by-step processes to simplify the trickiest parts of networking: starting and ending conversations with strangers.
- List strategic action steps (and examples!) to support each stage of your productive networking and relationship building/strengthening processes.
- Practice the above techniques and brainstorm easy ways to increase your networking productivity."

Presented by Bob Russo

Experience is King! We have moved from a service economy to an experience economy. Successful events have always been an experience, even if that wasn’t the intention. Maya Anjelou said, “People will forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”

Join Bob Russo, Executive Director of Strategy & Creative at VDA, for an informative and always lively discussion about working the angles of design innovation, integrated technology and other trend-setting elements to create an experiential and memorable event. Bob’s experience and insight serves to inspire as he recounts observations on the state of the meetings industry over the last 30 years.

Presented by David Nico, PhD

How do you fuel your meetings and make them more dynamic? Incorporating healthier F&B options will energize sessions, yield productive results, and create positive feedback. Discover cutting-edge food science that will help you select the right foods to impact attendee stamina, concentration, and learning. What your participants consume will make or break the effectiveness of your events.

In this session, you will learn:
- Vital tips to navigate the best vs worst ingredients on menus
- How to discern truths vs myths on the foods you typically order
- How quality nutrition enhances an organizations effectiveness, impacting the bottom line

Presented by Tom Pasha

Hotel Negotiations and Contracts are critical parts of the planner’s job, but many planners leave terms, money and concessions on the table. By seeing how hotels make money, assign space and evaluate their business, planners can leverage their business to have the hotels compete for their booking. When you learn how a hotel works, “from the Hotel Side,” by being more firm, fair and flexible, planners can reduce their costs, maximize their efforts and minimize their exposure in contracts.