CEMA Summit 2020 Digital Experience Embraces The “Next Normal” in Corporate Events

 CEMA Summit 2020 Digital Experience Embraces The “Next Normal” in Corporate Events

Roseville, CA July 30, 2020 The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA) held its first online conference CEMA Summit 2020, with more than 500 event marketing leaders in attendance — the highest in the 30-year history of the event . Nearly half the attendees were first-timers, including more than 100 non-members.

Summit 2020 featured a special Nashville experience showcase including a Music City themed conference website, a live singer-songwriter experience with local artists Rivers Rutherford and Brett James, a special cooking class with Chef Julia Sullivan, owner of Henrietta Red restaurant, and a mixology session with Seth Weinberg, head bartender at Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak in Nashville.

“Transforming CEMA Summit 2020 into a digital event took creativity and courage, and our incredible team of content producers, platform developers, organizers and subject experts did an extraordinary job creating a truly engaging and meaningful experience,”  said Kimberley Gishler, CEMA president and CEO. “ I am so proud of our members, industry partners and sponsors for rallying to make Summit 2020 a huge success.”

Renown for hosting visionary keynote speakers, Summit 2020 featured New York Times Bestselling author Jon Acuff, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and former sports agent Molly Fletcher, and life coach, author, and motivational speaker, Valorie Burton.

Summit attendees were able to choose from 82 breakout sessions, roundtables, expert panels, and personal development sessions. The content included event executive’s thoughts on timing of resurgence from the pandemic, to how conference centers and hotels can operate safely to the pivot from live to digital, tech trends, virtual experiential marketing, sustainability and event intelligence.

CEMA Summit 2020 also hosted a live State of the Industry Townhall focused on how COVID-19 has impacted the industry and the path back to live events. Panelists agreed that future of events is not  going to be a return to the ”old normal,” and the industry needs to focus on new and unique digital experiences.

Other Summit 2020 Highlights included:

• For the first time in the event’s 30-year history, CEMA Summit 2020 was open to non-members.
• Participation in Summit Keynotes and Townhall ranged from 80 to 90 percent of registered attendees.
• Attendees could comment on the presentations and discussions and interact live with the keynote speakers via a live chat room
• The #CEMAVirtualHug , which allowed attendees to create and share virtual greetings via a virtual photo booth. The photos fed a Bringing Nashville to You digital mosaic that transformed into a Rocky Mountain landscape upon the announcement that the Gaylord Rockies is the host site for CEMA Summit 2021.
• Attendees were introduced to CEMA’s charitable partner Strings For Hope and encouraged to buy their jewelry made from recycled guitar strings by survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and substance abuse.
• The Summit 2020 virtual playground offered interactive games, a walking challenged that logged more than one million steps, yoga classes, LinkedIn page makeover, online image consultation, cooking and mixology classes and a Tech Showcase.
• CEMA Summit concluded with a virtual Happy Hour featuring musical entertainers Song Division who had participants singing, clapping and dancing with a custom Summit 2020 song, team challenges and music trivia.

About CEMA

A voice for the industry, CEMA (Corporate Event Marketing Association) is the eminent community for senior event executives, association peers and industry partners. CEMA promotes professional networking opportunities, facilitates peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and drives industry standards. Through strong relationships with strategic partners, CEMA fosters both finding innovative solutions to business issues and continuous focus on members career growth. For more information, please visit https://cemaonline.com or call (408) 838-9809.

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Media Contact

Ruth Doering

The Gandalf Group for CEMA

E: ruth.doering@thegandalfgroup.com

P: 949.510.6415