Amanda Grandal

Senior Manager, Field and Events Marketing, Delinea

Amanda Grandal, DES and Senior Manager, Field Marketing and Events at Delinea. Amanda has worked in the events industry for over 12 years, gaining experience working for agencies, associations, and corporate companies. As a seasoned marketing and events professional, she is passionate about advancing the events industry by creating personalized and engaging attendee experiences. In addition to her full-time role as Senior Manager for Field and Events Marketing at Delinea, she enjoys traveling, all things outdoors, and F45 HIIT classes! Amanda recently went on a safari trip in Kenya and Tanzania.

Email Amanda amanda.grandal@delinea.com

Executive Profile

Rob Deal

SVP, Creative Design Group/Executive Creative Director
InVision Communications

Rob leads the Creative Design Group, composed of multi-disciplinary Creative Directors, Art Directors and Designers at InVision Communications and collaborates closely with our clients and cross-functional teams to execute memorable, effective omnichannel audience engagement experiences. With 25+ years of expertise in a variety of industry verticals, and disciplines ranging from graphic design and art direction to creative strategy and experience design, this dynamic creative leader has delivered award-winning brand experiences for Genentech, Oracle, Google, Facebook, Nike, Levi’s and Nintendo among others.

Newsletter Sponsor

Planning a meeting? Consider the benefits of an all-inclusive resort.

After what feels like years of video calls with colleagues, it’s time to re-think the location of your next meeting or event. With an all-inclusive hotel, planning is minimal, so you and your attendees can focus on enjoying what matters most – the experience! From food to culture to hospitality, adventure awaits.

You will be able to create the meeting to remember with outdoor meeting space in a lush tropical location, with world-class amenities, and an array of curated dining options—all included with the stay. Speaking of food, Hilton all-inclusive resorts integrate local and international culture through multiple onsite restaurants. Not only does this remove menu planning for your group, but it also offers attendees a chance to taste various cuisines based on their tastes and preferences. For example, they can savor the rich traditions of Mexican cuisine or sip wine at an Italian trattoria. Or maybe your attendees crave a Southeast Asian concept, a high-energy lounge, ice cream and churros, or a taqueria with a tequila bar. All are included in a bundled, per-person rate.

From meetings, events, and incentive trips to conventions and the unconventional, nothing beats the ease of an all-inclusive resort that keeps everyone all-together. Let our destinations be your ticket to an exhilarating new meeting experience.

Contact your Hilton Worldwide Sales representative to learn more or visit https://www.hilton.com/en/all-inclusive/

It’s Membership Renewal Time, Share Your #WhyCEMA Video With Us.

Thank you for supporting the CEMA community! We look forward to embracing the new year with you and connecting, collaborating and inspiring to ensure our success. Here’s what several members shared on #WhyCEMA

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It’s very simple to send us your video on #WhyCEMA. Just click here to start ? #whyCEMA Videos (vocalvideo.com). We look forward to hearing what CEMA means to you and will post on social.

Your CEMA 2022 membership provides you access to past and future webinars hosted in the Learning On-Demand, workshops, live and digital events like our new CEMA Connects conversations, and our Smart Humans I Love (SHIRL) meetups. You can also learn and stay informed through our monthly e-newsletters, CEMA’s new Knowledge Base and Event Highlights digital content hubs, the Ask CEMA Forum, and “members only” information on our website. You’ll see the renew button on the top of our website https://cemaonline.com

January CEMA Connects

Last month’s CEMA Connect conversation covered a wide range of topics on retaining and cultivating talent. “In our world we love a strategy, process + procedure: Start by asking team: What do you want to do? Cultivate team’s interests,” Meg Fasy Founder, EventsGig & FazeFWD, commented. “A team is not just people working together. An actual team is what happens when you work together on something toward a solution.”

Participant questions included, “What are the roles of the Future?” “What are good resources for understanding job training and motivation for the different age segments… Boomers, Gen X, Millenials?”

Click here for the key take aways from January’s member connection.

CEMA Webinar Series: 2022 Event Industry Forecasts Driven by Data Webinar

This very informative data driven event industry forecast was delivered by Jess Petitt, SVP of Commercial Strategy, Insights & Analytics at Hilton who ensures that strategic planning is powered by data. Thank you, Hilton Worldwide for sponsoring this must-see webinar. Watch it here

Jess discussed:

• Group, corporate and leisure segment performance and the relative Covid drivers of recovery
• 2022 industry forecast expectations
• An objective discussion of the drivers and impact of inflation
• Deeper dive into Group attendance and availability after nearly two years of cancellations and postponement
• Overall economic foundation of recovery, with strong support from GDP and business investment metrics globally

Key Takeaways:

• The economic foundation for recovery is strong, with GDP recovered and business investment rolling
• The industry is ready! We’ve seen revenge travel in leisure, and these are the same people pent up to travel for business and group stay occasions
• Industry forecasts have been improving, buoyed by more resilient response to delta and stronger than expected ADR growth that still trails inflation

CEMA Members Share Insights and Advice on Professional Wellness and Development in January Focus Group Sponsored by Destination Toronto

CEMA Sponsor Destination Toronto hosted the second of three event executive focus groups on professional wellness – how we take care of ourselves and the people we work with.

