CEMA Newsletter: Pre-CEMA Summit
Opening Letter
Sandra Marcus
Vice President, Strategy and Operations, CEMA
As a Summit First Timer, Here’s What I’m Looking Forward To
Having been to plenty of conferences but never to CEMA Summit, I’m told it’s an experience like no other. My anticipation is building. The program is rich.
If you are also a First Timer, I strongly encourage you to book an orientation call*. One of our board members will gladly provide tips on getting the most out of your time in Salt Lake City.
In the immortal words of David Letterman, here is my CEMA Summit Top Ten List.
- Using my Experience ProfileTM to personalize my learning. I’m a Guide. You can take the quiz here and share your results via InGo afterwards.
- Greeting each of you at the Welcome Reception on Sunday evening.
- Serendipitous hallway conversations.
- Meeting new colleagues IRL and bumping into colleagues from my past.
- Hearing keynote speakers who have been selected with intention, adding gravitas to our conference theme of Elevate. Julie Williamson, Natalie Nixon, and Sarah Robb O’Hagan are each outstanding in their field and will undoubtedly leave you with something memorable, practical and applicable.
- Attending breakout sessions. Narrowing mine to three is hard; the content committee brought their A game! Back to #3 on this list, having hallway conversations with the speakers from sessions I can’t attend.
- An immersive experience in a Design Lab. Getting ‘hands on’ is a great way to absorb something new.
- Listening and learning during the Town Hall and Industry Forum. Check out our dynamic line up here.
- Participating in a networking activity to meet more of you.
- Attending great evening events at two thoughtfully selected venues. Of course, there will be food, drinks, and entertainment. More important for me, this is yet another means-to-an-end: to meet all of you.
*Please send an email to membership@cemaonline.com to receive information on how to book an orientation call.
Main Articles
Free Access to AI Tool to Get Stuff Done!
We’re excited to offer members of the CEMA community complimentary and exclusive access to SPARK BETA — the first and only dedicated AI tool for business event professionals developed by business event professionals — through September 30, 2023.
Last month we announced Project SPARK, an AI-powered tool from PCMA and GEVME that will revolutionize the way you work. Tasks that used to take 30 minutes or more can now be completed in 30 seconds or less with SPARK.
SPARK is here to help you GSD — Get Stuff Done — helping clear your plate of routine tasks and provide you the much-needed space to focus on the art of what’s possible with business events.
This game-changing tool can whip up session descriptions, speaker bios, video transcriptions, and agendas in a flash. It’s also a thought-starter for presentations, summarizing meeting notes, generating run of shows, and sparking new idea generation.
SPARK does not replace your expertise — it enhances it. It’s like having a personal concierge at your side, helping you to navigate your daily chaos, reduce stress, and regain the time that seems to slip away all too quickly.
Activate your SPARK access now and light the fuse for an explosive productivity boost.
Existing SPARK users can log in with their current SPARK credentials.
Another Chance to Boost Your CV by Promoting CEMA Summit 2023!
Participation in our Pre-Summit InGo social media contest continues to soar! Thanks to the 165+ CEMA enthusiasts who shared their CEMA Summit registration post on LinkedIn. To date we’ve generated 211k impressions and 1.4k clicks on the Summit registration link!
A BIG SHOUT OUT to our new contest leaders:
— 1st Melanie Reid, Riskified – Event Marketing Manager
— 2nd Lisa Messina, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority – LVCVA, Chief Sales Officer
— 3rd Jessica Perkins, The Venetian Resort Las Vegas – Director of Business Development
It’s not too late to enter this contest! Event marketers, here’s how it works:
Follow the July contest LinkedIn login prompts and share this new “Look Who’s Coming” post with your LI network in one easy click! (No need to create any post copy on your own.) You can also send personalized invites to individuals in your network right in the app.
As your LI network engages with your post and invites, your engagement activity will be tracked on the contest leaderboard. The leaderboard standings will be updated each month.
The top three (3) participants who generate the most engagement can choose one premium professional certification course ($700 value) offered by the Event Leadership Institute (ELI): Advanced Event Design & Strategy or Event Measurement & Analytics and will be recognized on stage at CEMA Summit 2023.
Promoting Summit through the tremendous power of our member’s networks works. The sooner you enter the contest, the more you can help make CEMA Summit 2023 the best yet…and maybe enhance your CV with a nice new certification.
AI is transforming the events industry beyond marketing. From sourcing to research to analysis, new opportunities are now available that you and your team need to prepare for. Take advantage of new resources from PCMA Event Leadership Institute, as part of your CEMA membership.
- Featured Resource: Dissecting the Chat GPT/Generative AI DisruptionLog in first to hear a panel discuss the use cases, opportunities, and threats that the explosive adoption of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools means for the event industry.
- NEW Certificate Course: Enhancing Events with AI Certificate Course (AIES)Taught by Nick Borelli, this brand new 5-week online, self-paced course is designed to help event organizers harness the potential of AI. Discover how to leverage AI to target audience engagement, automate event logistics, optimize event planning, and measure event success.
As a CEMA member, you receive a 20% discount on all of ELI’s 17 facilitated and self-paced certificate courses.
Elevate Your Vision at CEMA Summit 2023 with a Personalized Experience Profile
Personalization is key to crafting meaningful, engaging experiences, and using Experience Profiles™ helps us understand your engagement preferences to create the best Summit experience for you.
Watch here from more information https://youtu.be/YOBrOxx76Uw
The Experience Profiles™ is a design thinking tool for employing empathy that helps us understand ourselves and our audiences at a deeper level, with strategic insights into how we acquire and activate information. AT CEMA Summit 2023, will be using four profiles to accommodate a diverse range of attendee preferences:
- The Pioneer is motivated by community and co-creation, and engages in opportunities to work with others towards a common goal. They tend to be expressive & authentic, and enjoy visibility.
