Victor Kippes

CEO, and Founder of Validar Inc.

Victor Kippes is CEO, and Founder of Validar Inc. Validar provides a robust onsite registration and attendee tracking platform ideally suited for B2B event producers interested in generating demand.  Victor has been in the event industry since 2003 and is the sole owner.

Adjusting to the pandemic and the onslaught of digital events was a life-changing experience for Victor. His respect for event producers and the creativity associated with building effective content has increased exponentially on top of an already high level of admiration. Victor takes great pride in being a CEMA member.

Validar was founded based on his experience as a receiver of leads for many years. He used to be the VP of Sales, managing a team of 50 sales reps globally. Much of Validar’s value proposition focuses on solving the challenges associated with managing and measuring event data and pipelines while helping event marketers understand their actual value as event producers. Victor believes that most event producers do not get the recognition they deserve for their extraordinary work! He enjoys listening, learning, and helping outstanding event marketers deliver on their vision. He also likes road cycling when time permits.

Victor has a son modeling in Los Angeles and managing Social Media for the Company and a daughter graduating this year with honors from the University of Washington.

Executive Profile

Reina Herschdorfer

Director of Marketing for National Meetings & Events for Caesars Entertainment

Reina Herschdorfer is the Director of Marketing for National Meetings & Events for Caesars Entertainment responsible for the Meetings & Events B2B marketing strategy for the meetings business for all Caesars Entertainment US properties over $500 Million in annual revenues.

She and her team manage all marketing and public relations efforts for meetings and events for Caesars Entertainment. Reina is responsible for the strategy and the execution of all marketing and PR efforts including social media and public relations, content for all digital channels including website, eblast communication and campaigns, print and digital advertising, Sponsorship, Tradeshows and Events. Some of the bigger campaigns include the opening of the Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center when it opened, CAESARS FORUM in Las Vegas, advocacy for the meetings industry and the $400 Million reinvestment in Atlantic City in 2022. Her team supports the national sales team, the Experience team, and the Catering/Convention Services team in addition to the leadership.

Reina brings more than 20 years of international meetings industry and hospitality experience. Her career includes marketing, sales, catering and convention services leadership roles with Caesars Entertainment, Accor Hotels, Disneyland Paris, Starwood and IHG.

After graduating from Florida International University in Miami with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Hotel Management, she joined Intercontinental Hotels where she was the youngest Sales Manager in the company in pre-opening sales for the Houston Property. In Boston, with Westin Copley Place she became the Director of Convention Services. She was a member of the opening team for Disneyland Paris as opening Director of Convention Services. Her major accomplishments were managing the Grand Opening with more than 10 large corporate events with more than 10,000 attendees each. From Paris, she went to London to set-up the sales and marketing office as Director of Sales & Marketing for the Meetings & Events Business, the largest market outside France. In 2000, she joined Caesars Entertainment. She has been a Chairman’s Award winner.

Reina was born in The Netherlands. She speaks Dutch, French, English, conversational German and Spanish. She has lived and worked in 5 countries.

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CEMA In-the-News

The 2022 NFL Draft Event from a Meeting Planner Perspective

May 11, 2022

Tyler Davidson

Excerpts from the article below. Click here for the entire article.

CEMA Says

Caesars Entertainment’s program featured participation from CEMA, an 800-member-strong association of meeting and events professionals that frequently participates in Study Tours to high-profile events such as the NFL Draft.

“As event organizers and planners, we don’t often get the opportunity to go get an exclusive look at something so prestigious as this, and how it’s built from the ground up, and how it measures for success,” said Angie Smith, head of experiential events and field marketing for global software company Atlassian, who participated in the CEMA Study Tour. “With them being in a completely different vertical than us, it’s important for CEMA to offer these opportunities, because there’s so many parallels in how we do things, but at the same time it’s very different.”

Smith said one major insight she had was the almost never-ending cycle of the event.

“We commonly think of NFL sports being a seasonal thing, but they have been able to monetize and engage their viewers 12 months a year, and craft experiences to create the next generation of viewers—they just don’t stop,” she said. “I think the parallel in my world is we don’t create an event to be a moment in time. I’m in charge of creating leads and generating pipelines 365 days a year as well.

Young fan at 2022 NFL Draft Experience. Credit: Tyler Davidson

“[The NFL is] finding the next generation of fans, and I’m just trying to find the next buyer of a product,” she added. “To take a step out of what you do every day and see how it’s done in another industry lets you walk away kind of on a high and full of inspiration.”

As with probably most of the Study Tour participants, the sheer number of activations—such as the multi-day NFL Draft Experience filled with fan experiences and memorabilia for sale—while managing the pressure of staging a live broadcast was the most impressive aspect of the event.

“It’s so different when you’re activating across an entire city,” she said. “It was happening in like 20 different venues throughout the city at the same time. To get it right was just fascinating.”

“It really inspired me to think about how I create experiences for our C-level audience,” she continued. “It’s developing a sense of engagement on a level so they’re going to be forever committed to this organization because of the way you made them feel.”

CEMA members at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Credit: Tyler Davidson

Video highlights of the NFL Draft

Twenty CEMA members participated in the Behind-the-Scenes NFL Draft Study Tour sponsored by Caesars Entertainment and the LVCVA.  The group visited 10 venues including the draft theatre and a viewing from the Eiffel Tower restaurant of the red-carpet media interviews in the Bellagio fountains. More than 300,00 fans attended, 1000 people worked the event that was managed by a 35-person NFL planning crew.

Thank you, Caesars Entertainment, for this glimpse of CEMA’s behind-the-scenes’ tour of the draft stage!  Hear directly from Aubrey Walton, Director, Event Location Strategy & Planning. NFL Events on how the draft team managed the event and the questions posed by our CEMA members.

Here is the Leaderboard for the Pre-Summit Social Media Contest

This year, as we ramp up for Summit 2022, we’re running an engaging social contest to promote registrations that is fun and easy to participate in and helps support a great cause. Here are the current leaders in the campaign who shared our CEMA Summit ’22 promo posts and influenced registrations via their LinkedIn page.  The members who generate the most engagement with the posts via their network will have a substantial number of trees planted in their names.

Entering the contest is simple. Click here to get started. The Start Planting button guides you to log into LinkedIn. You will then see a post with CEMA Summit news that you can share with your network in one click! You can also email or message the post to individual contacts.

The more you share the greater your chance to be on the leaderboard and win the contest. The winner will be recognized on stage at CEMA Summit.

1^st Place – 20k trees planted (roughly the size of Central Park)

2^nd Place – 5k trees

3^rd Place – 2k trees

So, you too can spread the word about CEMA Summit and help plant a forest! We hope you’ll join us by clicking here.