The session was led by noted executive consultant Karen Calder, founder of Karen Calder Consulting and Coaching. Calder opened the discussion with a story of her personal wellness journey and how it has framed the core tenets of her wellness coaching approach.

Calder observed that many successful executives make career and success a priority over their personal wellness and learn to mask anxiety and depression by not being their authentic selves at work. Her journey to understand and master the professional and personal negativity that impacted her well being led to a deep study of the neuroscience of the brain. The knowledge she gained guided the development of several keen insights and effective tools for refocusing from negative to positive thinking, and eliminating negative, self-destructive behaviors:

Our thoughts create our reality. Developing consciousness about our thoughts give us the ability to transform our day. We spend a lot of time in routine, rote activities without being truly present. If we want to have a different experience, and free ourselves from negative thoughts and ideas, we have to become very aware of our thinking. Being really mindful of what we are focusing on allows us to change our thoughts and build new routines around that changed thinking.

We have the power to choose what we think and do in every moment of every day. We need to base our thinking on what we want to create in our lives and choose behaviors that move us towards that goal. We can choose not to complain – but rather focus on the positive. We need to create a mental “cancel stamp” that allows us to consciously eliminate negative and self-defeating thoughts.

Harness the energy around winning teams for your team of one. Successful teams build and nurture camaraderie. They pull together, celebrate each other, and have each other’s back. Do the same for yourself. You are the best person on your team.

Use “brain override” tools to override and unstick your brain if you know you need to act but are stuck by your thoughts or emotions. Physical techniques like “5,4,3,2,1 – Go!” can help you stop overthinking and launch you into activity.

Strive to be joyful throughout your day. Joy and happiness are related but not the same. Happiness is an external expression of a transitory emotion. Joy is a positive mindset developed over time – a choice to be calm, serene, and content in both good and bad situations.

Focus on changing routines vs. making resolutions. Resolutions are declarations of intent to change that may or may not be attached to a meaningful change in behavior (that’s why so many fail.) Changing a negative routine is an intentional, material action, that done repeatedly can break bad habits and lead to long-term transformation from negative to positive thoughts and behaviors.

Step into curiosity and gratitude. Gratitude is a great way to shift your thinking from negative to positive and transition out of a bad day. When work gets you down, remind yourself what you are working for, look for good things that are happening in your life and be grateful for them.

Narrow your focus to what is good and right about what you are experiencing in the moment. If things are going badly, focus on what you have control over and what you can do now to make today great. If reflecting on the bad things that happened, reframe your thinking. Look at negative thoughts and then look at it the opposite way or from a different angle.

Change the way you respond to triggers and handle adversity. Understand what your triggers are and know when something is triggering you, then work backwards from a bad feeling to find the path to a good one.

Calder also stressed that it’s critical to understand the difference between experiencing situational negative thoughts and feelings and suffering from clinical depression. While the insights and tools for refocusing thoughts and changing behaviors may help, they are not a substitute for professional therapy.

The CEMA members participating in the focus group were deeply appreciative of the opportunity to talk about the all-too important, but often overlooked issue of personal wellness. We thank Destination Toronto for their support for this timely, essential exchange, as well as for the other strategic discussions they have facilitated throughout the year.

For more information on CEMA Focus Group sessions visit our website or contact Olga Rosenbrook.

CEMA Webinar Series: Events as Vehicles for Brand Sustainability Values

Last month’s webinar addressed how brands can integrate thoughtful sustainability practices into their events. They discussed the opportunities and risks in both “Business as usual” and more ambitious sustainability commitments.

Moderated by Josh Adams, Industry Relations Strategist, streamlinevents
Panelists included:

• Edward Perotti, Executive Creative Director, Global Events, Brand Experience, Pure Storage
• Nick Woodward-Shaw, Vice President, Communications (Global Events & Marketing) at Forever Living
• Roger Simons, Director, Sustainability, Marina Bay Sands
• Patricia Beaudoux, Director of International Sales, Sands Asia

Listen here for insightful and at times challenging advise on how leading corporations can activate values based global events. Thank you Sands for sponsoring.