- The Guide is energized by curiosity & acceptance, and gravitates towards the inclusive & experimental. They bring people together and are interested in group dynamics and seeing what happens when groups move something forward.
- The Scout is energized by process and serendipity. They are independent & reflective, and tend to live in the moment. Scouts are self-driven vision setters with exquisite attention to detail who value following their intuition and having freedom to explore.
- The Surveyor is data driven, energized by strategy & goals. They are realistic & analytical observers who appreciate structure and intent. Surveyors care about solving problems logically and practically, and like to develop a plan before acting.
Start your CEMA Summit 2023 journey by taking The Experience Profile™ quiz today! Understanding your personal profile will help you prepare, identify the knowledge and tools you’ll need, and determine how you prefer to engage with your peers, to get the most value from your Summit experience.
CEMA Summit 2023
CEMA SUMMIT ’23 Updates
Did you see that we announced our 3rd keynote “Unleashing Leadership Potential: Ignite Your Authenticity, Resilience, and Impact”, by visionary Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of EXOS sponsored by Visit Anaheim.
Described by the media as everything from “Superwoman undercover” to “The Pied Piper of potential,” Sarah Robb O’Hagan is an executive, activist, entrepreneur, and founder of Extreme Living — a content platform designed to help individuals, teams, and organizations play to their highest potential.
Here’s a brief overview:
Sarah Robb O’Hagan is no stranger to disruption having led the successful turnaround of the multi-billion-dollar Gatorade business in the last economic recession, and therefore knows the qualities leaders need to embody to make it through to the other side. Stepping into her role as CEO of EXOS in early February 2020, she found herself not in the “dream job” she thought she had just accepted, but in the fight of her life in a business that would be severely impaired by the Covid pandemic.
In her talk, Sarah will explain how dramatically the business environment has changed and how event marketing leaders must adapt and have a stronger willingness to disrupt themselves before market conditions do it for us. She will also share perspectives on how to create an environment for leaders at all levels that fosters individual wellbeing and, ultimately, high performance — tapping into techniques that engage both mind and body. With her vast experience and dynamic approach, Sarah will inspire and empower you to Elevate Your Vision, and step into your leadership role with confidence and authenticity.
It’s not too late to register for CEMA Summit 2023 just click here.
Surrounded by the incredible Salt Lake City landscape, we’ll get above the daily noise and elevate our creative, strategic, and leadership vision. All the details can be found by clicking here:
Also, calling all partners who want to sponsor one of our interesting and engaging activations, etc. contact sponsorship@cemaonline.com
May CEMA Connects
Yes, authenticity is hard … be authentic anyway!
May’s CEMA Connects featured two powerhouse event executives: Monique Ruff-Bell, Head of Events for TED Conferences, and Erika Speed, Manager of Live Programming, Forbes, discussing Leading with Authenticity. Monique and Erika shared their personal leadership journeys, along with insights into the many forms of leadership. Two key takeaways from the discussion were that every leader – and leadership journey – looks different, and that leadership styles and preferences can help us grow at all career levels.
Moderated by CEMA’s new VP of Strategy and Operations, Sandra Marcus, the group dove deep into the connection between authenticity and leadership, and how our authentic qualities serve us as leaders, and how the spaces we create as leaders foster authenticity in our organizations. She set the stage with a compelling definition of authenticity, being “when your actions are congruent with your values despite external pressures.”
Monique shared that becoming authentic was a survival choice, but she did not start out feeling comfortable about authenticity in her career. She had to learn to navigate new spaces and understand being uncomfortable. “Today,” she said, “Uncomfortable is part of what I do.” She stressed that authenticity is a choice, and that it is important to come to the table in an authentic way – with boundaries. Read more and watch this session here:
Recent Events
CEMA Behind-the-Scenes Study Tour: Atlassian Team ‘23
Have you ever had a brilliant idea that seemed impossible to bring to life? This is where teamwork comes in. The most significant accomplishments in human history were only possible when people worked together to achieve them. Atlassian strongly believes in the potential of collaboration amongst humans and aims to showcase it at our annual event, Team ’23, which focuses on teamwork. From space missions and climate change to fixing bugs in code and remote equipment requests, no task is too big or small for the right team equipped with the appropriate apps and practices. We firmly believe that with teamwork, anything is possible no matter what obstacles are in the way or how far the goal may seem.
Our rallying cry is “Impossible Alone,” encouraging all to embrace teamwork as a means to turn challenges into opportunities. During Atlassian’s Team ’23 conference, we hosted a highly curated two-day event, CEMA Behind-the-Scenes Study Tour, that gave attendees an exclusive look into how we designed our flagship event in collaboration with our partners, creating an immersive and engaging experience. Attendees had VIP access to the James Cameron Keynote and were treated to dinner at The Venetian’s newest restaurant, Villa Azur. The second day featured a comprehensive walk-through of the event, including curated panels and sessions from Atlassian staff and our partners discussing the fuel behind Atlassian’s Experiential Event Engine, a behind-the-scenes look into how our Brand, Creative, and Event teams partner for success, the 3 Legs of the Experiential Stool, how we Built the Digital Platform, and our philosophy and secret sauce to Measuring Event Success.
We also offered a special sustainability tour with The Venetian, which aligned perfectly with Atlassian’s values around sustainability. The tour provided insights into the eco-friendly practices The Venetian is implementing. The event concluded with a social gathering where attendees shared best practices. In our post-experience survey, some of our attendees gave feedback saying: “The programming and organization for our time at Atlassian Team 23 Study Tour was absolutely exceptional,” and “The wealth of knowledge and transparent sharing from the Atlassian team and partners is why we all love CEMA.”
Interesting Articles